By: Terry Pratchett Publisher: Doubleday Average Rating: Binding: Hardcover Format: Import Label: Doubleday Number of Pages: 289 Publication Date: 1999 Release Date: November 03, 1999
Everyone knows that the world is flat, and supported on the backs of four elephants. But weren't there supposed to be five? Indeed there were. So where is it?...
When duty calls. Commander Vimes of the Ankh-Morpork constabulary answers. Even when he doesn't want to. He's been "invited" to attend a royal function as both detective and diplomat. The one role he relishes; the other requires, well, ruby tights. Of course where cops (even those clad in tights) go, alas, crime follows. An attempted assassination and a theft soon lead to a desperate chase from the low halls of Discworld royalty to the legendary fat mines of Uberwald, where lard is found in underground seams along with tusks and teeth and other precious ivory artifacts. It's up to the dauntless Vimes -- bothered as usual by a familiar cast of Discworld inhabitants (you know, trolls, dwarfs, werewolves, vampires and such) -- to solve the puzzle of the missing pachyderm. Which of course he does. After all, solving mysteries is his job.
Amazon.com: Terry Pratchett has a seemingly endless capacity for generating inventively comic novels about the Discworld and its inhabitants, but there is in the hearts of most of his admirers a particular place for those novels that feature the hard-bitten captain of the Ankh-Morpork City Watch, Samuel Vimes. Sent as ambassador to the Northern principality of Uberwald where they mine gold, iron, and fat--but never silver--he is caught up in an uneasy truce between dwarfs, werewolves, and vampires in the theft of the Scone of Stone (a particularly important piece of dwarf bread) and in the old werewolf custom of giving humans a short start in the hunt and then cheating.
Pratchett is always at his best when the comedy is combined with a real sense of jeopardy that even favorite characters might be hurt if there was a good joke in it. As always, the most unlikely things crop up as the subjects of gags--Chekhov, grand opera, the Caine Mutiny--and as always there are remorselessly funny gags about the inevitability of story:
They say that the fifth elephant came screaming and trumpeting through the atmosphere of the young world all those years ago and landed hard enough to split continents and raise mountains.
No one actually saw it land, which raised the interesting philosophical question: when millions of tons of angry elephant come spinning through the sky, and there is no one to hear it, does it--philosophically speaking--make a noise?
As for the dwarfs, whose legend it is, and who mine a lot deeper than other people, they say that there is a grain of truth in it.
All this, the usual guest appearances, and Gaspode the Wonder Dog. --Roz Kaveney, Amazon.co.uk
Excellent entry in the Guards Series I know that many have stated that there had been a decline in Pratchett's 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 books 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.
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.
I'm pretty sure this is tied for first Admittedly I think it's tied for first with about half a dozen of the other books in the series. Loved this. I particularly like Lady Sybil in this one - she's given a bit more to do and more personality. Cheery is also a good play in this as is Igor (no no not Igor... Igor.) Overall it's great fun. I think if you haven't read much or any of discworld before this would be an acceptable one to read first or early on.
As the novel wore on, its novelty wore off Although I love the Discworld series as a whole, I'm noticing a pattern that the ones I like the least all have Sam Vimes as the central character. I have nothing against Vimes as a character per se, but I'm beginning to suspect that some sort of "Vimes curse" exists: if Pratchett's using him, the book's ultimately going to be a disappointment.
Such was the case with The Fifth Elephant. The book started off promising, but about a third to half way through it seemed to be losing steam. Ironically, the ending seemed to drag on about 20 pages longer than it should have. In between, we have a number of tantalizing ideas that are ultimately left as unexplored red herrings. (I'm reading the series out of order, so I don't know if Pratchett was laying groundwork for future books, or if he just lost interest in them while writing.)
Another big problem I had with this book is that it had a heavy helping of overly-contrived plot convenience. Pratchett's proven that he's creative enough that he could certainly have come up with something better than the Deus Ex Machina that shows up ***a couple of times*** here.
Last gripe: in the beginning, it seems that we are going to have 3 interconnected subplots, but as the story shifts more and more to the Vimes angle, 1 of them (the Carrot/Angua arc) ultimately just becomes an unsatisfying Deus Ex Machina to get Vimes out of trouble at a critical moment, and the other (the Captain Colon arc) ultimately becomes weak comic relief -- which Pratchett (wisely) all but forgets about anyway.
Despite this, Fifth Elephant had a few amusing moments, and helped flesh out the Discworld Milieu. If you're a completionist, by all means give it a go, but remember to keep your expectations reasonable. Pratchett certainly has done better.
Ambassador Sam Vimes Although I couldn't quite get my mind around the idea of a fat mine (created by the fiery crash of the fifth elephant that supported Discworld on top of A'Tuin, the Cosmic Turtle), this fantasy is nevertheless a savoury entry in the Sam Vimes/Night Watch series (in spite of all that fat).
Sam Vimes, Commander of Ankh-Morpork's Night Watch is 'asked' by the city's Patrician (with the approval of Sam's wife, Sybil) to represent the city at the coronation of Uberwald's new dwarf Low King.
The last thing Sam wants to do is dress up in ceremonial tights and gallop off to a country filled with werewolves and vampires, not to mention two sects of battling dwarfs. He's got the murder of a condom manufacturer to solve right in Ankh-Morpork, plus the theft of a replica of the holy Scone of Stone from the Dwarf Bread Museum.
However Lady Sybil thinks her husband needs a vacation, so off they go, tights and all, leaving Captain Carrot Ironfoundersson (a six-foot adopted dwarf) in charge of the Watch. Then Corporal Angua, the only werewolf on the Watch disappears and Captain Carrot resigns to go after her, taking only Gaspode, the talking dog with him.
Sergeant Colon is now acting-Captain of the Watch, much to the dismay of everyone, including himself.
While his beloved Night Watch slides swiftly into an abyss of incompetence in Ankh-Morpork, Sam discovers that being an ambassador is not all champagne and cucumber sandwiches. On his first day in Uberwald's capital city, he becomes both a murder suspect and a participant in the Game--a werewolf version of 'Fox and Hounds'---with himself as the unwilling fox.
The alpha female among the werewolves calls Sam a "nothing...a paper man. A man of straw. An insult." She will have to learn the hard way that she grossly underestimated the new ambassador.
If you'd like to read the Sam Vimes/Night Watch books in order of publication, they are: "Guards! Guards!" (1989); "Men at Arms" (1993); "Feet of Clay" (1996); "Jingo" (1997); "The Fifth Elephant" (2000); "Night Watch" (2002); and "Thud!" (2005).
Discworld I've decided he's too good and too prolific for me to write a brand new review every single time I read one of his books. Discworld currently has 34 titles and every one of them will probably knock your socks off. His mind bubbles and flashes like a boiling pot of electric eels, and I simply can't get enough of his writing.
A reviewer has compared him to Geoffrey Chaucer. He reminds me more of Douglas Adams, or perhaps S Morgenstern. Great company, isn't it? He's an extremely skillful and imaginative writer, damn funny, clever and observant to boot. He's also very easy to read. A master of characterization, and if there's anything else you like about reading that I didn't mention here, assume I simply forgot. He's awesome.
Another reviewer mentioned Jonathan Swift and PG Wodehouse. Why such hallowed company? Because Pratchett belongs there! Truly, I'm enjoying my quest to read every book in the series. You should do the same, and begin your quest at the library because he's got to be there. He's awesome!
Yet another reviewer said Jerome K Jerome meets Lord of the Rings. Yeah, that works too.
Why do we, as reviewers, compare authors to other authors? Because it's easier than thinking. In the case of Terry Pratchett, it's probably because we'd otherwise wind up quoting the guy. He's so unique that we just don't know how else to cope with his greatness. Even this paragraph sounds like foamy drool raving, doesn't it? That's how all readers react to Pratchett. Reviewers simply don't have the good sense to keep it to themselves.
I could call his writing fantasy, but I could likewise call what Douglas Adams wrote science fiction. In both cases, I wouldn't be wrong, but I'd be neglecting so much and just totally missing the point. A rare few authors transcend a genre to such a degree that you know they're shouting out, loud and proud, a big fat "Bite me!"
I love Terry Pratchett's writing, and I completely understand why some folks refer to him as their favorite author. Or favourite, I should say, since we're being British. He's one of those authors that makes you want to grab whoever's in hearing range and start reading passages aloud. I'm simply thrilled that there's such an extremely talented and prolific author who's been working for years without me being aware of him. Now I have much catching up to do, and I will love it.
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