The thirty-ninth book of the Disc is the final book that stars the watch. And specifically focused on Sam Vimes, his wondrous wife Sybil, and their country estate. Sam is forced by his wife to take a well-needed vacation, but he’s not exactly thrilled, and once they arrive at the pastoral setting, it’s not as idyllic as advertised.
Sam always feels out of place when he has to act his rank. He’s a true egalitarian and he was born into abject poverty, and he’s a natural copper, so he’s a reluctant duke to be sure. Sybil understands his attitude quite well, and she largely encourages aspects of his fair-minded approach to people. He’s also a city boy at heart, so the countryside doesn’t really agree with him. But, since this is a book just shy of four hundred pages, it can’t all be about his culture shock. He almost immediately suspects something is going on, and very quickly sets himself to finding out just what it is.
This doggedness to get to the truth upsets the local nobility that controls things in the area as they are involved in some very shady practices. These practices are technically legal, but highly immoral, and Sir Terry once again draws disturbing parallels to our roundworld’s past, with goblins being the downtrodden here. They’re treated as less than human, laws don’t protect them, and they’re used as slaves where they are starved and abused. Commander Vimes isn’t exactly happy about how they are regarded in the first place, but when he finds out more about them, his righteous anger drives his decisions throughout the book.
While Vimes through Sybil owns a lot of the land where the book focuses its attention, he has to deal with the local magistrates and his old acquaintance Lord Rust. Lord Rust always comes off as Sir Terry mocking the British upper class that we see in a lot of TV dramas. Although here he is older and wheelchair bound and not the main culprit, we can’t say the same for his son Gravid. Gravid is of course not the most flattering name to have, and one of the minor (but enjoyable) characters, Colonel Charles Makepeace, whose wife is part of the problem, ponders how the young Rust was unfortunate to earn such an appellation from his parents.
A quick aside about the previously mentioned colonel. We don’t see him often in the book, but I really liked him. He’s one of those characters that Sir Terry makes feel real, even if they aren’t major characters. The way his wife tries to keep him from enjoying food and drink while being a less-than-savory character herself makes his later appearances and determination that much better. He’s so likeable and being a kind of upper-class officer in the British style, I expected one of those stuffy types full of themselves and their prejudices, but he broke that stereotype and that made him a wonderful supporting character.
Sybil is always great, but she really shines here. At one point she angrily makes her distaste for some of the other nobles’ disregard for non-humans, which are many and diverse on the Disc, well known to both Samuel and the reader. As the plight of the goblins gradually comes to light, their horrible treatment, which reflects the treatment of some groups of people on our own planet, was disturbing. The fact that Sybil, a woman of privilege that insists on fair play and willing to get her hands dirty is this upset, reflects on how good she is perfectly.
We also have a wide cast of locals that make our stay in the country. Miss Felicity Beedle, who writes children’s books, often about poo and among young Sam’s favorite books for his father the elder Sam Vimes to read to him, is something of an enigma, and important to open Commander Sam’s eyes to the evil that is hidden below the pastoral setting. Feeney Upshot is the local constable that follows his orders at first but quickly realizes that some evil stuff is going down here, and with Vimes’ help he becomes an excellent copper. His mom is great fun too as she’s one of those that almost worships the nobility, much to Vimes’ embarrassment, but don’t get on her bad side! Of course, Willlikins, the butler to Sam and Sybil is such a great mix of gentlemen’s gentleman and his very poor and often violent upbringing, something he shares with Vimes, and he really shines in this book. He’s not one to cross as certain bad eggs discover.
The rest of the watch ends up involved in what seems like a tangential way at first. We quickly come to realize why Fred Colon is acting like he is, and why this involves the goblins in the country, despite where Fred got the strange object that messed with his mind so much so that they had to send Wee Mad Arthur via bird to investigate! While Arthur was originally called a gnome, his stature, blue skin and happily aggressive attitude made it obvious that he’s a Nac Mac Feegle, something covered first in the previous Discworld book, I Shall Wear Midnight. It wouldn’t be right to have a watch book without Carrot, Angua, Nobby, and the rest, so while they don’t have large roles, they are all here, and the book is better for their inclusion.
As Sam and by extension, we the readers find out more disturbing things about this idyllic setting and how horrible the goblins are treated, things come to a head on an action-packed scene on a riverboat, with Vimes and Feeney desperate to stop it while dealing with a river known as ‘Old Treachery,’ a hired killer, and a complicated chicken farmer. The fallout from this journey leads us to a very satisfying end to an excellent, thought-provoking book.
The title of this book has two implications. First off, snuff the stuff nobles like to stick up their nose is part of the contraband involved, among some other drugs that are far worse, especially for trolls. We also see how the ‘downstairs’ people like maids, butlers, gardeners, and so on, are often looked down upon by such people, despite how important they are. Secondly, the more disturbing implication of the word applies to how the nastier folks in this book regard non-humans, but especially goblins. We share in the righteous indignation that Sam, Sybil, and others feel at that disgusting treatment. I’ve always abhorred slavery and the evil it has wrought on our roundworld, and I despise it here too.
While not my favorite book of the Ankh-Morpork watch, it’s a great book and another volume that engages the funny bone and your brain, which is largely why I enjoy Sir Terry’s books so much. The watch series ends on solid ground here, only held back from the full four-point rating by a couple of things that resolved too quickly, or ‘off camera.’
3.9375 Snuff boxes out of 4.
Some fun quotes:
Goodness is about what you do. Not who you pray to.
Cheery was aware that Commander Vimes didn't like the phrase "The innocent have nothing to fear," believing the innocent had everything to fear, mostly from the guilty but in the longer term even more from those who say things like "The innocent have nothing to fear.”
If you want to change a whole people, then you start with the girls. It stands to reason: they learn faster, and they pass on what they learn to their children.
Morella is a Gen Xer who likes strange things a bit too much.
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