Terry Pratchett is a phenomenal writer! I'll tell you that any of his books, especially the Disc World series are well worth picking up! In my youth I loved the Lord of the Rings books by J.R.R. Tolkien (and yes, I'm talking pre-movie adolescence, thank you). I read any fantasy/adventure novels I could get my hands on. Eventually I ran out of books worth reading.... In my late teens I even resorted to Harry Potter, which I thought was amusing (but with a very low reading level) until I stumbled upon Terry Pratchett. Oh what a day! It was as if I had been waiting for his writing since the first time I picked up a book! The worlds he has created within the Disc world series are so interesting and entertaining. On each page he has spelled out endless wit, comedy, and enchantment. The characters hook you from the start and in each book you learn more about them and how they intertwine with one another. The imagery Pratchett depicts with his stories is absolutely amazing! And one of the things that I think is the best about this series is you don't necessarily have to read them in a particular order. There are a few here or there within the series that do fit better together read in a certain order but besides those you can just go with the next one that strikes your fancy. Every time I finish one I CANNOT wait for the next! Soon I'll be done with the series and this is sad... But reading them all was well worth it! See for yourself!

If you already know Pratchett's books, then you can't go wrong with this one. Sam Vimes and his Night Watch are at it again, this time facing one of man's worst inventions... diplomacy!

Vimes is appointed ambassador and must travel to the dangerous world of Uberwald, inhabited by werewolves, vampires and dwarfs. While applying his special kind of sensitivity to issues like species or upeer class manners, Vimes must also cope with a murder and theft mistery, and a dangerous and lethal enemy.

This one is, in my opinion, one of the best books of the Discworld series. It has everything: mistery, action, violence and, above all, lots and lots of humor. Special mention goes to Sgt. Detritus, the first troll ever to become cultural aggregate.

Absolutely recommendable. However, to fully enjoy it, I would advise to get familiar with the cast of the Night Watch by reading any of their prtevious novels in the series: "Guards, Guards!" "Men at Arms" and "Feet of Clay".

You'll be certainly coming back for more.

I know that many have stated that there had been a decline in Pratchett's writing as time goes on... I personally would have to disagree. There is a change in his writing; however I feel that it has been for the better. As his books have progressed, he has leaned less toward the quick giggle and insane rush of nonsense and more toward a satirical plot with darker edges and the giggles interspersed within the story rather than his jokes running the story.

The Fifth Elephant is one of Pratchett's more plot driven novels, there isn't a giggle or a chortle on every page as with some of his others. I have always liked the Guard's series for this reason, I like a good plot. If you have not read a discworld book before, I wouldn't advise this be your starting place, instead I would start at the beginning of whichever series it is you want to read. This being part of the Guards Series I would start with "Guards Guards" which although it is by no means the strongest entry in the series, it is a good introduction to the lead character of Samuel Vimes and his crew. Each of the following books adds additional characters who become major players in the later books. The characters truly grow through each of the books and I think that having read the previous in the series will increase your enjoyment of this one.

Quick Summary: A strange theft and murder occur in Ankh-Morpork, and just as the Watch is about to investigate, The Patrician sends Vimes and his wife off to Uberwald to attend the coronation of the new Dwarfish Low King as ambassadors. While street hardened Vimes has to start learning about politicking, Angua disappears... and Carrot decides to go after her, unfortunately her trail leads to Uberwald, land of vampires, werewolves, and Dwarves who rarely come to the surface. As Sam Vimes always says - A cop will always find a crime, the origins of the strange crimes in Ankh-Morpork also lead back to Uberwald and the coronation ceremony. Vimes finds himself attempting to not only play politician and ambassador, but also detective to sort out the truth before the Dwarves are thrown into a bloody civil war.

The summary sounds a bit dark doesn't it? Well this, much like "Carpe Jugulum," is a darker more plot driven novel, but the humor is still there. Cheery accompanies Vimes back to her homeland as military attaché and unfortunately her modern ways cause issues amongst the more traditional dwarves of Uberwald. Detrius the Troll attends as the cultural attaché, unfortunately in Uberwald the trolls and dwarves have been at war for over a hundred years... then throw in Angua's noble yet slightly psychotic werewolf family, and a Vampire clan that's on the wagon from drinking human blood... everyone is moving their chess pieces and poor Sam has to figure it all out. Sybil has a much larger roll in this story than in the past, and her personality really begins to develop. This book is funny, full of action, and intrigue... who stole the Scone? Who murdered the prophylactics maker? Where is the fake stone? Who is behind it all? The opposing Dwarves? The Werewolves? The Vampires? Or is it someone from within?

Although I didn't laugh nearly as much during this book, I found myself truly enjoying the read much more than some of the others. If I were to try to tell you what "The Color of Magic" was about... I really couldn't other than to say it was about running away... True, I enjoyed it immensely, but this had a plot, a meaning, and more to learn from, I think this is an excellent addition to the Discworld series.

Admittedly I think it's tied for first with about half a dozen of the other books in the series. Loved this. I particularly like Lady Sybil in this one - she's given a bit more to do and more personality. Cheery is also a good play in this as is Igor (no no not Igor... Igor.) Overall it's great fun. I think if you haven't read much or any of discworld before this would be an acceptable one to read first or early on.

Although I love the Discworld series as a whole, I'm noticing a pattern that the ones I like the least all have Sam Vimes as the central character. I have nothing against Vimes as a character per se, but I'm beginning to suspect that some sort of "Vimes curse" exists: if Pratchett's using him, the book's ultimately going to be a disappointment.

Such was the case with The Fifth Elephant. The book started off promising, but about a third to half way through it seemed to be losing steam. Ironically, the ending seemed to drag on about 20 pages longer than it should have. In between, we have a number of tantalizing ideas that are ultimately left as unexplored red herrings. (I'm reading the series out of order, so I don't know if Pratchett was laying groundwork for future books, or if he just lost interest in them while writing.)

Another big problem I had with this book is that it had a heavy helping of overly-contrived plot convenience. Pratchett's proven that he's creative enough that he could certainly have come up with something better than the Deus Ex Machina that shows up ***a couple of times*** here.

Last gripe: in the beginning, it seems that we are going to have 3 interconnected subplots, but as the story shifts more and more to the Vimes angle, 1 of them (the Carrot/Angua arc) ultimately just becomes an unsatisfying Deus Ex Machina to get Vimes out of trouble at a critical moment, and the other (the Captain Colon arc) ultimately becomes weak comic relief -- which Pratchett (wisely) all but forgets about anyway.

Despite this, Fifth Elephant had a few amusing moments, and helped flesh out the Discworld Milieu. If you're a completionist, by all means give it a go, but remember to keep your expectations reasonable. Pratchett certainly has done better.