Jingo

Discworld, Book 21

By: Terry Pratchett

Narrated by: Jon Culshaw, Peter Serafinowicz, Bill Nighy

Length: 13 hrs and 38 mins

Publisher's summary

Brought to you by Penguin.

The audiobook of Jingo is narrated by impressionist and actor Jon Culshaw, best known for BBC Radio 4’s Dead Ringers, and for the Doctor Who audiobooks and dramas. BAFTA and Golden Globe award-winning actor Bill Nighy (Love Actually; Pirates of the Caribbean; Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows) reads the footnotes, and Peter Serafinowicz (Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace; Shaun of the Dead) stars as the voice of Death. Featuring a new theme tune composed by James Hannigan.

'IT WAS SO MUCH EASIER TO BLAME IT ON THEM. IT WAS BLEAKLY DEPRESSING TO THINK THAT THEY WERE US.'

War is brewing on the Discworld.

An island has appeared from the ocean depths, right in the middle of the sea which separates the proud empires of Klatch and Ankh-Morpork. Of course, no one would dream of starting a war with the neighbours without a perfectly good reason… such as a 'strategic' piece of old rock, for instance.

But when a Klatchian Prince is almost assassinated, peace talks break down and violent nationalism begins to spread. Ankh-Morpork prepares to fight. Only thing is, they don't have an army. Or much in the way of weapons.

Commander Sam Vimes and the 'officially disbanded' City Watch get caught up in a deadly political game where the enemy appears to be on both sides and no one will listen to reason.

And if they don't stop this absurd war, no one will…

Jingo is the fourth book in the City Watch series, but you can listen to the Discworld novels in any order.

The first book in the Discworld series - The Colour of Magic - was published in 1983. Some elements of the Discworld universe may reflect this.

©1997 Dunmanifestin Ltd (P)2023 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

"Generous, amusing and the ideal boarding point for those who have never visited Discworld." (Sunday Telegraph)

Unsuccessful narrator

I listen to the Discworld audiobooks often. This new narration for Jingo is unsuccessful and full of odd choices. Culshaw pauses after every six words, giving the impression that he’s bored. He doesn’t do it in the dialog, so this appears to be a stylistic choice.

Voices for many of the characters don’t suit them, and there isn’t enough distinction between Vimes and Carrot (not to mention Leonard of Quirm with an almost unintelligible French accent).

Disappointing. I’ll be listening to an older version of the book.

Good book marred by bad narration.

The book is a good solid satire about nationalism. the problem comes from the narrator. They speak so slowly and the tone sounds overly serious. The choices for character voices are not great and more than once you have the narrator chose to play a character as something very different from how they are written. If I didn't love Discworld as much as I do I would refund this.

if you can find the CDs or the audio read by Nigel Planer get that instead. Too much of the wit and comedy is lost to the bored, slow and grim narrator.

Each character comes to life.

The original audio books with Nigel Planar are great, but Mr. Nighy nails EVERY character. Sam Vimes feels just right, and Nobby Nobbs is spot on.

narrator

I know everyone liked the older speakers , but I have given them a chance and they will grow on you. The only time there is a bit of a change is when the witches narrator or the death series narrator have to do someone from the watch or the sorcerers. And it’s not that noticeable!

Story excellent; narration unusual

Those used to a Briggs narration may be put off by the more serious sounding narration here. The voicings are distinct and consistent, allowing the various characters to come through. While I love the Briggs versions of Pratchett’s work, this is certainly a worthwhile and enjoyable listen.

I love it all

We have waited so long for Jingo to come out on audio that I was thrilled to find that it was indeed available now.

It is certainly in a slightly different style than either Nigel Planer's or Stephen Briggs' performances, both of whom I really enjoy, but I like this reader too. He does all kinds of interesting voices. I especially like Vimes, who has a different British accent than in the other Pratchett audiobooks, and Angua, who sounds quite feminine and thoughtful.

I had imagined for years that Jingo hadn't been done in audio because of some difficulty with representing the Klatchian accent believably, but I am quite satisfied with what this recording has accomplished.

Best ever!!!!

I absolutely loved the story. The narrators were wonderful, and Terry Pratchett did it yet again.

Worst, narration, ever!

It is difficult to tell whether this would be a good book because their narration was so terrible. We have listen to several dozen Pratchett bucks, and the narrator makes all the difference. this one could not capture the comedic sense of the text at all. It was very flat. please do not let him narrate anymore.

Different take on narration, still great

Narrator emphasizes the gruff and gritty nature of the books, which in some cases adds interesting dynamics. Maybe missing a little silliness and charm of the older versions, but still a wonderful audio experience. Pratchett’s unique insight and humor still shine through in this captivating action novel. Nobby nobs and Fred colon will always be an incredible vehicle for comedy. Can’t recommend the night watch series of discworld enough.

It was great, narration could be better

I don’t know if it was actually written in the book this way but the book was interrupted by footnotes that took away from the experience