The Fifth Elephant by Terry Pratchett
book, review, discworld
This review was originally posted at Goodreads and imported here later on with next to no spell/grammar checking. Warning: as of sometime in 2026, Goodreads hid all their "public" reviews behind a login wall. Fuck the enshittification of Goodreads, fuck Amazon and fuck that cuntiest of billionaires: Jeff Bezos.
5/5 stars
Werevolves and vampires Terry Pratchett style, mixed with some old-school horror. And dwarves. Lots of dwarves.
This book takes place in a country called Überwald which is… less civilised, but unlike in Ankh-Morpork, you could possibly breath with your nose while in there. Samuel Vimes gets sent on a vacation/diplomatic mission, but a cop will always find a crime no matter where they go.
Like Jingo before it, The Fifth Elephant is a little less humorous and a little more serious. But like with Jingo, that’s not a bad thing. Plus it’s still excellent and still plenty funny.
And it introduces Igors who are one of my favourite people in all the books.
Not much more to add here. If you liked the previous City Watch books, go read this. If you’ve never read any, start with the first one (Guards! Guards!).
