The Flighty Press

Let’s start the press rolling with ‘Feet of Clay’, the nineteenth (!) book in the Discworld series by Terry Pratchett. Perhaps described best by Neil Gaiman as one of his later ‘Swiss watches’, this book really is just that – a wonderfully crafted delight. Unlike his earlier works, in which plot often cropped up as a mere suggestion, it’s clear that Sir Terry put an awful lot of effort into meticulously crafting a narrative that not only takes an ethical deep-dive but also fleshes out the city watch narrative and the wider Ankh-Morpork environment. Ankh-Morpork being the delightfully named fictional metropolis in which most of the Discworld books are set.

But what’s it about? I hear you cry.

Memory permitting, I’ll attempt to fill you in.

It’s about golems, primarily. If that all sounds a bit ancient and dull that’s because, well, they are. Specifically, Terry based his golems on those found in ancient Judaism, where tales were told of Hebrew words being plonked into the mouths of inanimate clay golems to bring them to life. These stories were filched and adapted by Terry so as to become the tireless workhorses of his city. They are (According to Moment Magazine – thanks Wikipedia!) a ‘highly mutable metaphor’ that have ‘limitless symbolism’. Which sums them up perfectly, to be honest.

In Terry’s instance, they are used to explore the concept of sentience in a way that is far from dull. In fact, it’s murderously exciting. And so, the novel goes on to investigate a series of murders that appear to have been committed by one of these very golems.

It’s up to the now-expanded City Watch crew to piece together the clues and bring the killer to justice! However, the book ends in a far more dramatic fashion than just locking up the, er, ‘baddie’, as it were. I feel like modern media has actually tainted that word beyond regular use. Huh. The baddie certainly isn’t a ‘baddie’, and it’s questionable whether or not they’re truly ‘bad’. Such is the expertise with which Sir Terry crafted his villains.

Anyway, we’ve got Sam Vimes, Captain Carrot, Nobby, Colon, Angua and Cheery/Cheri along with a bunch more of the Watch that have probably eluded my memory. The book does a wonderful job of fleshing out their various backstories and there’s even a bit concerning gender expression. Cheery who is, in fact, a female dwarf dresses herself in the usual male-centric-cum-murderous dwarfish fashion and wishes to let loose a little. To let her inner female fly et cetera. Very modern. *taps page approvingly*.

Looping back to the exploration of sentience, there are some haunting links with real-world AI RIGHT NOW. YES, IN CAPS. Because the golems of the story are created in a manner similar to current AI language models. Instead of clay, they are built with code. Instead of a ‘chem’ in their heads, they have training data and…electricity. They are, in essence, walking computers. Autonomous, and very good at fulfilling tasks assigned to them. Thought to be incapable of dream and desire – independent thought, really.

Until they wish to create a golem of their own, filled with their own desires for how a golem should be, should live.

The resulting chaos? Well, you’ll have to read the book to find out!

Oh, I forgot to mention: there’s almost like a ‘mini-mystery’ involving the poisoning of a certain tyrant that links together with the *main* mystery too. It’s like a two-in-one detective bonanza.

As always, GNU Sir Terry. May he forever live in the overhead.

My Score: 9/10 – Definitely worth a read.

(Sorry for the late post, I’ve been ill 😦 )