★★★★☆ No Kings!

Men at Arms

Terry Pratchett, Jon Culshaw (Narrator), Peter Serafinowicz (Narrator), Bill Nighy (Narrator)

Men at Arms is only the second novel in Terry Pratchett's City Watch subseries of the Discworld series, but I think I already discern their central message. It is that the good that is done in the world (be it Discworld or Earth) is accomplished not by Great Persons -- not by Kings and Geniuses and Modern Major Generals -- but by ordinary hard-working people who keep putting one foot in front of the other. It's fair to point out that it's a hackneyed message. On the other hand, it's a theme that I love and can never get too much of.

Although Pratchett is not alone in extolling ordinary folk, his way of doing it is unique. No other writer lights off the sorts of linguistic fireworks that Pratchett pops off line after line, page after page, seemingly without effort. (I say "seemingly" because that appearance of ease is the result of immense care and a lot of work. It is an education to analyze word choice in one of Pratchett's riper passages.)

The main vehicles through which Men at Arms extolls the ordinary are Samuel Vimes, Lord Havelock Vetinari, and Corporal Carrot. Captain Vimes, who is about to resign from the Watch in order to marry Lady Ramkin, is perhaps the most sympathetic character: a hard-working man with a deep and uncompromising sense of right and wrong. Although I love Vimes, I think I love Lord Vetinari and Corporal Carrot even more, because they are not obvious. Lord Vetinari, when he first appears earlier in the Discworld series, is mostly the butt of jokes about his flexible ethics. But there is more to Vetinari than meets the eye. It is because of him that the city of Ankh-Morpork works. He is a great example of an effective results-oriented politician. He has his own approach to ethics.

Corporal Carrot, it was obvious in Guards! Guards!, is the heir of the kings of Ankh. Later in the series (in Feet of Clay), Pratchett will have this to say about kings

It was as if even the most intelligent person had this little blank spot in their heads where someone had written: ‘Kings. What a good idea.’ Whoever had created humanity had left in a major design flaw. It was its tendency to bend at the knees.

We are not there yet -- Feet of Clay is the next City Watch novel, but the question is already on the table. Carrot has charisma, and he would be as good a king as a king can be. The question of whether he should do that arises in Men at Arms.

There is a near-final scene in Men at Arms that I really enjoyed, which I will consign to a spoiler tag. Vimes, now a Lord, is appointed by Vetinari to be Commander of the Watch. Carrot, now Captain of the watch, brings him the letter of appointment. Vimes protests "Of course, there’s no possible way I could oversee this sort of thing." This initiates a discussion of many hours in which Vimes and Carrot hash out how the new expanded watch is to work. It becomes clear that they are ideal for the job.

Men at Arms on Amazon

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