It's the anniversary of the great battle of Koom Valley and it seems to be on the mind of every Troll and Dwarf living in Ankh-Morpork, as well as the person who might have to stand between them to keep the peace of the city, Sam Vimes. In this entry to the City Watch series of Discworld novels, Pratchett deals with historical grudge and the rabble-rousers that keep that grudge burning.
There has been a murder at a time of tension between the Trolls and Dwarves. The battle of Koom Valley is a thousands of years old legend of a great battle where the Trolls had ambushed some Dwarves, or the Dwarves had ambushed some Trolls, depending on who is doing the telling. And now, on it's anniversary, at a time when every Troll and Dwarf were looking for a reason to relive the battle again, there had been a murder...of a revered Dwarf who happenened to be revered for insisting on hatred of Trolls...seemingly committed by a Troll. It seemed a bit convenient to Vimes and so he was going to get to the bottom of it. In the course of his investigations, he learns a lot more about Dwarf and Troll culture and eventually he comes to learn the secret of Koom Valley.
Theres a chance here for Pratchett to bring out every Troll and Dwarf character that we've all come to know and love by this point, along with the unwieldy cast of characters that now makes up the Ankh-Morpork city watch. There's a lot of characters in this book and it makes me wonder what it would be like for a reader who hasn't met any of these characters before. Would they feel hollow or superfluous? I wouldn't know.
In my totally biased opinion, it is, of course, brilliant.
Finished reading - 22/05/26