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Thud!
Thud!
Dec 2, 2025 8:32 AM

Author:Terry Pratchett,Jon Culshaw,Peter Serafinowicz,Bill Nighy

Thud!

Brought to you by Penguin.

'Beating people up in little rooms . . . he knew where that led. And if you did it for a good reason, you'd do it for a bad one. You couldn't say 'we;re the good guys' and do bad-guy things.'

Koom Valley, the ancient battle where the trolls ambushed the dwarfs, or the dwarfs ambushed the trolls, was a long time ago.

But if he doesn't solve the murder of just one dwarf, Commander Sam Vimes of Ankh-Morpork City Watch is going to see it fought again, right outside his office.

With his beloved Watch crumbling around him and war-drums sounding, he must unravel every clue, outwit every assassin and brave any darkness to find the solution. And darkness is following him.

Oh . . . and at six o'clock every day, without fail, with no excuses, he must go home to read 'Where's My Cow?', with all the right farmyard noises, to his little boy.

There are some things you have to do.

The Discworld novels can be read in any order but Thud! is the seventh book in the City Watch series.

'Imaginative, witty and consistent' SFX

© Terry and Lyn Pratchett 2005 (P) Penguin Audio 2023

Reviews

Imaginative, witty and consistent - as in consistently funny, consistently clever and consistently surprising in its twists and turnss - Thud! is everything that the 30th novel in a fantasy sequence ought to be, and more.

—— SFX magazine

Pratchett too requires us to think. Whenever I read his stories I find myself thinking that he is "grown up". He may write benign comedy but he knows how horribly complicated and exciting the Universe is.

—— A.S. Byatt, The Times

You hardly need to review Pratchett nowadays...you know you can rely on him to be wirtty and quietly wise, and his creations have taken on a life of their own...A series that seems to re-invent itself by natural evolution every time.

—— Starburst

'Thud! has a serious theme: racial intolerance. That Pratchett can explore this while still making us laugh is a tribute to the integrity of his created world ... Extremely funnym but it's also very near the knuckleduster.'

—— Scotland on Sunday

Iggulden is in a class of his own when it comes to epic, historical fiction

—— Daily Mirror

Pacy...and packed with action

—— Sunday Times

Breathes new life into the darkest and most dramatic of times

—— Star

Compelling reading

—— Woman and Home

A gentle reflection on self-discovery

—— Vogue, 2023 Spring Highlights

If you haven't had a chance to read Caleb Azumah Nelson's debut, Open Water, about a gorgeous love affair in modern-day London, then please do; it'll keep you occupied until his new release is out on 11 May, which is about fathers and sons, the power of dance and how one man can create a life he loves

—— Stylist, Big Fiction for 2023

A wonderful, dexterous work. Caleb Azumah Nelson explores modes of blackness in ways that are enriching and invigorating

—— IRENOSEN OKOJIE

Caleb Azumah Nelson's writing captures nostalgia-that most essential of sentiments-like no other. I was immersed, transported, and at the same time affirmed in the familiar. Gorgeous

—— Sareeta Domingo, author of IF I DON'T HAVE YOU

Small Worlds grabs you by the heart and holds tightly, revealing a story as beautiful and as lyrical as the words that adorn the pages.

—— Sofia Akel

Both intimate and inviting, Azumah Nelson weaves not just worlds but exquisite universes with his words. SMALL WORLDS is a masterful exploration of love, masculinity, coming of age and community, and Azumah Nelson's dextrous, sublime pen brings it into dazzling life.

—— Bolu Babalola, author of LOVE IN COLOUR

A book which is alert and enlivening, at once serious and a pleasure to read

—— Literary Review

Small Worlds is a Vermeer universe of a novel, of warmth, deep feeling, aching and gorgeousness. To read is to be hugged by a rich brown oak, ever stretching out. It is as charged as it is earthed. It is wonderful.

—— Inua Ellams

It's a story about finding both one's identity and one's place in the world.

—— Art Review

moving, intimate, and sizzling hot

—— Sunday Times

Steeped in nostalgia, grief and heartbreak, yet somehow still hopeful, this is one of the best books I've read all year.

—— City AM

This story about rebuilding small worlds - places in which to feel beautiful and free - is itself a thing of beauty

—— Prospect

Let's hear it for Caleb Azumah Nelson, also known as the future

—— Benjamin Zephaniah

An exhilarating new voice in British fiction

—— Vogue

One of Britain's most exciting young voices

—— Harper's Bazaar

Hands-down the best debut I've read in years

—— The Times on OPEN WATER

The rhythms of Small Worlds are a feature of Nelson's quiet, particular ear and of a profound engagement with music. Nelson writes about closeness, with family, with lovers, with art, as careful, essential labour

—— Raven Leilani, bestselling author of LUSTER

A novel that feels as intimate as it does expansive; Caleb Azumah Nelson has given to us a love story that goes beyond two people. Instead, there are no bounds to his exploration of exactly what the heart can feel. Beautiful, unforgettable and all-consuming

—— Candice Carty-Williams, bestselling author of QUEENIE and PEOPLE PERSON

A beautiful novel. Caleb Azumah Nelson is not just a storyteller; he is a cultural archivist of our time. At the core of Small Worlds is a deep love. Whether in music, locality, the people we are introduced to, or the circumstances that we journey and process through. Love is the offer, and Caleb's reminder for us is to lean into these offerings for history and reflection. For guidance, and most importantly, our survival.

—— Yomi Sode, author of MANORISM
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