I know that many have stated that there had been a decline in his writing as time goes on… I personally would have to disagree. There is a change in his writing; however I feel that it has been for the better. As his book have progressed, he has leaned less toward the quick giggle and insane rush of nonsense and more toward a satirical plot with darker edges and the giggles interspersed within the story rather than his jokes running the story.The Fifth Elephant is one of Pratchett’s more plot driven novels, there isn’t a giggle or a chortle on every page as with some of his others. I have always liked the Guard’s series for this reason, I like a good plot. If you have not read a discworld book before, I wouldn’t advise this be your starting place, instead I would start at the beginning of whichever series it is you want to read. This being part of the Guards Series I would start with “Guards Guards” which although it is by no means the strongest entry in the series, it is a good introduction to the lead character of Samuel Vimes and his crew. Each of the following books adds additional characters who become major players in the later books. The characters truly grow through each of the books and I think that having read the previous in the series will increase your enjoyment of this one.Quick Summary: A strange theft and murder occur in Ankh-Morpork, and just as the Watch is about to investigate, The Patrician sends Vimes and his wife off to Uberwald to attend the coronation of the new Dwarfish Low King as ambassadors. While street hardened Vimes has to start learning about politicking, Angua disappears… and Carrot decides to go after her, unfortunately her trail leads to Uberwald, land of vampires, werewolves, and Dwarves who rarely come to the surface. As Sam Vimes always says – A cop will always find a crime, the origins of the strange crimes in Ankh-Morpork also lead back to Uberwald and the coronation ceremony. Vimes finds himself attempting to not only play politician and ambassador, but also detective to sort out the truth before the Dwarves are thrown into a bloody civil war.The summary sounds a bit dark doesn’t it? Well this, much like “Carpe Jugulum,” is a darker more plot driven novel, but the humor is still there. Cheery accompanies Vimes back to her homeland as military attaché and unfortunately her modern ways cause issues amongst the more traditional dwarves of Uberwald. Detrius the Troll attends as the cultural attaché, unfortunately in Uberwald the trolls and dwarves have been at war for over a hundred years… then throw in Angua’s noble yet slightly psychotic werewolf family, and a Vampire clan that’s on the wagon from drinking human blood… everyone is moving their chess pieces and poor Sam has to figure it all out. Sybil has a much larger roll in this story than in the past, and her personality really begins to develop. This book is funny, full of action, and intrigue… who stole the Scone? Who murdered the prophylactics maker? Where is the fake stone? Who is behind it all? The opposing Dwarves? The Werewolves? The Vampires? Or is it someone from within? Although I didn’t laugh nearly as much during this book, I found myself truly enjoying the read much more than some of the others. If I were to try to tell you what “The Color of Magic” was about… I really couldn’t other than to say it was about running away… True, I enjoyed it immensely, but this had a plot, a meaning, and more to learn from, I think this is an excellent addition to the Discworld series.
This time, Sam Vimes plays a diplomat. Lord Vetinari, the ruler of Ankh-Morpork, sends Vimes to Uberwald to represent the city during the coronation of the dwarfs’ new king. Unfortunately, Uberwald is a backward country. Industry is undeveloped, except in the dwarfs’ mines. The werewolves rampage and eat people unchecked. The vampires plot quietly. The dwarves squabble over millennium-long traditions. A powerful dwarven relic has been stolen (shhh, it’s a secret), various factions of dwarves vie for supremacy, and the coronation is in jeopardy. A war looms.Nobody in Uberwald wants the Ankh-Morpork policeman Sam Vimes to stick his nose into foreign matters. Or maybe some do… Maybe they want him to solve their problems for them but they lie about it because they all play diplomats. It takes Vimes a while to catch up and start a diplomatic (lying) game of his own. Many of our favorite Ankh-Morpork policemen appear in this book. Angua, the only werewolf in the city police force, travels to Uberwald too, but in secret. She must untangle her family affairs. Carrot follows Angua because – well, you know. At least the readers who enjoy this series do. Fred Colon stays behind and becomes an acting captain of the Watch. What the poisonous power of command does to his disposition only Terry Pratchett can tell you. And then there is a taking dog, and the three sisters, and the late Uncle Vanya, and an infestation of Igors. I really, really like those Igor guys, even though they speak with a very thick accent. This is the first book of the series (at least among the ones I’ve read) where Igors are finally described in all their morbid glory.I won’t pretend it’s my favorite among the City Watch series, but the story grabs you from the first page. It makes you think. It makes you laugh. It makes you wince at the author’s sarcastic observations. It makes you want to hide from the analogies between Discworld and us. It makes you keep reading until the last page. It makes you hanker for more. Note 1: The author’s opinion of diplomats coincides with my own: their job description includes the ability to lie very convincingly, without blushing.Note 2: There are no elephants in the story, but there are elephants in the Discworld’s mythology. One of those mythological pachyderms slammed into Discworld at the beginning of time and finally surfaced in this novel. Like some lies, he is huge, non-existent, but very tangible.
What do You think about The Fifth Elephant (2008)?
Please allow me one quick soul-searching moment. Before I was introduced to the awesomeness of Discworld…I was just an empty shell of a fanI haven’t picked up Discworld book for quite some time (last one I read was Jingo) so reading the Fifth Elephant kind of gave me the warm and fuzzy feeling of falling in love with Sir Terry Pratchett’s work all over again. I think this book is the most action-packed volume in City Watch series yet. Imagine Bruce Willis all decked out in tights with British accent and Ankh-Morpork sense of humor (and um, not so coiffuredly-challenged) and there you got Commander Vimes in all his glory. I must have cracked a few ribs laughing. There’s the motley crew of the Watch and a few new characters. The Igors really steal the show! (or sthill the thow, to be surgically precise) Also, Detritus and his Piecemaker is not the troll to be trifled with. I won’t go on about Nobby because then I wouldn’t be able to stop. The “hot pursuit” scene in the last chapter is hands down the coolest chase in police procedural history. John McClane himself can’t top that! Yippee ki yay little doggy;)
—apple
This is my other contender (with "Feet of Clay") for the best of Pratchett's Discworld books. It's not merely fantasy: it's literature. No, it's Literature, with a capital "L," because it accomplishes all literature ever sets out to do: engage an audience, suspend disbelief, and effortlessly hide its didactic purpose while making trenchant observations about the human condition.Unlike pure "fantasy," Pratchett's novels can't quite achieve the quality of escapism, because it is far too easy to recognize ourselves, or aspects of ourselves, in his variously flawed and heroic characters.Sadly, this installment pretty much killed off Same Vimes as a character for me. After this novel, he's simply too unstoppable, too clearly the Voice of the Author trying to Make a Point, and I couldn't really enjoy reading his adventures as much. While Vimes spends a good deal of time in later novels doubting himself, nobody else makes that mistake after the adventures herein. So that's sad. But damn, it's worth it for a novel as good as this to make it out into the world.
—P. Aaron Potter
8.5/10Back to form after a disappointing outing last time with Jingo. This is another stonking effort in the Watch sub-series making it hard for me not to start raving about them to people and tell them if they’ve not read them then they need to pick them up and get cracking!Plot wise things are shaken up again. I did groan a little when I learnt that Vimes would yet again be leaving Ankh-Morpork for a distant land like in the last novel, but this time it proved to be an inspired choice and worked really well adding in some new fresh characters and adding extra layers to a few we already know. A fish out of water in a new land but yet Vimes still evolves into someone to be reckoned with whilst discovering a plot to start a civil war, solving a murder and handling a union strike at home (well he didn’t do anything with that but he sorted it in spirit). There was a much darker feel to this book than I’ve previously seen in the Discworld novels (even the ones with Death which could become quite morbid if you think about it) but Terry Pratchett has enough humour in his locker to add some light relief along the way to keep things on this side of crazy batshit. I think the whole story had enough to put this at the top of my favourite Watch novels and up there with some of the better reads of the last few years (high praise indeed!). It’s good to read these as a light break in between other reads but this one shows these shouldn’t be underestimated and really do work very well as a great book on many levels. My ignorance on some of the humour is quite apparent too but that isn’t the author’s failing, that’s the English Education System (definitely not me and my lack of wanting to learn at school). Looking forward to the next one now but unhappy that there are only 3 left in the sub-series to go.If you like this try: “Going Postal” by Terry Pratchett
—Richard
