Guards! Guards!

So, I was thinking about what to use this for and decided to use this as a repository for reviews of stuff I read, so I don't have to clutter my LJ and can link easily to them from my reading/gaming/etc. communities. So, where to start? With a new book I got for Christmas and read over the long weekend:

Title: Guards! Guards!
Author: Terry Pratchett
Set: Discworld
My take: Snappy writing, a fun look at some typical tropes and with engaging ideas, but hindered by a flat plot and characters who were more caricature than substance

Spoiler-free synopsis: In Ankh-Morpork, crime is regulated, life is unpredictable and the night watch is free of anything like responsibility or requirement. Enter Carrot, a very tall dwarf (he was adopted) who brings a sense of staid duty and a mistaken impression about what would be required of him when he joined up with the night watch to learn about humans.

As he's settling in (and unsettling residents) a completely unrelated group is in the middle of using a stolen book to summon a creature that the city hasn't seen for hundreds of year - and which, once it arrives, will change everything.