The Fifth Elephant Audiobook By Terry Pratchett cover art

The Fifth Elephant

Discworld, Book 24

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The Fifth Elephant

By: Terry Pratchett
Narrated by: Jon Culshaw, Peter Serafinowicz, Bill Nighy
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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 Action & Adventure Epic Fantasy Humorous Funny

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

Igor is a bit overplayed

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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

Another fun policing adventure

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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.

Dreary Narration

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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.

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

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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.

Great Reading

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Love the Discworld Series. My favorite all time Series. The narrator was amazing. On to the next in the series

Love the narration

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I love the silliness of the Discworld and the characters of the Watch. The narrator does an amazing job of bringing them to life.

Great Action and Laughter

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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!!!!

Overdone Igors- everything else wonderful

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

Excellent

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

so glad this was available,

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