Feet of Clay

by Terry Pratchett

Grade: Good

Not my all time favourite Watch book. In fact, perhaps my least favourite. But it was still excellent. I loved the introduction of Cheery Littlebottom. And I loved when I realized that Vetinari was in control the whole time. I was a little worried for a minute there, until I got to page 261: "If the poor man took any longer he'd have to start giving him hints."

Some parts I liked:
"Who had a motive for poisoning Lord Vetinari?
No, that wasn't the way to crack it. Probably, if you went to some outlying area of the city and confined your investigations to little old ladies who didn't get out much, what with all the wallpaper over the door and everything, you might be able to find someone without a motive."
(pg.105-6)

"This always happens in any police chase anywhere. A heavily laden lorry will always pull out of a side alley in front of the pursuit.
If vehicles aren't involved, then it'll be a man with a rack of garments. Or two men with a large sheet of glass.
There's probably some kind of secret society behind all this." (pg.158)

"Bingely bingely beep bong! [...] It's nine of the clock,' said the organizer, poking its head out of Vimes's pocket. '"I was unhappy because I had no shoes until I met a man with no feet."'
The Watchmen exchanged glances.
'What?' said Vimes, very carefully.
'People like it if I occasionally come up with a little aphorism or inspiring Thought For the Day,' said the imp.
'So how did you meet this man with no feet?' said Vimes.
'I didn't actually meet him,' said the imp. 'It was a general metaphorical statement.'
'Well, that's it, then,' said Vimes. 'If you'd met him you could have asked him if he had any boots he didn't have any use for.'
There was a squeak as he pushed the imp back into its box." (pg.189)

"Vetinari had tamed Ankh-Morpork. He'd tamed it like a dog. He'd taken a minor scavenger among scavengers and lengthened its teeth and strengthened its jaws and built up its muscles and studded its collar and fed it lean steak and then he'd aimed it at the throat of the world." (pg.223)