Rating: 
Summary: Pratchett
Review: This was the first book I ever read in this series. And I thank the book club that I belonged to back in the day for their policy of shipping out novels if you didn't respond in time. Since then I have read them all, from Colour of Magic to Monstrous Regiment, with side forays into Truckers, Diggers, Wings, Strata, the Science of Discworld series and of course the children's books. The Amazing Maurice and his educated Rodents, and Wee Free Men. Thus do I consider myself somewhat of an expert of the author and this book still ranks as my likely #1 or at the very least in the top five. As to others opinions? I just bought my sixth copy of it, the former five were all lent to friends who just happened to 'misplace' it. Bunch of thieves, and I didn't even get a reciept. The City Watch series of novels are my favorites. Perhaps in part because, through all the humor and fantasy, there is a reflection (distorted) of the urban life I live. I really wish that TP would become as popular in the US as he is in the rest of the world. Then perhaps I wouldn't need to have the new novels mailed to me from South Africa. In general I would say to a new reader, start wherever you want. Any book can be your introduction to the Disc. But from personal preference, start with the Watch, and the Watch starts here.
Rating:
Summary: Smart and fun
Review: G!G! is the brilliant introduction to Sam Vimes and the Night Watch (eventually the City Watch) of Ankh-Morpork. Fencing (sort of), fighting (rather one-sided), torture (only a little bit), revenge (maybe some), giants (my, but Carrot certainly is tall), monsters (dragons and trolls count, right?), chases (when the Night Watch runs away), escapes (see previous), true love (sort of), miracles (one in a million chance)...
Sam Vimes and Carrot Ironfoundersson are my two favorite characters on the whole Disc, after Death. I just have to love this book, mostly because it gave us the characters. It sets the stage for the later books, and the City Watch subseries is the most dedicated to internal consistency and continuity among all the Discworld books. This is an essential book to see the beginning of the rise of the Night Watch and Sam Vimes, and it really sets the character of Carrot. The literal-mindedness of Carrot in this gives one an even deeper appreciation of some of the later jokes surrounding him.
Rating:
Summary: Who Dares Wins
Review: There are two books in the diskworld series that stands out before all others: "Guards! Guards!" and "Reaper Man". In Guards! the reader has the exquisite pleasure of following the exploits of the hopefull new recruits in the Night Watch. Meaning, the recruits the Day Watch in Ankh-Morpork passed over... I really would not spoil your enjoyment of this book by revealing too much beforehand. Suffice to say that this is one of Terry Pratchetts Masterworks.
Rating: 
Summary: Good Start to the Watch Sequence
Review: The Watch sequence is the most consistently good of the Discworld books, and this is a good introduction. Introduces Vimes and the Watch. Strengthens my theory that Pratchett hit a peak around this point and since then his books have been growing in length but not quality. The detailed depiction of the digestive processes swamp dragons and Vimes' introduction to the Lady Sybill are great. Introduces Carrot. Carrot is a frustrating character: on the one hand he seems like a lazy author's way out (an uneducated immigrant, an idealistic, perfectly friendly, eager, very charismatic guy with natural leadership skills who always does exactly the right thing in every circumstance... it gets old), but on the other hand his quirks are funny (I enjoy reading his letters back home, and his idea of a fun date is taking Angua to the Dwarf Bread Museum).
Rating:
Summary: Simply magnificent
Review: Addictive is what it really is. The characters are dynamic, the city is realistic, and it's hilarious at times. You won't put it down, as any justified person would say.
Rating:
Summary: Who Dares Wins
Review: There are two books in the diskworld series that stands out before all others: "Guards! Guards!" and "Reaper Man". In Guards! the reader has the exquisite pleasure of following the exploits of the hopefull new recruits in the Night Watch. Meaning, the recruits the Day Watch in Ankh-Morpork passed over... I really would not spoil your enjoyment of this book by revealing too much beforehand. Suffice to say that this is one of Terry Pratchetts Masterworks.
Rating:
Summary: Funny, funny man.
Review: I don't like to do things easy. I picked up this book in an airport on a business trip. I had never read Terry Pratchett before, but had heard him mentioned by some people that I work with. All I can say is that they are correct! The book was filled with vivid characters that made me laugh. It included a dragon that wasn't quite right, and alcoholic and some bad guys. Seems simple doesn't it? Well this author has created a world with it's own rules. All of the above characters are woven into a tapestry that takes a comical look at a society of laws. There is a message in there somewhere and when I finish wiping the tears of laughter from my eyes I'll figure it out. It is now my understanding that there are 20 something Discworld books and I will have to find them all now. Guess my business trips will be covered for the foreseeable future.
Rating:
Summary: The beginning of the Night Watch
Review: This, the eighth Discworld novel, is the one that introduces the Night Watch in Ankh-Morpork, thus starting another on-going sub-series in the Discworld saga (after Rincewind and Granny Weatherwax). In Guards! Guards!, the Night Watch has been reduced (due to the guild system for criminals introduced by the Patrician) to a pathetic shadow of its former self, with three remaining guardsmen: Captain Sam Vimes, an alcoholic who drinks to forget, Sergeant Colon, a fat man who is not exactly the sharpest card in the deck, and Corporal Nobbs, a human being although you wouldn't know it by looking at him.
Then arrives Carrot Ironfoundersson, the quintessential good guy, who will always do the right thing, and with a tendency (due to his having been raised by dwarfs) to be extremely literal-minded. He's also huge, even his muscles has muscles, and he's armed with an old sword and a cod-piece. And he has a birthmark shaped like a crown... His adoptive dwarf family decided that it was time for him to experience life among his own kind, and as they had heard that being a watchman is good and honest work, it's off to Ankh-Morpork for young Carrot, where the assorted scum and lowlife have no idea what is about to hit them.
Meanwhile, the shadowy Supreme Grand Master has gathered a secret society (sort of) in order to raise a dragon. Once there were real dragons on the Disc, but they went away somewhere. Now, the SGM has found a way to summon one back and control it (or so he thinks). His plan is to use the dragon to terrorize the city, so that he can set up a puppet king instead of the Patrician. But of course, things do not go quite as planned. So, it's up to the Night Watch (reinforced with Carrot, and also receiving help from the impressive Lady Sybil Ramkin, the city's leading authority on swamp dragons) to save the day.
This is another strong effort from Pratchett. It's fun and intriguing, and it's also interesting to see the groundwork laid for the future Night Watch (or City Watch) stories. Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: One of my favorites of the series so far
Review: This was my sixth visit to Discworld, and the most enjoyable stay so far. This is the first of the 'City Watch' sub-series, which fans often nominate as their favorite. These stories focus on the criminally understaffed city guards of Ahnk-Morpork (four employees total), lead by the depressed, sotted, but nearly heroic Captain Vimes. Pratchett gets a lot of heroic fantasy parody material out of this concept, but it also gives him a chance for good character work. In this novel, he also plays around with the stereotypical fantasy dragon and has quite a blast with it (excuse the pun). The story construction is the best I've read from Discworld. Unfortunately, I've noticed that my attention always begins slipping in the last third of any Discworld novel; Pratchett's ceaseless comic parading eventually becomes wearisome after two hundred pages of it. Nonetheless, the series continues to strengthen with each episode I read, and I'm eager to read more of the City-Watch series.
Rating:
Summary: I'd give it 6 stars if I could.
Review: Guards Guards! is an amazing book. It's the first Discworld book to take place solely in the smelly city of Ankh Morpork, and Ankh Morpork being one of Pratchett's greatest creation, this book already has a charm of its own. The plot focusses on the Night Watch, a group of three drunken men. A "dwarf" who has firm beliefs about the law. He unfortunetely doesn't realize that in Ankh Morpork, there's such thing as "legal crime" so he goes about arresting thieves guild members, and Vimes has to teach him how Ankh Morpork works. Meanwhile, some cultists are trying to summon a dragon in an effort to take over the city...The best character is Captain Vimes. When the book starts out, he is at the bottom of the pecking order of the city. He begins to straighten up, though, and near the end, he is a competent and witty officer of the law. There's a good part where Vimes has two men put in jail, and when he is told that the jail isn't very strong and that the prisoners will eventually be able to break out, he responds "I hope so, because the very first drain we come to, you're going to drop the key down it." The other characters have their ins and outs. Vimes is the star of the show, but the rest of the Night Watch has its moments. Lord Vetinari, ruler of Ankh Morpork, is also a good character. His dark philosophy and strange opinions on how to run the city make the book even more fun to read. And the dragon just makes it better. So overall, GET THIS BOOK, it's one of the best in the Discworld series, and should not be missed.
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