The Fifth Elephant

I can't figure out why I disliked this book so much the first time I read it. Well, based on the book mark that got left in it, I can understand why I might have been a little angry at the world and unable to really engage with this book at the time. But that's really no excuse.

Or it could be that I can see just how pivotal this book is in the Discworld series, now that I know everything that comes after it. There are a lot of firsts here. The clacks system begins the industrialization of Ankh-Morpork. There are tentative diplomatic relations with the dwarves and vampires of Uberwald. Pratchett infuses dwarf culture with an incredible richness and begins to explore themes of modernization and how new generations accept or reject traditions. Plus there's a perfectly vile villain.

Really, though, this is one of the most solid books in the series. It caught me by surprise how every little side plot managed to tie back to the central theme. Plus it's another Sam Vimes book, and I just like him more and more. I don't think that turning point came for me until Night Watch the first time I read this series, but now it's so much fun to watch his development. Now to mention that this book has more Sybil that any book since Guards! Guards!

 In short, this book was fantastic. It might be in my top five Discworld books, now that I've given it a fair chance. Rediscovering this one has made me really happy that I'm re-reading the series. I hope there are some other forgotten gems waiting for me.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Crown of Swords

Image
The seventh book of the  Wheel of Time  series is where many people agree that the series takes a dive in quality. Although I think it's less that anything changes significantly and more that people get tired of how stagnant the books are becoming. Nearly nothing happens in this book. Jordan still has serious issues writing female characters and romantic relationships. The world is continuing to be expanded on, and the rules of the magic system are slowly (so slowly) becoming more clear. But this is also a step down in terms of length. We go from a few 1000 page books in a row to one that's only 850 pages (and the next is less than 700!). Combine that with my brilliant idea to read  A Tale of Two Cities  right before this book, and I positively flew through it. I think you have to reach a sort of zen state to get through this series. There are a lot of side plots, a lot of world building, a lot of descriptions of clothing. Rather than just hating certain characters, you hav
Read more

The People We Keep

This was a really sweet coming of age tale about finding your way and finding your family. Aprils' mother walked out when she was little and her father wasn't much more present. By the time she's sixteen, April is basically on her own, stuck in a small town where everyone looks down on her and even her father mostly pretends that she doesn't exist. And then she realizes that she can leave, too. So April heads out for life on the road, working odd jobs, writing and singing songs, making friends and fleeing before anyone can get too close. And through it all her music sustains her. My favorite part of this book, hands-down, was the soundtrack. April's love of music, and the way the author uses it to set the scene and drill right into her emotional state was fantastic. I kept having to put the book down so I could bring up songs on youtube and listen to them while I read certain passages. This was just an overall enjoyable book. I had a lot of sympathy for April being
Read more

Parable of the Sower: The Graphic Novel

This is one of my favorite books, so I clearly had to read the graphic novel version. It's a good story to revisit every now and then, and this edition makes that a lot easier. Since so much of the information is conveyed through images, reading it is a lot quicker. Of course, this being an adaptation, a lot of things got left out. I know the story well enough to have recognized all the omissions. The story still works well, but I'll always think the original has more depth.   Overall, it's a good adaptation of a really important novel. And if the new format helps it reach new audiences, that can only be a good thing.
Read more