The fifth elephant
Ratings16
Average rating4.1
15
Ratings16
Average rating4.1
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) -- to solve the puzzle of the missing pachyderm. Which of course he does. After all, solving mysteries is his job.
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I think this is one of the better Discworld books, in principle, but I'm reluctant to give it more than three stars because, although quite funny initially, it becomes rather disagreeable towards the end. Seriously unpleasant characters, serious conflict, serious casualties: just what you might expect from some novels, but not quite what I expect from a Discworld novel.
It's a kind of City Watch book, in that all the City Watch characters are involved, but in this one Sam Vimes is sent to Uberwald as an ambassador; and Uberwald is populated mainly by werewolves, vampires, and dwarfs. Rather unexpectedly, Gaspode the talking mongrel also turns up again.
It's clear that Pratchett takes Uberwald seriously and doesn't want to make fun of it, except in minor peripheral ways.
Incidentally, Sybil reveals that she's pregnant, and the City Watch acquires an Igor.
In its favour, I think I enjoyed it somewhat better at second reading than I did the first time. By now I'm a bit more accustomed to Pratchett's serious side, which we see more of in the later part of his career.
