Men at arms is the 15th book in the Discworld series but only the second time we meet the Ankh Morpork City Watch (Night Shift). This book picks up the story of the watch after their adventures in Guards! Guards!
We meet again Carrot now a Corporal, Sergeant Colon, Corporal Nobbs (reportedly a human but ’’disqualified from the human race for shoving’’) and Captain Vimes, who is about to get married to the richest woman in Ankh Morpork and retire from the Watch.
As usual with the ’City Watch’ books there is a mystery to be solved and this book is no exception. The mystery begins with an explosion at the Assassin’s guild and, it becomes apparent, something has been stolen, although the assassins don’t want to talk about it. That something is ’The Gonne’ , a gun to all intents and purposes and unique on the discworld, a pre-industrial world where the weapons of choice are axes, swords and crossbows.
Now guild leaders begin to be targeted, a dwarf, an expert in mechanisms, turns up dead, a hole where his chest should be and a clown is also killed. The race in on to find the villain because Gonnes don’t kill people, people kill people or do they? This essentially is the mystery to be solved and the main plot of Men at Arms.
However interwoven with the main plot is a subtle sub plot which delves deep into human interaction. For the City Watch is expanding beyond Captian Vimes and his three cohorts, the Patrician (ruler of the City) has demanded that the Watch reflect the ethnic diversity of Ankh Morpork and this being the discworld that means the new recruits are Lance-constable Detritus - a troll, Lance-constable Cuddy - a dwarf, and Lance-constable Angua - a woman(actually it soon become evident that she has not been recruited because she is a woman but because she is a werewolf and is there to represent the undead of the city)
Now to say that trolls and dwarves don’t get on is like saying the Pope is a bit religious, I mean trolls and dwarves have been at war for years, centuries and so the scene is set for an exploration of race dislike and similarities and differences between races and what it means to be an individual. And when the chips are really down these recruits find out who their friends really are.
As usual with Terry Pratchett this story can be read on many levels. On the surface it is a gripping whodunnit? but it is also a subtle psychological exploration of human (or dwarf, or troll, or werewolf) nature and it is very funny too!
I really do recommend this book to anyone who likes a good read.