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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About this listen

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 Epic Fantasy Fantasy Humorous Fiction Comedy Funny City Celebrity Werewolf Wolf Runaway Shifter

What listeners say about The Fifth Elephant

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great as always

if you like this series I highly recommend, it doesn't disappoint. excellent recording.
i wish audible had more Terry Pratchett titles. lot's of tie in references to so I wouldn't recommend you read this one first but it's good enough to stand alone

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Culshaw is Vimes (and everyone else)

Wonderful story. Wonderful narration. Culshaw is my favorite Discworld narrator, nailing each and every character.

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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.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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Love the narration

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

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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Great Action and Laughter

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

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    4 out of 5 stars
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Igor is a bit overplayed

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

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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

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    4 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars
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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.

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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.

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Ok version

I love the older audiobooks in part because of who did the narrations. One of the worst things in this new version is the footnotes being read in the manner that they are. The other problem is how he does Igor voices. The Igor’s are 90% indecipherable for no reason.

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