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4.29 AVERAGE
4.29 AVERAGE
This was another enjoyable entry.
Uberwald was a cool location, with interesting and comical takes on vampires, wolves and dwarves and a family of manservants all called Igor. It's a funny and affectionate mocking of Hammer Horror, whilst still having the villains be credible threats.
Loved the metaphor for trans right in the character of Cheery Littlebottom and the support she gets from the Watch.
Vimes is a great character, he's out of his element in this one so far away from Ankh-Morpork and expected to engage in diplomacy. Happily for him he gets a chance to exercise his police skills. I can't imagine there's many series that would have a genuinely intriguing mystery involving baked goods and "rubber preventatives". I was delighted that Sibyl got a chance to shine in this one, as someone who does understand diplomacy, showing her bravery and her kindness.
I did just think it was a shame that Angua wasn't in it more, given they're in her home country and the villains are her family. I thought she'd have more involvement in the plot and more of a chance to shine.
Overall, an interesting and entertaining adventure.
Uberwald was a cool location, with interesting and comical takes on vampires, wolves and dwarves and a family of manservants all called Igor. It's a funny and affectionate mocking of Hammer Horror, whilst still having the villains be credible threats.
Loved the metaphor for trans right in the character of Cheery Littlebottom and the support she gets from the Watch.
Vimes is a great character, he's out of his element in this one so far away from Ankh-Morpork and expected to engage in diplomacy. Happily for him he gets a chance to exercise his police skills. I can't imagine there's many series that would have a genuinely intriguing mystery involving baked goods and "rubber preventatives". I was delighted that Sibyl got a chance to shine in this one, as someone who does understand diplomacy, showing her bravery and her kindness.
I did just think it was a shame that Angua wasn't in it more, given they're in her home country and the villains are her family. I thought she'd have more involvement in the plot and more of a chance to shine.
Overall, an interesting and entertaining adventure.
adventurous
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
mysterious
relaxing
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
The Fifth Elephant is a Discworld novel and part of the subseries about the Ankh-Morpork City Watch (falling between [b:Jingo|7792699|Jingo Wild Horse of Abaco|Jocelyn Arundel|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1354656945l/7792699._SY75_.jpg|10751424] and [b:Night Watch|47989|Night Watch (Discworld, #29; City Watch, #6)|Terry Pratchett|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1320518310l/47989._SY75_.jpg|1712283]). Commander Samuel Vimes (who is also the Duke of Ankh) is sent by the Patrician as ambassador to Uberwald, a country largely inhabited by werewolves, vampires, and dwarves, who are bickering about who should run the country.
Pratchett takes the opportunity to put his familiar characters - Vimes, his wife Lady Sybil, Captain Carrot, the werewolf Angua, Sergeant Colon, Corporal Nobbs - into unfamiliar environments and circumstances, which sheds new light on old character. Add to this Pratchett's usual wit and interesting plot, and you have an excellent addition to the Discworld series.
Pratchett takes the opportunity to put his familiar characters - Vimes, his wife Lady Sybil, Captain Carrot, the werewolf Angua, Sergeant Colon, Corporal Nobbs - into unfamiliar environments and circumstances, which sheds new light on old character. Add to this Pratchett's usual wit and interesting plot, and you have an excellent addition to the Discworld series.
adventurous
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
funny
medium-paced
I don't particularly find the Discworld books about The Watch interesting, so this one started out slow as well. It ended up being a fun adventure in the second half of the book. I enjoyed the politics and the progress of the characters in the end.
adventurous
funny
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
relaxing
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
funny
mysterious
fast-paced
adventurous
challenging
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
The book has lots of interesting and witty social commentary but the lack of chapters and logic drives me crazy.
I did like how the dwarves seem very tolkien with the beards and interesting how thinks like them starting to take on feminine typical behaviours is perceived by society. Can see the links to current attitudes towards different sexual and gender orientations and stereotypes.
I also enjoyed Wolfgang von Uberwald and his naked pushups until he turned out to be a bit of a psychopath so that was a bit of a let down.
That said, I constantly felt like I was missing background information and unsure if it is because I've only read one other discworld novel or if he's just making so much up and I've not noticed enough context clues. He's definitely doing it on purpose - a nice way of highlighting that's its a different world and giving the impression its bigger and more complex world than you can understand- good quick impression of world building.
Nice ENIGMA reference at one point, and I felt very clever spotting it before feeling very worried for all the other references I probably wasn't able to spot (of which there could be many but also none, who knows by this point).
Overall, the book was just nonsense really, struggled to get through the first third, bedore deciding to just go with it. Not something I'd pick up ordinarily and probably won't again but laughed enough that im not unhappy to have read this one.
I did like how the dwarves seem very tolkien with the beards and interesting how thinks like them starting to take on feminine typical behaviours is perceived by society. Can see the links to current attitudes towards different sexual and gender orientations and stereotypes.
I also enjoyed Wolfgang von Uberwald and his naked pushups until he turned out to be a bit of a psychopath so that was a bit of a let down.
That said, I constantly felt like I was missing background information and unsure if it is because I've only read one other discworld novel or if he's just making so much up and I've not noticed enough context clues. He's definitely doing it on purpose - a nice way of highlighting that's its a different world and giving the impression its bigger and more complex world than you can understand- good quick impression of world building.
Nice ENIGMA reference at one point, and I felt very clever spotting it before feeling very worried for all the other references I probably wasn't able to spot (of which there could be many but also none, who knows by this point).
Overall, the book was just nonsense really, struggled to get through the first third, bedore deciding to just go with it. Not something I'd pick up ordinarily and probably won't again but laughed enough that im not unhappy to have read this one.