{"id":4839,"date":"2018-12-24T05:00:29","date_gmt":"2018-12-24T13:00:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/?p=4839"},"modified":"2018-12-23T10:24:49","modified_gmt":"2018-12-23T18:24:49","slug":"mark-reads-thud-part-19","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/2018\/12\/mark-reads-thud-part-19\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Reads &#8216;Thud!&#8217;: Part 19"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In the nineteenth part of <i>Thud!<\/i>, Vimes makes a compromise. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to read <i>Discworld<\/i>.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><!--more--><\/p>\n<p><b>Trigger Warning: For police brutality<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Well, there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s an exception to the rule, isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t there? Y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all, I never expected to reach a point where Vimes would actually commission the use of magic in a Watch investigation, but if he was going to do it, then here\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the exception. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s interesting to me upon examination that this usage doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t actually affect the actual police work itself. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s solely about the logistics of travel, a means that allows these two coaches to travel a long distance in very little time. So, technically, I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t think Vimes has compromised himself on this note. He still hasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t <i>personally<\/i> used magic. I mean, only Fred and Willikins have, right? Since they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re steering both of the coaches? Technically???<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Okay, that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a minor point. The bigger point: HOLY SHIT THIS IS SO FUN. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s fun to experience that meeting between Ridcully and Vimes because now, knowing what the wizards did to those coaches, I can re-read that scene and see the overwhelming joy that is emanating from the Archchancellor. Oh, I could tell he was excited by the prospect that Vimes had presented him, but he was also clearly planning at least half of this on the spot. You know he was thinking, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153But what if the broomsticks are HIDDEN from sight???\u00e2\u20ac\u009d And he did it so he could follow Vimes\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s orders in the most strictest sense of interpretation and yet still be FUCKING RIDICULOUS.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Nothing too obvious.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Well, none of this was obvious! I didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t expect the wizards to do what they did! So I guess they did what Vimes asked them?<\/p>\n<p>Before I move on to <i>that<\/i> scene, I did want to talk about an uncomfortable moment that I hope Pratchett intended as something deeply uncomfortable. I say that because it was so clear before during that important scene with Bashfulsson that Pratchett was addressing power and violence in regards to law enforcement. Even if Vimes didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t plan to act on his violent thoughts towards the dwarfs, I found it powerful that we were still uncomfortably drawn into Vimes\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s thoughts, only to then be forced to reflect on what they meant. There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s another part here that felt related:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Come along boys. Say something wrong. Lay hold of a weapon. Move slightly. Breathe loudly. Give me something that could be stretched to \u00e2\u20ac\u0153in self-defense.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d be my word against yours, and believe me, lads, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m unlikely to leave you capable of saying a single damn <i>thing<\/i>.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>The dwarfs run away at this, but there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s little in the text that accompanies this that makes it obvious that this is a really terrifying moment. I didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t read it as a badass moment but one that gives us a glimpse into Vimes\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s mental state at this point. He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s still raw around the edges, still furious about what the deep-downers did to his family, still itching for revenge. He doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t act out this dark, upsetting thought, which is good, but Vimes is also not in a state to recognize that the thought itself is a problem, too. Stretching what counts as \u00e2\u20ac\u0153self-defense\u00e2\u20ac\u009d is like&#8230; textbook police brutality? So, my gut tells me Pratchett is probably doing this on purpose, particularly since no one is there to check Vimes on these impulses since they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re all internal.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>ANYWAY. Let\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s talk about the coach ride, which is just a delight???? Look, there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s something fun about characters who, despite living in a magical world (seriously, Vimes recently traveled through TIME), are pretty much non-magical and then are FORCED TO LIVE IN MAGIC. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s just so entertaining! And there are so many of them on this journey, since in addition to the original twelve, there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s also Brick\u00e2\u20ac\u201dwho has gone cold turkey at the absolute worst time\u00e2\u20ac\u201dand Willikins, our force of consistency and casual violence. (I assume that Vimes counted Bashfullson initially, right? Or maybe he counted Willikins but not Bashfullson.) Before the chaos begins, this was actually pretty introspective. Vimes did some research on the Koom Valley, and I got an appreciation for just how important the flooding was not just to the Koom Valley myth, but to the area in <i>general<\/i>. I suspect that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s going to be important for a reason to be seen, so I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m storing that away for later. Those complicated caverns and waterways will mean something!!! I know it!!!<\/p>\n<p>And then, once the coaches are out of the city&#8230; it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a lot. A GREAT DEAL. And whereas I expected that the magical \u00e2\u20ac\u0153weightlessness\u00e2\u20ac\u009d of the coaches was the key, I was not ready for the sheer absurdity of the magical horsepower that the wizards provided. (Gods, what a pun.) Or the exploding cabbages and corn. Or the exploding cow??? Or going so fast that they literally don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t even touch the ground, and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s like the <i>actual<\/i> horses aren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t even moving at all? It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s like the coaches exist outside of physical space for moment, but time still passes??? Holy shit, this was incredible.<\/p>\n<p>So what\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s this all leading to? As noted in the text, Vimes doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t really have a plan, and I hadn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t really paid attention to that. I was just excited he was going to Koom Valley and bringing so many people along! But&#8230; what if he <i>can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t<\/i> arrest the dwarfs responsible? What if they refuse to come with him? What then? Vimes doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have a concrete plan of attack, but I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m wondering if he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll need it at all.<\/p>\n<p>https:\/\/youtu.be\/TOJ-0lp3uKE<\/p>\n<p><b>Mark Links Stuff<\/b><\/p>\n<p>&#8211; <strong>My YA contemporary debut, <a href=\"https:\/\/bit.ly\/AngerIsAGift\">ANGER IS A GIFT<\/a>, is now out in the world!\u00c2\u00a0<\/strong><strong>If you&#8217;d like to stay up-to-date on all announcements regarding my books, <a href=\"http:\/\/eepurl.com\/ey636\">sign up for my newsletter<\/a>! DO IT.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In the nineteenth part of Thud!, Vimes makes a compromise. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to read Discworld.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[451],"tags":[463,248,554],"class_list":["post-4839","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-discworld","tag-mark-reads-discworld","tag-terry-pratchett","tag-thud"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4839","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4839"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4839\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4839"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4839"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4839"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<!-- WP Super Cache is installed but broken. 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