Jingo - Terry Pratchett

Jingo is the 21st instalment in Terry Pratchett’s hugely successful Discworld series. If you’re not familiar with the series, it’s probably not the best place to start. This is one of the Guards books, featuring Vimes, Carrot, Colon, Nobbs and the rest of the Ankh-Morpork city watch. Everyone has their favourites, be it Rincewind, Granny Weatherwax, Death, the librarian or whoever, but one of my favourite Discworld characters is Sam Vimes, copper and reluctant aristocrat, who plays a starring role in this novel. Of course, we see others – Carrot, Angua, Colon, Nobbs, Dorfl, Visit and Reg Shoe; not to mention the librarian, Death and some ...  Read the complete review

In these troubled times, when countries attack other countries, it is important to have some light relief from stress and worry. So stop watching CNN and get your war news from Pratchett instead. I can guarantee it will be funnier. Being published in 1997, Jingo obviously isn’t about the world situation in 2001, but the similarities are often uncanny. In the novel, Ankh-Morpork is at war with Klatchistan, although some people aren’t quite sure why. It’s just one of those things that countries are expected to do, it’s part of the job description – you represent one country, so you fight another. Not untypically, the war ...  Read the complete review

As Boy George said, “War is stupid” For his 21st Discworld novel Terry Pratchett turns his attention to warfare and as the cover blurb says “ Discworld goes to war, with armies of sardines, warriors, fisherman, squid and at least one very camp follower” it seems that he agrees with Boy George and isn’t afraid to show it. For the uninitiated the Discworld is a disc-shaped world, obviously, which is supported on the backs of 4 elephants who stand on the back of A’tuin a giant turtle who carries the Discworld through space. A scenario like this means that the Discworld is laden with magic potential but this is not a ...  Read the complete review

Jingo is another novel in the famous Discworld series by Terry Pratchett (the 21st, in fact), this time dealing with the subjects of war, national pride, and the like. Well, actually it deals rather more with Politics than actual war… In case you’ve never read a Discworld novel before, let me tell you something about the place. It’s flat… that is, it has its lakes and mountains etc, but overall the world is a disc (thus Discworld - smarter ones may have already picked up on that! :-P), which is carried on the back of four giant elephants, which in turn sit atop the great A’Tuin, an even more giant turtle that slowly makes his way across time and space. On ...  Read the complete review

Pratchett's books have developed and changed enormously over the course of time. They started being in the vein of Douglas Adams style fantasy, where the wit developed from the pace of the plot, and the level of invention. Nowadays the strength of the fantastic and magical, in the books, is made a hundred times stronger by barely hinting at it, holding it in reserve, but always there. The main thrust of the books is now much closer analysis of the psychology of human beings, and the humour comes from seeing stereotypes pushed to extremes. Thus there is Cutmeownthroat Dibbler, the stereotypical Cockney salesman; Detritus, the stereotypical jobsworth law ...  Read the complete review