“Men at Arms” is the City Watch at full strength: a daft murder mystery that keeps the jokes coming while using its new recruits to say sharp things about prejudice. Some readers find the satire on race relations of its time in places, though most of it still lands. As in other Discworld books there are no chapters, so stopping points are hard to find. A good second step after the first Watch novel.

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About the book

Men at Arms is a fantasy novel by British writer Terry Pratchett, the 15th book in the Discworld series, first published in 1993. It is the second novel about the Ankh-Morpork City Watch on the Discworld. Lance-constable Angua von Überwald, later in the series promoted to the rank of Sergeant, is introduced in this book. Lance-constable Detritus is introduced as a new member of the watch as well, though he had already appeared in other Discworld novels, most notably in Moving Pictures. Also notable is the only appearance of Lance-constable Cuddy.

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Where the score comes from

The sources average 8.7 across 766 ratings. With that many, the reader vote carries 84% of the weight and the score stays at 8.6 — the Fantasy average of 8.0 barely moves it.