The Fifth Elephant

I've largely given up trying to explain Terry Pratchett books to people who have never read them. When I start talking about the wizards, werewolves and assorted fantasy characters, I get the type of look normally reserved for Star Trek geeks. Despite knowing better, I couldn't resist at least one post, though, as I have long been a huge enthusiast of Pratchett's Discworld series.

I recently re-read The Fifth Elephant. Samuel Vimes, the protagonist, travels as an ambassador to a country where the Werewolves, Vampires and Dwarves are having a power struggle. (Even writing this down, and knowing that people will read it, is embarrassing.)

In The Fifth Elephant, as in all of Pratchett's books, I get involved in the characters and after awhile I stop noticing that the character I'm rooting for is a werewolf with family problems. Pratchett is very good at coming up with compelling motives for his sympathetic characters. And while he has his villains, generally good and evil are nuanced.

He has the habit (common to good authors) of apparently writing about one thing (e.g. a power struggle in a fictional country) but really making a comment on how people are motivated and how societies work.

Pratchett's books are also very funny and full of endless references.

For those of you who have never heard of Terry Pratchett, it's curiously difficult to pull out one book to recommend. The difficulty is that the early books tend to be a series of jokes (think Hitchhiker's Guide to the Universe, but less random). His later ones are much more plot driven, but lose some of their appeal if you don't know the character's back stories.

If you've never read a Pratchett book, start with Mort. It stands reasonably well on its own with the bonus that Death is a character. If you're familiar with the author, The Fifth Elephant is very entertaining and worth a read.

Comments

[Jess]

Reading this made me giggle. I can hear every one of your inflections and the application of your accent like you were reading to me.

Hope you're well!

[Tabitha]

Jess! I was just thinking about you today.

I'm glad the post made you giggle. :-)

We're well - looking forward to Thanksgiving. Hope all is well with you too.