Thud!: Discworld, Book 30

As a long time lover of discworld it was hard to pick which book to start with for my discworld audio experience. With Discworld celebrating its 25th anniversary there are plenty to choose from! It had to be unabridged and then had to be Stephen Briggs, so familiar to many discworld fans for his adaptations for the stage. Listening to a few clips I finally decided on Thud! - Vimes at his best. It was a complete joy to listen to, with the characters leaping out of the speakers and coming to life. It is a great book read by a man who vividly recreated the atmosphere and humour of the discworld. In particular I loved the reading of 'Where's my cow?' to young Sam, with '...it goes Hrrruurrrh.That's not my cow, it's a hippopotamus...' having me in fits of giggles even after replaying that short bit many times! A really great listen that I would reccommend to either seasoned discworld fans or those who are new to Pratchett. Hours of fun to be enjoyed over and over again. Hrrruurrrrh!

Pratchett always has great stories but this is read so well. So many characters, each with an individual voice and, what is more, the exactly right one! Brilliant reading. brilliant writing. A match made in Heaven!

This is Pratchett at his best. Fantastic, very entertaining story. As usual, leaves me wondering how on earth he thinks these story lines up. If you are a fan of Sam Vimes, this one is definitely for you. And I must comment on Stephen Briggs. I've heard many a favourite story ruined by the wrong reader, but Stephen Briggs is ABSOLUTELY PERFECT. I can't imagine anyone reading it better than he does.

Stephen Briggs is just brilliant! I'm afraid Tony Robbins and Nigel Planer just can't hold a candle to this fella. I was in fits of laughter for the full duration of the story and found myself absolutely absorbed by the depth he brings to the discworld.
This is the best "Watch" story yet. I hope a Briggs re-telling of "Gaurds Gaurds" is on the way?

Very nice. Lots of stuff about the dwarves. Carrot, Angua and Cheery feature prominently, which is always a good sign. Fairly taut plot and not too much dawdling for predictable jokes.

This was the first book I downloaded by Terry Pratchett and I got totally addicted!



The story is funny, full of allegories - so many things in real life come up in the fictional characters. The vampire VS the werewolf 'drama' never fails to make me laugh.



Since then I have been purchasing all of the available titles in the series narrated by Stephen Briggs. But this one is my favourite. I probably have listened to it 50 times over already and I am never bored of it.

A brilliant listen. Sam Vimes is one of the best characters you could ask for in a story. All the daft lines in there have you laughing. So it's especially clever to go shopping or out somewhere listening to this and laughing it just makes you look like a nutter. Which is the best thing ever. Haha

I am a fan of discword and in particular of the "City Watch" books. Thud is a classic with all the well loved characters and a plot which kept me interested all the way through.

The narration is excellent and easy to listen to, all the characters are well drawn by Stephen Briggs.

I would recommend this to anyone who likes the Pratchett humor.

enjoyed; a fantastic, funny yet thought provoking read. a crime,a read about race and what people think stereo types are

"Thud!" is the 30th adult Discworld novel, but if asked to rank them I would put it near the top. Several of the books after this have been a bit lacklustre for me, but this one is amazing.

This is Vimes and Co. at their best, and is a brilliant and funny study of racial prejudice and mob mentality told with Pratchett's characteristic optimism and faith in humanity. The Discworld seems a richer and more believable world than ever, and I really hope Pratchett has time to elaborate on the hints of troll culture he makes here. Several of the new characters are also brilliant.

I really like Stephen Briggs's readings, much more than Nigel Planar. It's true he seems to feel the need to give every single character a different accent, which is a bit odd, but does certainly help to distinguish them. His voices are great, and his Vimes is spot-on.

The only warning I would give is that by this point in the series a certain amount of foreknowledge of the Discworld mythos is helpful. It's not as bad as in some subsequent books, but I would say there are other books that it would be better to start with (Feet of Clay, maybe - that's another of my favourite Vimes books). Still, if you've read a Discworld book before, you can't do much better than this for your next one!