The story is secondary to the characters. Love Nobby, Carrot, Angua, Vimes and Vetinari and this book is loaded with all of them. ( )

My husband and I now use the phrase "sheep eyeballs" as a code phrase.

And when I realized that Vetinari was so concerned that he actually let Leonard of Quirm out to play, I got a chill.

What will Vetinari do when he runs out of things to reward Vimes with?

Ankh-Morpork gets involved in a war with Klatch and the Discworld equivalent of Atlantis, Leshp, is about to rise. It is up to the Watch, Vimes, Colon, Carrot and all the rest to find a way to prevent it. In Jingo the Discworld looks into the dark heart of war, land disputes, assassination, science and weapons development, and prejudice. Of course, Terry Pratchett does it in his special way, sneaking it in here and there and occasionally hitting you head on with it. Of course, there is a lot more going on than just two nations setting out to wage war. Commander Vimes feels like he's out of touch and losing control of the Watch to Captain Carrot, who has been actively recruiting new guardsmen. Since Carrot joined the Watch, the number of guards has grown from three men to over forty men, or actually, creatures. Thanks to Carrot, the Watch now includes dwarfs, gargoyles, a golem, a troll, a gnome, a werewolf and a zombie. Carrot is, of course, totally oblivious to Vimes' concerns, as his only objective is to uphold the law and protect the citizens of Ankh-Morpork. He has the kind of charisma that lets him organize a football game between two armies poised at the brink of war, and make criminals beg to confess. ( )

Another crime novel with the city watch. This time, the main themes are India/immigration/imperialism and territorial war. A mysterious island appears in between Ankh Morpork and Klatch, and almost immediately the two countries are claiming the land for themselves. When a Klatch prince is wounded in Ankh Morpork, war is declared while the plot thickens almost to a solid mass of twists and turns. This is one of the longer novels in the series, and benefits from the length with some deeper characterisations, more interesting sub-plots and some wildly funny moments, particularly involving the mad futility of war and Carrot's superhuman ability to charm and pacify anyone - even two warring nations. ( )

Funny yet poignant, as always. ( )