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Fifth Elephant (Hardcover)

by Terry Pratchett (Author)

4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (62 customer reviews)

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3 new from CDN$ 62.23 11 used from CDN$ 4.44

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Product Details

Hardcover: 336 pages
Publisher: HarperCollins; 1st edition edition
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0061051578
ISBN-13: 978-0061051579
Product Dimensions: 23.4 x 16.3 x 2.8 cm
Shipping Weight: 499 g

Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (62 customer reviews)

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This is item 24 in The Discworld Series.

Product Description

From 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

From Publishers Weekly

Acclaimed British author Pratchett continues to distinguish himself from his colleagues with clever plot lines and genuinely likable characters in this first-rate addition to his long-running Discworld fantasy series (Carpe Jugulum, etc.). This time around, the inhabitants of Discworld's Ankh-Morpork have turned their attentions in the direction of Uberwald--a country rich in valuable minerals and high-quality fat deposits. (The fifth elephant, it seems, left all these when he or she crashed and burned in Uberwald at the beginning of time.) Ankh-Morpork's policeman Sam Vimes has been sent there to represent his people at a coronation--and to find the recently stolen, rock-hard and symbolically important (at least to the Dwarf population) Scone of Stone. As he tells Vimes's story (and surrounding ones), Pratchett cheerfully takes readers on an exuberant tale of mystery and invention, including the efforts of a clique of neo-Nazi werewolves to destabilize Uberwald. Along the way, he skewers everything from monarchy to fascism, as well as communism and capitalism, oil wealth and ethnic identities, Russian plays, immigration, condoms and evangelical Christianity--in short, most everything worth talking about. Not as perfect as Pratchett's Hogfather but in the same class, this novel is a heavyweight of lightness. 200,000 ad/promo; 7-city author tour. (Apr.) FYI: At the end of The Fifth Elephant is appended a "handy travel guide" to the "World of Terry Pratchett," including a character guide to the Discworld novels and a Discworld crossword puzzle.
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Customer Reviews

62 Reviews

5 star:		(45)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

Average Customer Review

4.7 out of 5 stars (62 customer reviews)

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Most helpful customer reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars A lot to like, Sep 14 2005

By	wiredweird "wiredweird" (Earth, or somewhere nearby) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

This review is from: The Fifth Elephant (Paperback)

The Discworld and its denizens keep moving forward.

In particular, the much-reviled police captain Vimes and the much-honored Duke Vimes move forward. I mean, like a glacier moves forward. Not the fastest one around, I won't even warn you to get out of his way. Glacier-like, it wouldn't matter. Go ahead, get in his way - he might even notice. Probably not.

This time, in his ducal capacity, he has been appointed to an ambassadorship by Lord Vetinari. Vetinari is not a bad man (by local standards, at least) and doesn't do bad things (again, by local standards). Pray that you're nowhere near when he attempts something good. It might be like lighting a candle in the darkness, with you as the match.

Or it might be like lighting the fuze on the powder-keg. Vimes isn't much the candle type. Around him are many people. There's his finishing-school wife who can finish off dwarves and lots of others, six against one, in unarmed debate. There's Officer Angua of the city watch. A very capable woman but watch out for her "monthlies". You know, new moon, howling over the heath, and and all that were-sort-of-thing. Then ... well, Angua is the predictable one. There are lots of others who aren't.

This is a long-running series with lots of character development in previous volumes. Pratchett is uncommonly well tuned to the newcomer, though. Even if the writer knows the two-dozen stories before this one (and a dozen-squared he never wrote), this story still stands well on its own. The newcomer may as well start here as anywhere. The tone is a bit more serious and less haha than most of the Discworld series, but it fits well.

Enjoy!

//wiredweird

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3.0 out of 5 stars Affectionate Warning, Jun 9 2004

By	N E Hetrick "celt33" (Westland, MI United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Fifth Elephant (Audio Cassette)

I love Terry Pratchett novels and even more than that, I love having the chance to listen to them. This cassette edition is narrated by Tony Robinson, who played Baldrick in the Black Adder series; he does a lovely job and the novel is, of course, funny and original. However, I must warn you, it is abridged and that does detract from the delight of it. Anyone considering purchasing this might want to instead consider the audio versions of The Wee Free Men or The Night Watch, also available on this website for reasonable prices.

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5.0 out of 5 stars Quite Possibly the Best of Discworld, Jun 19 2003

By	John Whaley (Acworth, GA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

For those of you who aren't familiar with Terry Pratchett's Discworld series, you have been missing quite a bit. Not only has he managed to keep the humor and overall quality of his writing at a high level through the years, but he manages to get a new book out every eight months or so. A big plus if you follow his work.
The Fifth Elephant is part the "Watch" series within the Discworld collection. It follows the exploits of Commander Vimes(recently promoted to Duke), Captain Carrot, and the rest of the Ankh-Morpork City Watch. This book is the follow-up to "Jingo", and Vimes is currently adjusting to his new role as a nobleman in the city. One of his newly appointed duties is to travel to the neighboring land of Uberwald, where the dwarves are about to crown a new king. Vimes reluctantly agrees to go, despite his general loathing for the nobility in general. The ironic part being that he is now a part of that same nobility, which is a constant source of irritation for him, and a source of amusement for the reader. Of course, this being a Pratchett book, nothing goes according to plan and Vimes finds himself thwarting an assassination plot and uncovering a conspiracy among the dwarf and vampire clans in addition to being forced to "rub elbows" with the werewolves, vampires, and dwarfs of Uberwald.
This is one of the rare books you will read that is as funny as it is well written. For those of you collecting the series, this falls between Jingo and Night Watch and is my personal favorite of the series.

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Most recent customer reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Political Disc
The Fifth Elephant is the latest Discworld book that features the City Watch of Ankh-Morpork, a city on the Disc. Read more

Published on May 14 2002 by David Roy

5.0 out of 5 stars Good book with excelent re-readability
I've owned this book for a while and I recently re-discovered it on my bookshelf and I just could not put it down till I'd re-read it. Read more

Published on May 9 2002 by Michael Love

3.0 out of 5 stars Not all that
I love Discworld, and 5th Elephant was entertaining, but it doesn't stand out as one of his better books. Read more

Published on Mar 5 2002 by ostawookiee

4.0 out of 5 stars A return to form in the Discworld series
Better than Carpe Jugulum, which I read at the same time. (It at least has many more footnotes, which is a sign of quality in any Discworld book. Read more

Published on Feb 1 2002 by Kevin W. Parker