The Fifth Elephant

Discworld, Book 24

De: Terry Pratchett

Narrado por: Jon Culshaw, Peter Serafinowicz, Bill Nighy

Brought to you by Penguin.

Over 1 million Discworld audiobooks sold – discover the extraordinary universe of Terry Pratchett’s Discworld like never before.

'Well, he thought, so this is diplomacy. It's lying, only for a better class of people.

They say that diplomacy is a gentle art. That mastering it is a lifetime's work. But you do need a certain inclination in that direction. It's not something you can just pick up on the job.

A few days ago Sam Vimes was a copper - an important copper, true - chief of police - but still, at his core, a policeman. But today he is an ambassador - to the mysterious, fat-rich country of Uberwald. Today, Sam Vimes is also a man on the run.

At some point during his ambassadorship, things went very wrong. It's snowing. It's freezing. And if Vimes can't make it through the forest, with only his wits and the gloomy trousers of Uncle Vanya (don't ask), there's going to be a terrible war.

There are monsters on his trail. They're bright. They're fast. They're werewolves - and they're catching up.

The Discworld novels can be listened to in any order but The Fifth Elephant is the fifth book in the City Watch series.

'Precisely balanced . . . a cracking comic thriller' The Times

©1999 Terry and Lyn Pratchett (P)2023 Penguin Audio

Dreary Narration

Love Pratchett, and the story is interesting and clever, but the narration just sucks the life out of it. There is no energy; everything is delivered with an air of exhaustion. Pratchett can be laugh-out-loud funny but not when delivered like week-old bad news.

Igor is a bit overplayed

One of my favorite Discworld novels, but the various Igors can get difficult to understand.

Another fun policing adventure

Another beloved book of the watch. So much fun to listen to all the adventures of the characters as they get more fleshed out and developed

Brilliant writing. Narrator’s voice was difficult to understand for several characters.

As much as I loved the story, I found the (very talented) narrator’s vocal work frustrating. I think he worked so hard to ensure that all the characters had a unique voice that it actually did a disservice to the story. Several characters were VERY difficult to understand through the uniquely distinct voices the narrator created. This was particularly frustrating for a Pratchett novel, as I feel like several of his witticisms were lost through the haze of over-the-top character voice quirks. Sometimes, less is more.

so glad this was available,

pratchett is wonderful as ever. I love the Vimes stories so much. Nice to see more of Carrot and Angua.

Pratchett never disappoints!

The series of books is seriously a happy place. I didn’t see reviews of people not enjoying the narrators interpretation of Igor, but I thought it was great and more creative than just doing a lisp. Enjoy!

wonderful story, certain character voices unintelligible.

this has been one of my favorite discworld audiobooks. Terry pratchett's with and story come together for a great listening experience. unlike some of his books, I could listen to this in chunks during different trips without losing my place or forgetting plot lines.

on the whole, the narrator does a great job and has a wonderful voice, but with a few of the characters, namely the vampire matron and the igors, the affected accent is so thick as to be unintelligible. I hope that as I listen to more books, this is toned down.

Overdone Igors- everything else wonderful

This is one of my very favorite Pratchett recordings. I LOVE the newest witch series. This book is 99% as good (it lacks Granny Weatherwax and Nanny Ogg so how could it be AS good?). I think I’ll listen to this one again in a month. I hope they redo Thud and don’t overdo some voices to the point of garbled nonsense. The Stephen Briggs Igors are perfect. Why mess with perfect?

The voice actor whispers the bad guys. Bad guys bellow and state things and speak out too, but in this iteration of Pratchett they mostly hiss and whisper.

Drumnaught also wheedles and whines like a bad guy.Briggs’s more matter-of-factotum voice better represents the Patrician’s executive assistant, a man who saves receipts for his office supplies. He isn’t a conniving assassin type.

All that said, tho’, what an adventure!

Other good stuff:
Lady Sybil finally morphs believably out of the overbearing nag and into a true power partner, and Carrot… well, how can anyone not love Carrot? His voice is perfect. I liked that Corporal Littlebottom was a huge part of the story and that her voice is gently perfect.

A great book to hear while I garden and, you know, clean the cat box, etc. I get to go to the disc while my body does things I don’t need or want to think about while I do them. The only problem is getting my mind back into my head when I need to get thinky stuff done. Thank you, Penguin, for micro-vacations!!!!

Excellent

Love it all from top to bottom well done ladies and gentlemen, sir Terry would be proud

Great Reading

I usually don’t care for new or different versions, but Penguin has done well in its casting. Characters are well voiced, and the narrator understands the intent behind Commander Vimes and company.