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The Fifth Elephant if the twenty-fourth book in Terry Pratchett's famous Discworld series (the twenty-fifth is now out in hardcover, and the twenty-sixth is due in May of this year). Through the series, Pratchett has introduced any number of memorable characters, including a trio of Shakespeare-esque witches and a university of over-fed wizards, but it is with the harried town guard of Ankh-Morpork (one of the Discworld's major cities) that The Fifth Elephant is concerned. In this volume, the commander of the watch, Commander Vimes, is sent as a diplomatic envoy to the country of Uberwald (a sort of parody of High Medieval Eastern Europe with a dose of gothic horror and a bit of Chekhov thrown in) to attend the crowning of a new Dwarven king. Of course, things go hideously and humourously wrong. Meanwhile, back in Ankh-Morpork, the city watch is having troubles of its own in Vimes' absence.
The humour in Pratchett's books is of the Douglas Adams/Tom Sharpe type: wry, satirical, and often containing more than a hint of cynicism. Pratchett's triumph, however, is that he never drops too deeply into that cynicism. Unlike Adams and Sharpe, whose protagonists can be unsympathetic if not downright loathesome, Pratchett gives the reader main characters who, though nearly always deeply flawed, nonetheless attract the reader's loyalty. He also places them in situations that, despite the book's humourous tone, are deadly serious, thus lending a dramatic edge to the proceedings. Finally, The Fifth Elephant, like all the Discworld books, is laden with subtle and not-so-subtle winks and nods to "real-earth" events and people, and part of the fun of reading it is trying to pick them all out.
The Fifth Elephant is probably not the best of the Discworld series (my vote still goes to Reaper Man, or perhaps Lords and Ladies, or maybe Men at Arms, or...well, enough of that). However, it is still an excellent work of humourous fantasy, by the man who is probably the undisputed master of that genre, and I would highly recommend it to anyone looking for that type of read. However, if you have never read a Discworld book, you may wish to begin at the beginning, with The Colour of Magic, although all the Discworld books do stand well on their own.
Reviewed by Patrick Conway on February 21, 2001. Image from Alshandra's Lair.
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