Guards! Guards!
Discworld, Book 8
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Guards! Guards!
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Narrated by:
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Jon Culshaw
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Peter Serafinowicz
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Bill Nighy
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Ben Aaronovitch
About this listen
Brought to you by Penguin.
Over 1 million Discworld audiobooks sold – discover the extraordinary universe of Terry Pratchett’s Discworld like never before
'It was the usual Ankh-Morpork mob in times of crisis; half of them were here to complain, a quarter of them were here to watch the other half, and the remainder were here to rob, importune or sell hotdogs to the rest.'
Insurrection is in the air in the city of Ankh-Morpork. The Haves and Have-Nots are about to fall out all over again.
Captain Sam Vimes of the city's ramshackle Night Watch is used to this. It's enough to drive a man to drink. Well, to drink more. But this time, something is different - the Have-Nots have found the key to a dormant, lethal weapon that even they don't fully understand, and they're about to unleash a campaign of terror on the city.
Time for Captain Vimes to sober up.
The Discworld novels can be read in any order but Guards! Guards! is the first book in the City Watch series.
'This is one of Pratchett's best books. Hilarious and highly recommended' The Times
© Terry Pratchett 1989 (P) Penguin Audio 2023
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Critic reviews
'Pratchett is at the peak of his powers; it's hard to think of any humorist writing in Britain today who can match him...A masterful ear for dialogue, a keen eye for the ridiculous and a real feel for language'
Guards! Guards! Sir T P New Penguin release 2023
I’ve read the books. I’ve listened to the books the original recordings made digital for our dumb phones. Spoiler if you’re new to Sir Terry Pratchett’s books i) welcome ii) where in the hells have you been? and iii) stop reading this review I don’t want to spoil the magnificence of all the Discworld books and audiobooks.
Still reading? Well don’t blame me. Jon Culshaw has a gift of changing his voice. What he’s done here is awful. A bad Les Dawson impression does for Captain Sam Vimes. What!? (Don’t know Les Dawson? try that place for videos of everything you know youThingy)
Cpl. Nobby Nobbs is at least twenty years younger than Sgt. Fred Colon but sounds 20 years older. Is Mr Culshaw a fan of the Discworld? It doesn’t appear so. Age difference proof Nobby and Fred? Try Night Watch Nobby is a grubby little street urchin and Fred is in the Watch having served in the military already. Carrot’s voice is okay. For a thin wiry tall man Havelock Vetinari, the Patrician his voice sounds too deep and slow he’s swift of hand and swifter in the mind and would speak quickly enunciating clearly and sharply as his mind.
Based on this outing I won’t preorder any other books until I can hear a sample. I’ll stick with my original collection for now.
It’s an opportunity missed or misguided.
I’ve read the books. I’ve listened to the books
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Thank you and off I go to the next book
Great version of a wonderful story
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I loved Nigel Planer's renditions - they were so enjoyable to listen to. He brought out the fun, humour and, dare I say it, the farce of the stories naturally, effortlessly and with aplomb.
In contrast, I found Jon Culshaw's narration to be slightly OTT which made his rendition sound stilted and disjointed. It was too serious and dramatic which, in my opinion, is not what the series is about. He made Nobby out to be more intelligent and quite sarcastic. Have I misjudged him all this time? Also, the plebs all sounded the same ie middle class.
I really regret giving away my physical copies of the books when I bought the audio recordings. However, the sound quality of the tapes have deteriorated due to constant replays. Audible has copies of these recordings, but it comes with a warning re the sound quality as well. There are no cd versions of Nigel's narration - I looked.
I will persevere with JC and hope that he will grow on me 🤞.
Jury still out re Jon Culshaw
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Jon Culshaw pulling out all the big names!
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Exciting start to the guards series
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