Saturday Sample: Guards! Guards! by Terry Pratchett

Again, my new feature where I post the opening few lines of one of my favourite books. I'd love it if you want to join in, do the same on your blog, and leave me a comment here with a link!

Extract:

This is where the dragons went.
They lie...
Not dead, not asleep. Not waiting, because waiting implies expectation. Possibly the word we're looking for here is...
...dormant.
And although the space they occupy isn't normal space, nevertheless they are packed in tightly. Not a cubic inch there but is filled by a claw, a talon, a scale, the tip of a tail, so the effect is like one of those trick drawings and your eyeballs eventually realize that the space between each dragon is, in fact, another dragon.
They could put you in mind of a can of sardines, if you thought sardines were huge and scaly and proud and arrogant.
And presumably, somewhere, there's the key.


Why I love it:

I find Terry Pratchett rather hit and miss, if I'm honest, but there's no doubt that on form, Sir Terry is one of the most entertaining writers around. The Watch books are some of his best work, and Guards! Guards! introduces one of my favourite characters, Carrot - brought up by dwarves and about to be brought further up by the Watch. Very funny and a good starting point for people to jump into Discworld.