{"id":5086,"date":"2019-11-20T05:00:30","date_gmt":"2019-11-20T13:00:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/?p=5086"},"modified":"2019-11-17T10:12:27","modified_gmt":"2019-11-17T18:12:27","slug":"mark-reads-snuff-part-21","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/2019\/11\/mark-reads-snuff-part-21\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Reads ‘Snuff’: Part 21"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the twenty-first part of Snuff<\/i>, Vimes finally confronts Stratford. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to read Discworld<\/i>.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Wow, I feel for that extra<\/i> hard. Why did I write all of that about Brassbound? I DID ALL OF THAT AND I DID IT SO CONFIDENTLY. I swore I knew what I was talking about! But I can see how VImes set this up perfectly: he gave Stratford an honest chance not<\/i> to be The Worst. Of course, he did so while also making sure to protect himself; removing the pin from the bow was so damn clever. Look, Vimes clearly went into this believing that Stratford was 99% likely to try to murder him, but Vimes still left that 1% chance open. Would he change his mind? Would he realize that there was no way out for him? Unfortunately, after Brassbound reveals that he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s actually Stratford, that 1% chance quickly evaporates. Here\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a character who is unapologetic about what he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s done. And even saying that feels like an understatement! Stratford delights in causing harm to other people. He brags about killing \u00e2\u20ac\u0153maybe\u00e2\u20ac\u009d sixteen people. Maybe!!! Maybe he didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t because MAYBE HE KILLED SO MANY HE LOST COUNT.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

And the fight that eventually breaks out (twice!!!) felt like it meant more than just the obvious. This confrontation has been a long time coming, but Stratford also represents the most extreme end of the bigotry that the goblins have faced. Here\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s someone who has killed more goblins than he could ever recall not because of the sheer number, but because he truly believes goblins don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t count<\/i>. We see that easily in his behavior, and thus, Vimes\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s fight is against this violent, devastating belief. Vimes has to take down Stratford for reasons directly related to the plot, but Pratchett is so brilliant in the way he makes this a moral fight as well. Well, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s also immensely brutal, and I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t want to ignore that either. Seriously, I didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t expect Vimes to lose, but this got way to close to that than I wanted? Yeah, that moment during the second fight where Stratford is choking Vimes is REAL RUDE.<\/p>\n

There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s also a very important moment that occurs between both of the Stratford fights, though. (By the way, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m glad I was so suspicious of Stratford\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s \u00e2\u20ac\u0153disappearance.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d I WAS ACTUALLY SLIGHTLY READY FOR A PLOT TWIST.) There was a moment where I worried that Captain Sillitoe would deny the goblins a presence on the boat. Unfortunately, that concern was warranted, but it came from one of the crew members, Ten Gallons. In this, Pratchett shows us a complication: these people were the victims of Stratford\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s piracy and were force to be involved in his goblin slave trade. It would be easy to label them as Good People, and they probably are<\/i> good people. But many of them still hold incredibly toxic ideas about goblins, and in Ten Gallons\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s case, he was willing to let them die on the river. When pressed, I bet Ten Gallons didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t see them as \u00e2\u20ac\u0153people\u00e2\u20ac\u009d either. So, Vimes takes him out. Just roundly knocks him out with his brass knuckles (bless you, Willikins, for making sure they came along) because why argue with someone who doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t even see the goblins as worthy of being saved?\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

So once Vimes ended up on the shores of Quirm, I thought we were barreling towards a big resolution of a number of plots. Vimes and Feeney had saved everyone! They had arrested Stratford! The goblins were no longer headed to Howondaland! (Which is a detail Vimes still<\/i> doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know.) But because I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m reading a Terry Pratchett book, that means I really should know by now that the story isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t going to go the way I think it will. I am making an assumption here, but I bet that the people who found the boat found the goblins and just sent them where they thought they were supposed to go. How many ships have passed through Quirm down this river to the sea, full of goblins in the cargo hold? How many people in Quirm know this is happening? I assume that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the case because Mrs. Sillitoe is so casual about this reveal that the goblins \u00e2\u20ac\u0153caught their boat.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d No one in Quirm thought it was at all suspicious that these goblins were being sent somewhere?\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

On top of that, STRATFORD ESCAPED. So now we have NO REAL RESOLUTION AT ALL. The Fanny<\/i> got saved (lol), and the crew survived (including some of the complicated chickens!!!), but the goblins seem to be headed to a place they don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t want to go to. Do they even know where they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re being sent? Stratford is not just going to give up his life of crime and murder, so I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m certain he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s going to continue to hunt Vimes down out of pure spite. Damn it, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s all still a mess! And we haven\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t even dealt with all the characters back in the Shires, like the magistrates. HELP ME.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/youtu.be\/jbq2_n6SqEU<\/p>\n

Mark Links Stuff<\/b><\/p>\n

– The paperback edition of my debut, ANGER IS A GIFT, is now OUT!<\/a>\u00c2\u00a0<\/strong>If you’d like to stay up-to-date on all announcements regarding my books, sign up for my newsletter<\/a>! DO IT.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"