1..2..3..4..5 Elephants! (The Fifth Elephant - Terry Pratchett)

Member Name: CaptainD

Product:	The Fifth Elephant - Terry Pratchett
Date:	23/04/05 (67 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Fast-paced action, one of the best plot-driven Discworld novels, still has plenty of humour

Disadvantages: Um... it ends?

Everyone knows that the Discworld is being carried through space and time by four elephants on top of a giant sea turtle. (And if you didn't know, you do now). But the FIFTH Elephant? Is the title relevant to the story, or is it just a parody of a (fairly) recent and (fairly) dismal sci-fi film starring Bruce Willis? Guess what? I'm not going to tell you. You'll just have to find out for yourselves.

In case you happen to have been on vacation to Neptune for the last few years, let me tell you about Discworld. It is a planet similar to ours in many ways, but different in at least as many ways, and even some of the similarities are actually differences. (Such as similar inventions existing in Discworld, but working in a completely different way - the classic example is the camera: you press the button, it starts a little whip going inside the box to prompt a small demon into action who paints very fast ...) The Disc is inhabited by all manner of strange, wonderful and dangerous creatures. There is always some sort of conspiracy going on in Discworld.

The plot of the Fifth Elephant is a prime example of this. It involves the Dwarves and the theft of their sacred scone... The stars of the show are Stan Vimes (commander of the Watch, but in the guise of an ambassador) and Gaspode the wonderdog (accompanying a heroic wolf), on their separate quests (which end up having a combined purpose) to avert a battle between the races... They travel to the fat-laden country of Uberwald, home of the Werewolves and Igor, the lisping butler of the Uberwald Aristocracy... Oh, and Vimes is accompanied by some... less than competent officers of the watch. And a hired assassin.

With Pratchett's literary flair and the benefit of having several of the best Discworld characters all in the same book (Vimes, Gaspode, the mad inventor, and many more... not forgetting DEATH, of course), this was always going to be a good read. However, the thing that really stands out with this book is the plot. It is very fast-paced, tightly plotted, full of intrigue and unexpected twists. If you took the humour out (not that this would be possible), it would still be a very good book. As it is, it is fantastic.

Often when I review a new Discworld book, I end up thinking it must be either the best one yet or at least close to it. The same thing happened with this one, and I've now come to the conclusion that choosing a favourite must be nigh on impossible! All you really need to know is that this one can be regarded as ONE OF the best of the series.

Even though I’ve now read nearly all of the Discworld books and there are many memorable characters, DEATH is still my all-time favourite character. I love his dry sense of humour, and the way he really tries hard to fit in with the people he meets... which, due to the nature of his job, is obviously not that easy. The following short extract thus stood out to me.


**********

“

GOOD MORNING

Vimes blinked. A tall dark robed figure was now sitting in the boat.
"Are you Death?"

IT'S THE SCYTHE, ISN'T IT? PEOPLE ALWAYS NOTICE THE SCYTHE.

"I'm going to die?"

POSSIBLY.

"Possibly? You turn up when people are possibly going to die?"

OH YES. IT'S QUITE THE NEW THING. IT'S BECAUSE OF THE UNCERTAINTY PRINCIPLE.

"What's that?"
I'M NOT SURE.

"That's very helpful."

I THINK IT MEANS PEOPLE MAY OR MAY NOT DIE. I HAVE TO SAY IT'S PLAYING HOB WITH MY SCHEDULE, BUT I TRY TO KEEP UP WITH MODERN THOUGHT.

“

**********


General thoughts about The Fifth Element’s place in the Discworld series…


The Fifth Elephant still stands out to me as one of the best action-based Discworld novels of all, though it is perhaps surpassed by Nightwatch (also starring Stan Vimes). That book, however, stands out on its own as it is by far the darkest of all the Discworld books, so comparison with it is not entirely fair. Despite the fact that it is the 24th book in the series, it is actually a pretty good book even if you’ve never read any of the series before (you don’t really need to read them in order, but sometimes the later books require a certain knowledge of the characters and events in earlier books – Nightwatch being a prime example of this.) However you should perhaps read GUARDS, GUARDS to get the full flavour of this one.


As always, thanks for reading! :-D




** This is a modified version of my review of this book on Epinions **

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