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I think The Fifth Elephant marks the turning point for me from mediocre mid-late Discworld to excellent late Discworld.
Not that I don't have things to complain about with The Fifth Elephant! (I always have things to complain about.) Which, number one is, I remembered The Fifth Elephant as the book with the most Sybil, and it is true that there is more Sybil than in any book since Guards, Guards, but IT'S NOT ENOUGH. I demand more Sybil!
I also don't care at all about the "Colon is comically terrible at leadership, news at 11" storyline.
But having the book squarely in Vimes POV for almost all of it makes some other things work for me that might not, because of course Vimes thinks life as an immigrant in Ankh-Morpork is Better For Everyone when this is not in fact necessarily true. I do really like how often Vimes' assumptions get stomped on and the fact that the dichotomy between "good modern dwarf/bad fundamentalist dwarf" gets broken down at the end.
Sidenote: when I first read this book as a teenager, I automatically read dwarf culture as a metaphor for Judaism all the way. But, I mean, it's also not a big leap from 'dwarf stereotypes' to 'Jewish stereotypes' in general -- big noses, long beards, hoard goald, you know how this goes. Anyway, this time around I think that is less so, or at least only partially so and probably as much or more a metaphor for the other minority religious elephant in the room, though I don't know if that's better.
This is also the book that as a teenager put me firmly into the "CARROT IS TERRIFYING" camp. This may have been due to a misreading of the text; I was positive at that point that Pratchett was implying that Carrot knowingly manipulated a situation so that he would survive and his romantic rival would not, rather than the other way around, and now I think that was not necessarily implied, but . . . well, I mean, I believe it? WHAT CAN I SAY. Thoughts?
Not that I don't have things to complain about with The Fifth Elephant! (I always have things to complain about.) Which, number one is, I remembered The Fifth Elephant as the book with the most Sybil, and it is true that there is more Sybil than in any book since Guards, Guards, but IT'S NOT ENOUGH. I demand more Sybil!
I also don't care at all about the "Colon is comically terrible at leadership, news at 11" storyline.
But having the book squarely in Vimes POV for almost all of it makes some other things work for me that might not, because of course Vimes thinks life as an immigrant in Ankh-Morpork is Better For Everyone when this is not in fact necessarily true. I do really like how often Vimes' assumptions get stomped on and the fact that the dichotomy between "good modern dwarf/bad fundamentalist dwarf" gets broken down at the end.
Sidenote: when I first read this book as a teenager, I automatically read dwarf culture as a metaphor for Judaism all the way. But, I mean, it's also not a big leap from 'dwarf stereotypes' to 'Jewish stereotypes' in general -- big noses, long beards, hoard goald, you know how this goes. Anyway, this time around I think that is less so, or at least only partially so and probably as much or more a metaphor for the other minority religious elephant in the room, though I don't know if that's better.
This is also the book that as a teenager put me firmly into the "CARROT IS TERRIFYING" camp. This may have been due to a misreading of the text; I was positive at that point that Pratchett was implying that Carrot knowingly manipulated a situation so that he would survive and his romantic rival would not, rather than the other way around, and now I think that was not necessarily implied, but . . . well, I mean, I believe it? WHAT CAN I SAY. Thoughts?