Book reviews

Discworld – where the world is a fantastical flat disc supported by four elephants standing on the back of a great turtle swimming through place… where magic is measurable in thaums, where goblins, dwarves, werewolves, wizards, witches, imps, trolls, gargoyles, golems and much more are all very, very real…

Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series is not just fantasy; it’s very good fiction, extremely clever parody and satire, peopled with some of the most fascinating characters you’re likely to meet in a book. The writing is humorous and rich with imagination, paradoxically no-nonsense and yet deliciously nonsensical. Wit, warmth, wisdom, great style and highly memorable characters make the Discworld series wonderfully whimsical fun, and those who fall in love with Pratchett’s writing tend to return to each of the novels in the series like a well-known and well-loved friend.

The Fifth Elephant (24^th Discworld novel) has a particular appeal for GK lovers, as the intricate plots in the fat-rich lands of Uberwald are being woven by the werewolves who are one of the old ruling families in that area. Samuel Vimes, once a disillusioned captain of the Night Watch and now its Commander, fairly new husband to Lady Sybil, the richest woman in Ankh-Morpork, plus recently made Duke of Ankh (a rank to which he most decidedly did not aspire), is ordered by the Patrician to head off to Uberwald to represent Ankh-Morpork when the new Low King of the Dwarves is crowned. Vimes is not the diplomatic type, and he’s not exactly overjoyed to be given this task. But perhaps the Patrician has his own reasons for sending Vimes, who at heart is, was, and always will be a copper.

Perhaps it’s to do with the inexplicable theft of a replica of the Scone of Stone (the most important piece of Dwarf Bread in existence, and without which the new Low King cannot be crowned) from the Dwarf Bread Museum in Ankh-Morpork. There might be a connection with the mysterious death of a local businessman (whose rubber products are… er… not galoshes, not raincoats, and not a lot of other things – if you get my drift). And since the situation is political, there are the expected tensions between dwarf factions and other interested groups in Uberwald (such as the pre-eminent werewolf family, a teetotal vampire named Lady Margolotta, and so on). Perhaps the disappearance from Ankh-Morpork of the lovely Angua (who’s related to the said noble werewolves who lord it in this region) is connected to the dangerous games recently set into motion by a member of her family, and perhaps it’s got something to do with the theft of the real Scone.

What part does Lady Sybil’s operatic singing of a famous aria from a Dwarf opera play? Is every servant in Uberwald called Igor and heavily into stitchery? What do three sisters and a cherry orchard have to do with anything? Will Captain Carrot survive when he sets out with a talking dog called Gaspode to help his ladylove Angua? And what’s Wolfgang, Angua’s power-hungry brother, up to, anyway? How could anyone expect a booby like Sergeant Colon to command the Watch in the absence of Vimes and Carrot? (And who – tell me – just who is stealing the sugar cubes?)

Side by side in Pratchett’s writing with all the wonderful silliness, surrealism and chuckle-worthy lines are more sober reflections that illustrate just why Pratchett is Britain’s best-selling novelist. He’s not just funny; he’s darned clever, and his writing has real heart. “… And our family motto is Homo Homini Lupus. ‘A man is a wolf to other men’! How stupid. Do you think they mean that men are shy and retiring and loyal and kill only to eat? Of course not! They mean that men act like men towards other men, and the worse they are the more they think they’d really like being wolves! Humans hate werewolves because they see the wolf in us, but wolves hate us because they see the human inside…”

Highly recommended – but because Discworld is such a cunningly elaborate world with so many characters whose back-history explains their current situations, I would suggest reading some of the earlier Discworld novels first to have this novel more in context. As a minimum, I’d recommend reading Men at Arms and Carpe Jugulum before reading this one.