Halfway through

Ok, so halfway through the book now. Seems I'm faster at reading than blogging. Put that down to inexperience shall I? We've had a murder (a dead dwarf in a dwarf mine, underneath Ankh-Morpork, which is the New York or whatever big city of Discworld), a theft (a giant painting of the Battle of Koom Valley, the famous troll vs. dwarf slug-out) and also some sort of supernatural, presumably 'evil', force lurking around in the background. With the anniversary of Koom Valley around the corner there's also a bit of civil unrest brewing, with trolls and dwarves just waiting to turn the city into an urban battleground. In other words, the watch is busy.

First of all, finding similar situations in our world isn't that difficult. Compare for instance with your standard football derby, the situation in Gaza or Northern Ireland, where lifelong enemies live side by side and unrest flares at the drop of a hat. Using Commander Vimes as an imperfect but yet perfect (I'll explain later) beacon of morality, Pratchett gives his views on the matter. Basically, blame is laid not on the average citizen, who are treated quite decently by Vimes and his Watch, but on the leaders or politicians (and the ideas they represent) controlling the masses.

Furthermore, in using trolls and dwarves (who really are different; trolls are huge and made of rock, while dwarves are, well...dwarves, and make a living chopping through rock) as the adversaries, Pratchett also sets the stage for his all-but-obligatory dig at global, national and local politics of present-day Tellus.

Religion is also present, in part represented by the dwarf leaders, to whom exposure to the above world is a 'sin', and purity only can be found underground. Only by following rigorous rules can an individual stay 'clean' from the influences or the world above. The comparisons with our world are obvious, but I'll get back to that later.

Enough for now

/D