Customer Reviews

Fifth Elephant

5 star:		(68)
4 star:		(21)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

It turns out that Angua's brother isn't very nice, even for an undead. You know it is inevitable from the time you first meet him - doing one-handed handstand pushups - that Sir Samuel is on a collision course with one Bad Dog.

It's also true that while you can take Duke Vimes out of Ankh Morpork, you can't take the cop out of Sam Vimes, even by making him the ambassador to Uberwald. It's a little hard to relate the Sam Vimes of "Guards, Guards!" to the man here. Sam Vimes seems infected with Clint Eastwood, but the cynicism is still there.

More than any recent Terry Pratchett story, this one is a novel, with the comic bits fewer and the plot intensity ratcheted up to a new level. The Game isn't even slightly funny, and dwarves are much more complicated than the axe-swinging, quaffing half wits (sorry) we've seen in other books. There are amusing moments, but for the first time I think Terry has a plot carrying the story instead of gags strung together by a plot. If you compare it with the thin shards of a plot in "Color of Magic" and "Light Fantastic," you can see how far he has come.

I think some of the negative reviews - except for the accurate comments on the lamentably incompetent proofreading - are a result of his shift in focus.

This is a very good book. Not the funniest. Not the cleverest. But it's the closest thing there is likely to be to a "mainstream" Discworld (™) novel. I enjoyed it very much.

And when Sam Vimes heads to the plaza to confront Angua's brother, armed only with the leavings from the raided clacks tower, puffing on his cigar; well, you can practically see the dirty serape swirling in the wind.

Fetch.

I am a diehard Pratchett fan, but even I hesitated to fork over the money for the new Fifth Elephant. I had been disappointed by his last several offerings, even Carpe Jugulum, which everyone said was his comeback book. Recently, it seems that his books have suffered from a lack of all that made Moving Pictures and the books of its time the best in the series. And I'm a big fan of the Guards storyline, and the last Guards book had been Jingo (don't even talk to me about it). Then I read The Fifth Elephant. And I experienced true joy. This is a Pratchett book in the classic style- a darkish story with an impressive set of points to make (satirical and otherwise). At the same time, it is also the funniest one he's done in the last several years, full of humor from the extremely un-complex to the kind you have to stare at for a few moments to understand (and then then laugh hysterically.) I have in particular to mention the excellent characterization of such recurring characters as Vimes, Lady Sybil and Carrot. When you compare Elephant to their debut storyline, Guards! Guards!, you can see that they're all far more subtle now, and that all of them have grown very convincingly as well. Vimes is my favorite Pratchett character of all time, and in addition to other changes, has been mysteriously reborn as a man of action. I don't know why he's suddenly leaping tall buildings in a single bound like this, but... The person above is correct about the irritationg typesetting mistakes, and this day-glo cover probably could light up in the dark, but by all means buy this book and ignore both of 'em. It was easy for me.

I was blown away by this novel.

I haven't read a lot of Pratchett, two books and a couple of short stories, but I wasn't overly impressed. Sure he's good (I particularly enjoyed his 'Troll Bridge' story) but I've always preferred Douglas Adams or Tom Holt. This book changes everything.

With 'The Fifth Elephant', Pratchett creates a comic masterpiece. He flawlessly weaves humor, both subtle and laugh-out-loud funny, into the framework of an engaging story.

City Watch overlord Sam Vimes travels into a dark and mysterious country to attend the coronation of a new Low King. He discovers that the dwarf's hallowed Stone of Scone has been stolen by unknown nefarious persons. Vimes strives, amidst interference from disingenuous vampires, bloodthirsty werewolves and loyal Igors, to find the sacred Stone.

If that's not enough, Pratchett throws in Fred Colon, Vimes temporary replacement on the Watch, panicking in his new authority. There's the traveling clerk with distinctly un-clerklike skills and the tangled love story between straight-arrow watchman Carrot and werewolf Angua.

After reading through reviews for recent Pratchett books I received the impression that they were steadily declining in quality. If so, this one is a major comeback. An excellent, excellent book. A recent magazine reviewer for F&SF calls this the best Discworld book in a long time. I'll go a step further and call this the best book I've read in months. Pratchett now holds a solid place on my must-read list.

Don't miss this one.

As the other reviews have said, this book is Terry at his near-best. It's funnier than the last couple I read (Jingo and Hogfather). I was afraid he'd gone into a decline, but now I know he hasn't. I think the members of the Watch are among his best, and it was thoroughly entertaining to watch the character development of Vimes, Cheery, Detritus, Colon, and Carrot as they are put into new situations. ..... HOWEVER, the state of the proofreading was APPALLING, to the point where I want to return the book. The typos and misplaced words were so frequent that they diminished my enjoyment of the story. If you care about value for your money, buy the paperback. I'm very resentful of having to shell out so much money for a hardcover book, only to see it so poorly put together. Grrrr! BAD Harper Collins!

Long live the Internet! I bought the book from Amazon.com.uk when it was released. The first thing I noticed was the great cover art - too bad the American releases aren't as fanciful. I really wish they'd keep the artwork. Anyway, this is one of Pratchett's better books that continues the Watch saga: Commander Vimes is appointed Ankh-Morpork's ambassador to Uberwald, Carrot goes on leave chasing after Angua, Sergeant Colon gets promoted and Nobby goes on strike! This is wonderful stuff for Pratchett fans, but first-timers would be better off following the growth of the Watch from the earlier books.

I've adored Terry Pratchett for years. I've pressed him on practically anyone I can convince to hold still for five minutes, and I did like this one. Sam Vimes has evolved nicely during each appearance, and Pratchett can be both pointed and convulsively funny at the same time. The Fifth Elephant romps along, a giggle guaranteed every five minutes or so, and some fun at the expense of "romantic" werewolves and vampires. If you don't like people staring at you on public transportation, don't read this during your commute.

The problem I had was the really awful proofreading job. The same thing happened with Carpe Jugulum, and it bothered me a lot. Over the years I've made myself tolerant of homonyms and tense problems. I've even come to bear the abominable use of apostrophes. I'll let the occasional I/me and its/it's error slide, though I tend to grit my teeth while doing so. But this was awful; sentences begun with obvious typos, mis-spelling that should have been caught by a first pass with a spell-checker and so on.

I only gave The Fifth Elephant three stars because the errors distracted me and got on my nerves. This doesn't mean that I don't like Pratchett, it means that I feel authors and their publishers should be reproved for that kind of thing.

After a few books I simply found too philosophical and/or topical Terry Pratchett returns to a form we haven't seen since Maskerade et al. Weaving in many new characters and developing old ones we are brought into an enthralling tale, complete, but not swamped by, Pratchett's links with reality, similar to the way he did in Soul Music. Everyone's favpurote character, Sam Vimes, is the key to this story, and it isn't simply set in the brilliant but increasingly cramped (inspiringly) Ankh-Morpork. It is witty as well as having a good plot and the only disadvantage is that the American cover, although eye-catching is simply not half as good as the British edition.

(If you're new to the Discworld series, you should start with Guards! Guards! for an introduction to the characters in this book).

This latest installment in the Discworld series is Pratchett's most ambitious story yet. It chronicles the violent collision of Samuel Vimes with Dwarvish, Werewolf, and Vampire high society in a tale of political intrigue set in the Transylvanish Uberwald.

The most impressive thing here is the attention to detail. Not even in other Discworld books is the world so textured and rich, the mystery so well-thought-out, the characters so intriguing. While not devoid of Pratchett's signature silliness and wit, there's suspense to spare amid the rib-tickles.

Thematically, Pratchett's not covering new ground here: The world of politics is by necessity corrupt, belief creates truth, the common man is swept up in events beyond his control, etc. But the similarities to the other "Watch" books (Feet of Clay, Guards, Guards!, Jingo) are superficial. Pratchett is not content to cover the same ground with the same characters; he takes them in surprising directions and tests their mettle.

All in all, a thoroughly entertaining book and worthwhile chapter in the Discworld saga.

Quite enjoyable fantasy set in an imainary world resembling 17th - 18th century Europe. Peopled with humans, gnomes, dwarfs (dwarves?), trolls, werewolves, and vampires as distinct races of peoples. It really is a lampoon of many institutions including government, religion, business, and technology. Noticeable absent are vulgar or profane words.

The one negative is the fairly frequent occurrence of typographical errors such as misplaced quotation marks, substitution of 'an for 'as', 'than' for 'that' or missing letters such as 'heat' being spelled 'eat', which require the reader to reread the sentence a time or two to comprehend the meaning.

There are no elephants whatsoever int he story except the mythical elephants supporting the flat earth and a statue commemorating the missing fifth elephant.

I have to be honest and say that this is not my favourite of the night watch series of the Discworld books. Having said that it is still a good read I would however recommend that it is best to have read some of the earlier books to fully appreciate all the nuances of this one. Terry Pratchett manages to make his characters mature as he writes about them and although I am sad to see less of the early Carrot in this book I enjoyed seeing how Vimes developed (having said that I feel that Colon and Nobby are still very close in character to their first appearances. All in all an enjoyable book and I just hope the next one which Pratchett has now completed is up to this standard.