I started reading through the Night Watch series of Discworld books for the Beach Blanket Bonanza challenge I ran. I enjoyed the books I read then enough to keep reading more of the series. I recently finished Feet of Clay and am now starting Jingo.Feet of Clay is another straight up mystery. There have been a handful of murders and someone is trying to kill the Patrician again. Vimes, Carrot and the rest of the Watch must figure out who is behind the murders, the assassination attempts and why.The novel is fleshed out with details of Ankh-Morpork's history and culture. We learn more of the Vimes who committed regicide and of the city's peerage. There are a number of humorous scenes involving the heraldry of the various families. In the midst of these scenes, Nobby Nobbs finds himself elevated.Over all it's a good combination of mystery, world building, social commentary and humor. It was been fun to see how the Watch has changed as it diversifies. All the different cultures have their own prejudices even if they grudgingly agree to work together.

In my opinion, this is the book where Pratchett *really* hits his stride in terms of the city watch books. The characters are established, the setting is solid, and Pratchett is solidly in control of his craft here.As I said before (or at least meant to say) the second book about the city watch was twice as good as the first. Similarly, this book is twice as good as the second one. Putting it solidly in the familiar A+ quality book that comprises easily half of Pratchett's work.Of personal interest to me is the introduction of the Golem into the Discworld. In previous books, Pratchett has talked about issues of discrimination, but the Golems allow him to broaden the subject into a much larger discussion along the lines of "What makes a person a person?" and perhaps more importantly "What sort of person should a person be?"It's also interesting to note the appearance of Buggy Squires who is called a Gnome. But for those who have read the entire series, he's obviously a precursor to the Nac Mac Feagles that eventually appear in the Tiffany aching books.As an author, it's cool for me to see how that concept peeked its head up in Pratchett's work almost 10 years before it became fully realized in a much later book.... Is this book worth your time? Yes. A thousand times yes.

Loved it. Perfect storyline, perfect feeling, perfect pacing. An obvious exaggeration but one to show how thoroughly I enjoyed the book. It would be difficult not to enjoy the realism of the main characters (and the caricature secondary cast), something I have come to appreciate in the previous City Watch novels. The character development is obviously not monumental as this is an episode of an ongoing series rather than a stand-alone work but still the addition of extra layers of complexity is nonetheless welcome. Especially, when it comes to Carrot and Angua. Pratchett is always apt to clever one-liners as well as longer strokes of philosophy. Dorfl is stealing the show in this one. I really liked the character from the first time he is presented and Pratchett was clever enough not to make him a solemn golem but give him a sense of humour (probably more accurate to call it wit) albeit a fledgling one, in clear resonance with his origins.The story flows without hinder, no dead spots or collapsing comedy. It felt mature. The pleasant curiosity about the City Watch (and those in and around) is still there. The loveable characters are still there. Pratchett's genius shining brighter and brighter. A fulfilling experience of a book. Keep calm and read the next one.