Men at Arms is a Discworld novel by Terry Pratchett, the second to feature the City Watch. [Here are my other reviews of the Discworld books I’ve read so far.]

[SPOILERS TO GUARDS! GUARDS! FOLLOW.]

Plot:
Ankh-Morpork’s City Watch faces an equal opportunity employment programme and has to deal with new recruits, among them dwarfs, trolls and werewolves. As if that wasn’t enough Captain Vimes is about to get married to Sybil Ramkin, richest woman in the city. And somebody stole a mysterious object from the Assassin’s Guild. Oh, and there are quite a few seemingly unconnected murders to solve.
At the same time, Edward d’Eath, discredited assassin, is convinced to be able to solve all of Ankh-Morpork’s problems by reinstating the king, whose heir just happens to be in the city. At least according to Edward.

I have to admit that I read this book 3 months ago and I’m already fuzzy on the details. I know I liked it, though it’s probably my least favourite Watch novel so far (I’ve arrived at the Fifth Elephant in the meantime). And I still know the general whereabouts of the plot. But that’s about it.

But that’s exactly the thing with all the Pratchett books I’ve read – I immediately forget the plot. And when I say immediately, I mean basically while reading them. But the weird thing is – I really don’t care. With any other books, it would probably drive me crazy, but with the Discworld novels it’s like it’s supposed to be like that. What keeps me reading is that they do make me laugh (even if I tend to forget the jokes right away as well) and that I love the characters (and I do remember them). I guess that makes re-reading the books more interesting. ;)

Anyway, Men at Arms introduces a lot of new characters, all of which are awesome. Detritus, Angua, Cheery, Leonard of Quirm, Gaspode… And I really loved the Buddy-Movie plot for Detritus and Cuddy. It’s really sad that [SPOILER] Cuddy doesn’t get to live in the end. [/SPOILER]

But of course, there’s also the old favourites: Sam, the Patrician, Sybil…

Well, as I don’t really remember much else about the book, I’ll leave it at that. [Even if it’s a pretty sucky review. Oh well. Not everything can be great. Not even if I write it. ;)]