The Fifth Elephant

by Terry Pratchett, Terry Pratchett

Paperback, 464 pages

English language

Published Oct. 8, 2008 by Corgi.

ISBN:: 978-0-552-15422-2
Goodreads:: 63720

(138 reviews)

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) -- …

23 editions

mictter reviewed The Fifth Elephant by Terry Pratchett

Divertidísimo

5 stars

Empiezo el año con otro volumen de la serie del Mundodisco, sección Guardia Urbana, que es mi serie favorita, con el comandante Vimes y su pandilla policial en la gran ciudad llena de delincuentes, criminales y políticos astutos. Esta vez, en plan “Astérix en Alemania”, le mandan de embajador a Überwald, el país donde hombres lobos, enanos y vampiros andan siempre a hostias.

Como siempre, me lo he pasado en grande leyéndolo, sobre todo los diálogos y las descripciones de usos y costumbres. Vimes declarando “no tenía bastante dinero para ser alcohólico, así que me limitaba a ser un borrachuzo” es el tipo de cosas que me gustan de Pratchett. La parte narrativa, escenas de acción y que nuestros héroes estén una vez más en el ojo del huracán sigue siendo muy flojas, aunque lo paso por alto gracias a las continuas carcajadas de todo lo demás. Los personajes secundarios …

Nacho reviewed El quinto elefante : una novela de Mundodisco by Terry Pratchett

Menos chistes y más trama

4 stars

Cuánto tiempo (demasiado) sin avanzar en mi proyecto de leer todo Mundodisco en orden. Según avanza la saga se va notando que Pratchett (#speakHisName) no se siente obligado a meter chistes constantemente y dedica mayores esfuerzos a la trama y a la construcción de ese universo maravilloso que habita a lomos del Gran A'Tuin. De esta novela destacaría, más allá de su entretenida trama de politiqueos y espionaje, su mensaje de compresión y tolerancia que demuestran una vez más que el mundo es un lugar un poquito más tolerable gracias a Pratchett.

Bart Libert reviewed The Fifth Elephant by Terry Pratchett (Discworld, #24)

Makes you think

5 stars

This is book is not full of laugh out loud moments or quick jokes, but rather takes the time to tell a really nice and compelling story with Sam Vimes in a heroic starring role. As always with Pratchett, the book is full of references to our own round world and makes you think about our own behaviour more than once

bookafnd reviewed The Fifth Elephant by Terry Pratchett (Discworld, #24)

light copaganda, discworld as always

4 stars

something that always strikes me about the portrayal of policing in Discworld is that the Watch is often portrayed as little better than a nuisance. But for Plot reasons there's always a diabolical scheme brewing in the background that needs Vimes's detective skills to uncover. This ultimately serves as a justification for the continued existence of the Watch. Real life, of course, has no Wolfgangs.

divorced from my distaste for cop apologia, though, it's a very good discworld book.

Zelse reviewed The Fifth Elephant by Terry Pratchett

Review of 'The Fifth Elephant' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

Delightful, funny, and full of heart - typical Pratchett, and I mean that in the best possible way.

Pentapod reviewed The Fifth Elephant by Terry Pratchett

Review of 'The Fifth Elephant' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

Rereading this for the first time in a while, and as usual with Pratchett, seeing new layers and levels every time. This is I think the fourth or fifth book in the "City Watch" themed Discworld books that start with "Guards, Guards", so I would definitely recommend reading some of the earlier ones first before coming to this one. But once you do, you'll enjoy it.

Vimes is always one of my favourite characters, and in this book he's settling comfortably into marriage with Sibyl although not so comfortably into the fancy title of Duke that came with her. So it's an understatement to say he's less than happy to be send to represent the interests of Ankh-Morpork in the remote region of Uberwald, where a tense three-way power struggle between the dwarves, vampires, and werewolves is being strained to an extreme by the coronation of a new dwarf King. Turns out the new king was chosen not because he was anybody's first choice, but rather because he was everyone's second choice, and he has rather alarmingly modern views for a dwarf. Which seems like a great opportunity for Ankh-Morpork to establish good terms and trading treaties. As long a Duke Vimes can suvive the ambush, overzealous Uberwald guards, werewolf plotting, vampire meddling, and all the rest of the minor obstacles that stand between Vimes and the coronation. Not to mention the theft of the traditional Stone of Scone, without which the coronation can't even take place...

This is a more plot-centred book than some, and less of a laugh on every page, although there are plenty of funny moments. It also contains more of Cheery, the first dwarf to decide to actually dress as a female dwarf, and strongly representative of real world trans representation struggles. And, of course, reading it as I am now in the midst of the police brutality riots in the US, all of Vimes' thoughts on the role of police and policing in general are extremely relevant and thought-provoking. Layers on layers, and not just of Fifth Elephant fat deposits.