Back in October, I shared that I had become a major fan of Terry Pratchett and his absurdist fantasy universe. I have continued to enjoy his books inbetween other reads, and a new favorite has emerged: Guards! Guards!

Guards! Guards! cleverly approaches and hilariously twists tropes in the best ways.

The premise: some wanna-be wizards decide to summon a dragon because the city and their lives sucks and because all the legends say that a true hero always emerges to defeat the dragon, rescue the damsel, become king, and usher in a new age of freedom and equality for all.

What could possibly go wrong?

But it is not simply Pratchett’s whimsical wordplay and hilarious plot that speaks to me here. Beneath the ridiculous jokes, Pratchett slips in some scathing critiques of humanity that are still perfectly relatable 30 years later.

small spoilers ahead

One of my favorite quotes is from the dragon when it speaks to one of the characters after learning the true history of how humanity has killed, murdered, and tortured each other over the years.

“But we were dragons. We were supposed to be cruel, cunning, heartless and terrible. But this much I can tell you, we never burned and tortured and ripped one another apart and called it morality.”

It is ironic how horrified the dragon is at how humans treat each other. But it also makes an excruciatingly painful point of how humans are in some cases worse than dragons: Dragons do not try to convince everyone that they are the heroes after torturing or murdering people, such as in the case of the Inquisition, or the witch trials, or the Crusades, or in dropping nuclear bombs on hundreds of thousands.

At another point, the leader of the wanna-be wizards considers how easy it is to manipulate his followers into summoning the dragon.

“You tell them a lie. And then when you don’t need it anymore, you tell them another lie; and tell them they’re progressing along the road to wisdom. Then instead of laughing, they follow you even more, hoping that at the heart of all the lies, they will find the truth.

And bit by bit, they accept the unacceptable.”

This particular quote struck me as very timely in a world where politicians have made it abundantly clear that they only care about themselves and the one percent. Yet they string their followers along with one lie after another. And I have to wonder sometimes how people trust politicians. And then this quote just makes it all so crystal clear.

It is sobering also because I know I am guilty of believing politicians too. We want to think that there are people who will make things better. It is human nature. But then the joke is on us, right? Because one or another of us just keeps getting scammed into trusting someone who only has their own well-being in mind. At some point, you have to admit: It is almost hilarious.

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What books have been speaking to you lately?