Guards! Guards!
Here there be dragons ... and the denizens of Ankh-Morpork wish one huge firebreather would return from whence it came. Long believed extinct, a superb specimen of draco nobilis ("noble dragon" for those who don't understand italics) has appeared in Discworld's greatest city. Not only does this unwelcome visitor have a nasty habit of charbroiling everything in its path, in rather short order it is crowned King (it is a noble dragon, after all ...).
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What you might want to know about Guards! Guards!
The questions readers send us most often, answered without spoilers.
A secret society summons a dragon to crown themselves a new king of Ankh-Morpork. The only thing in the way is the city's three-man Night Watch and a six-foot-six new dwarf recruit who reads the rulebook.
Guards! Guards! is the eighth Discworld novel and the first in the City Watch sub-series. It is one of the most-recommended Discworld starting points for new readers because it works as a standalone and introduces Sam Vimes.
BBC America's The Watch (2021) was loosely based on the City Watch series, including Guards! Guards!, but departed significantly from the books. The show was cancelled after one season and Pratchett's estate publicly disowned it.
Guards! Guards! was written by Terry Pratchett, published in 1989 by Transworld Publishers Limited.
Guards! Guards! is 378 pages in standard print editions, though page counts vary slightly between hardcover, paperback, and large-print formats.
At an average reading pace of about 250 words per minute, Guards! Guards! takes most readers 6 to 8 hours to finish.
Guards! Guards! is a standalone novel by Terry Pratchett, not part of a series.
Guards! Guards! is available in hardcover, paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats from Amazon, Bookshop.org, ThriftBooks, and most major bookstores.