Jingo (Discworld) - Softcover

Pratchett, Terry

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0061059064 ISBN 13: 9780061059063

Publisher: Harper Torch, 1999

Synopsis

In the latest installment of the Discworld saga, a mysterious island rises out of the sea that everyone wants to claim, and as a battle rages between the Ankh-Morpork and the Al-Khali, the Ankh-Morpork turn to the brilliant Leonard of Quirm, who is more than happy to design the ultimate weapon for war. Reprint.

About this title

Review

Jingo is the 20th of Pratchett's Discworld novels, and the fourth to feature the City Guard of Ankh-Morpork. As Jingo begins, an island suddenly rises between Ankh- Morpork and Al-Khali, capital of Klatch. Both cities claim it. Lord Vetinari, the Patrician, has failed to convince the Ruling Council that force is a bad idea, despite reminding them that they have no army--"I believe one of those is generally considered vital to the successful prosecution of a war." Samuel Vimes, Commander of the City Watch, has to find out who shot the Klatchian envoy, Prince Khufurah, and set fire to their embassy, before war breaks out.

Pratchett's characters are both sympathetic and outrageously entertaining, from Captain Carrot, who always finds the best in people and puts it to work playing football, to Sergeant Colon and his sidekick, Corporal Nobbs, who have "an ability to get out of their depth on a wet pavement". Then there is the mysterious D'reg, 71-hour Ahmed. What is his part in all this, and why 71 hours? Anyone who doesn't mind laughing themselves silly at the idiocy of people in general and governments in particular will enjoy Jingo. --Nona Vero

Review

"Both his inventiveness and his moral shrewdness seem inexhaustible" (Daily Mail)

"Pratchett's writing is a constant delight. No one mixes the fantastical and the mundane to better comic effect or offers sharper insights into the absurdities of human endeavour" (Daily Mail)

"Generous, amusing and the ideal boarding point for those who have never visited Discworld" (Sunday Telegraph)

"Vintage Pratchett... Perennially funny... A sharp satire on the futility of war" (Metro)

"One of those rare writers who appeals to everyone... He satisfies the need for fast-moving breathtaking plots with entirely satisfying endings, and the equally primitive desire for an alternative world, full of thrills but benign, into which one can step for pleasure and enlivenment" (Daily Express)

Edition details

• Publisher: Harper Torch
• Publication date: 1999
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0061059064
• ISBN 13: 9780061059063
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback