Previous threads:
1. The Colour of Magic
2. The Light Fantastic
3. Equal Rites
4. Mort
5. Sourcery
6. Wyrd Sisters
7. Pyramids
8. Guards! Guards!
9. Eric
10. Moving Pictures
11. Reaper Man
12. Witches Abroad
13. Small Gods
14. Lords and Ladies
15. Men at Arms
16. Soul Music
17. Interesting Times
18. Maskerade
19. Feet of Clay
20. Hogfather
21. Jingo
22. The Last Continent
23. Carpe Jugulum
“A marriage is always made up of two people who are prepared to swear that only the other one snores.”
I rather liked this outing. Vimes out of his city, but not out of his element. An exploration into Angua and Carrot’s relationship, more dwarves than you can count, and a complete refusal to go for the cheap “Fetch that!” joke. It also sets up what comes later quite well.
Are you sure you mean The Fifth Elephant?! Because I seem to remember . . .
Page 296: *"There were a lot of things he could say. “Son of a bitch!” would have been a good one. Or he could say, “Welcome to civilization!” He could have said, “Laugh this one off!” He might have said, “Fetch!”
But he didn’t, because if he had said any of those things then he’d have known that what he had just done was murder.*
That’s the moment I remember when I think of Vimes–that, and the entire night Sybil gives birth.
I didn’t get into this one as much as some of the others, but there were some fantastic moments. For me, they’re all great books, but Carpe Jugulum through to the present are his best works; he’s really honed his craft to perfection.
I don’t like the Vimes books.
No dwarves in this book!
Nice to have an assassin (and one of Vetinari’s pets, no less) on the side of the good guys so we could have a look at him, but he just wasn’t quite good enough for the job.
One favourite bit is where Vimes asks if Death is going to help him, and Death says yes, “WHEN THE PAIN IS TOO MUCH TO BEAR”, adding that even as he says this he realizes it’s not the answer Vimes was hoping for. 
The Vimes books are my favorite. I think Sam Vimes is one of the finest protagonists ever written in the Fantasy genre.
Anyway, IMHO one of the best books of the series. Not only does it have Vimes, Gaspode, Detrius and random Tolstoy references, it also has Carrot being a badass - and a smart badass at that. Carrot’s character was mostly played for laughs in *Feet of Clay * and Jingo, so it was nice to see a return of the dangerous, cunning, kingly Carrot from the ending of Men at Arms.
Yes, I think I’m in an incredibly small minority. I may in fact be the only Discworld fan in existence who doesn’t like Vimes.
One of my favourites. It’s the little things - the mounted troll heads and Detritus’ lack of offense - a subtle comment on PC there, I think.
The ripping-off of the Ring cycle and Wagnerian opera in general.
A little bit of locked-room mystery, just so we remember the Vimes books are procedurals as much as politics.
I love the idea of the Deep Dwarfs - an echo of an idea from the first Nome book there, and a nice mirror-world version of Ultra-orthodox Jews. Plus, being an ex-mine geologist, I just love the idea of them.
Also great for being the set-up for Thud!
One of my favourites,a Watch book AND it has Uberwald.
I think that you’re being a bit unfair on the assassin,from the very beginning he was fighting overwhelming odds but Vetinari like many bosses thought that he could save a few pennies and didn’t give the guy ANY let alone sufficient backup.
For those who dont like Vimes I totally agree with them,he’s a self righteous emotional masochist,just like the Witches except for the emotional masochist bit.
It might do him some good to fall off of the wagon for a while.