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The Fifth Elephant

(Discworld Novel 24)

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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 read in any order but The Fifth Elephant is the fifth book in the City Watch series.

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

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

Action & Adventure Epic Epic Fantasy Fantasy Humorous Literature & Fiction Satire Fiction Comedy Thought-Provoking Funny Celebrity Werewolf Wolf Shifter

Critic reviews

'Precisely balanced...excellent set pieces...a cracking comic thriller' (Peter Ingham)
The twenty-fourth Discworld novel
All stars
Most relevant
Another great story from Terry Pratchett with much intrigue and twisted and turns. I do like the series of books covering The Watch. Unfortunately, the narrator does not have enough range of accents and annoyingly makes Vimes sound either like Les Dawson or Sean Bean at times. Bill Nighy's talents are wasted for the few footnote readings he is engaged for. I forget Pratchett's penchant for too many of these that can actually take you out of the story and I think they would be handled better by the main narrator as if they were in brackets in line. Get Michael Sheen to do these. He would be fabalas.

Great story, lost in translation

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have never lifted or heard a Discworld book that had anything bad about it

the amazing humour that is the signature of Sir Terry Pratchett that I have loved for near 40 years

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Jon Culshaw has definitely found his stride.

This was a great story, with amazing voices that give a wonderful depth.

Looking forward to the next book in the series.

Another great piece of escapism

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Huge fan of all things Pratchett and this is one of my favorite Discworld novels. Was unsure if I wanted to listen to a new audio version but I Loved the narration ( particularly the portrayal of Vimes). I Throughly enjoyed it and will now be listening to another.

). Top class stuff!

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Loved the voice for Sam, Sean Bean suits him SO well, much better than previous recordings. Not so keen on some of the other voices, especially Nobby Knobs and Colon, just didn’t quite work for me. Some of the voices were a little samie until I got used to them. John Culshaws reading is a bit on the slow side so I increased the speed to 1.1 which was perfect. Still suited his natural slower speaking speed but kept the recording natural. Thoroughly enjoyed the 1st class storyline with all its little nuances. Another fabulous outing into Discworld

Sam Vimes/Sean Bean

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