by Terry Pratchett, HarperPrism, March 1996, $20.00, Hardcover

THE OTHER day I was speaking to a friend about this column, and he expressed both surprise and approval -- until he asked me what (or who) I was reviewing. I gave him the titles of the books I'd chosen for the column you're now reading, or rather, I tried to. He stopped me after I'd pronounced most of the first person's last name and said, "What? You can't read that for your column -- he's really good!"

I'm hardly likely to read and review someone I actively consider bad. "Well, yes."

"Then why are you reviewing him in a column called Guilty Pleasures?"

Which is my roundabout way of introducing Men at Arms by Terry Pratchett.

First things first: Pratchett uses English impeccably, with a lovely feel for nuance; he can create a mood-any mood-with a deftness that I, and I'm sure many others, would kill for. It's...