Fifth Elephant, The

Inhoud

Sam Vimes is a man on the run.
Yesterday he was a duke, a chief of police and the ambassador to the mysterious fat-rich country of Uberwald.
Now he has nothing but his gloomy trousers of Uncle Vanya. If he doesn't make it through the forest to civilization, there's going to be a terrible war.
But there are monsters on his trail. They're bright. They're fast. They're werewolves--and they're catching up. Sam Vimes is out of time, out of luck, and already out of breath...

Bespreking

Captain Vimes goes into diplomacy

Once upon a time in the Multiverse there was indeed a Fifth Elephant floating around aimlessly. He could not help it, but he crashed violently screaming and kicking into the Discworld, at the same time splitting continents and raising mountains. An eternity later his remains are still buried deep in the planes of Uberwalt, the home of vampires, werewolves and most importanly dwarves. Dwarves who are not only mining diamonds and gold, but lately also elephant fat. It is exactly that valuable asset that brings Lord Vetinari, the Patrician of Ankh-Morpork, to the conclusion that keeping good diplomatic relations with Uberwalt is maybe not such a bad idea. On the other side, sending Captain Vimes on such a diplomatic mission might not belong to that same pool of bright ideas.

It is always a great joy to meet the old folks of the City Watch again for another crazy voyage. This time it is not different: it all starts with Sergeant Colon's experiences with the Discworld version of a speed camera, but soon the complete City Watch proves that silliness is their strongest weapon. This time not many new characters are introduced, but this only means that known characters, such as the Igors and that cute little doggie Gaspode, get more attention.

The attentive reader certainly will notice the undertone that links certain forces in Uberwalt to a Nazi regime. Indeed references to sub-humans and other Nazi slogans are generously spread throughout the story. In this respect The Fifth Elephant is unique -at least for the Discworld series- in the way that it portraits a strong political message against extreme nationalism. In the end it is not only a funny, but also an extremely smart book.