Review: Jingo by Terry Pratchett

Hedwig's World

Nov 26

"It is always useful to face an enemy who is prepared to die for his country," he read. "This means that both you and he have exactly the same aim in mind."

**Content warnings for war, racism and mentions of genocide.**

Welcome back to the Discworld Project! Was going to include a line about reviews coming back as well but considering this year, you all know the drill by now. So as we know, I love Sir Terry Pratchett. I love The Watch. Sam Vimes is up there for me with the likes of Samwise Gamgee and Morpheus Lord of Dreams in my favourite complex male characters in SFF. I however, did not love Jingo.

DISCWORLD GOES TO WAR, WITH ARMIES OF SARDINES, WARRIORS, FISHERMEN, SQUID AND AT LEAST ONE VERY CAMP FOLLOWER.

As two armies march, Commander Vimes of Ankh-Morpork City Watch faces unpleasant foes who are out to get him . . . and that's just the people on his side. The enemy might be even worse.

Jingo, the 21st in Terry Pratchett's phenomenally successful Discworld series, makes the World Cup look like a friendly five-a-side.

So there are a few books over this project I liked less than others. Though I've never rated a Pratchett book low you understand. There are just ones that I don't think level up to some of the others. Which is inevitable in a series with over 40 books! This one though stands out with my earlier read this year of Interesting Times and previous books like Pyramids, just not quite there.

We start off with a piece of land rising from the sea, weathercock first. This piece of land lying somewhere in the middle of the Disc, leading to an argument between both Morporkian and Klathcian fishermen. Is it mine, or is it yours? Well I bloody saw it first! If at this point an island randomly rising Atlantis style from the bottom of the sea took me back, I'd be handing you back my fan card of Discworld. We cut inevitably to Sir Samuel Vimes and the ever expanding Watch.

One thing I need to get across first and foremost is that the characters here are still shining the brightest. Vimes continues to grow and learn, much to his own chagrin. Captain Carrot remains to be as compelling to the citizens of Ankh Morpork as he does to me. Angua, Cheri and Detritus are equally fantastic, along with the ever lurking Lord Havelock Vetinari. Something that was excellent about this book though is what it did to the development of Watch veterans Sergeant Fred Colon and Corporal Nobby Nobbs.

After an incident with a visiting Klatch prince, Ankh-Morpork is at war with Klatch. Racial tensions are at a high for the first time for the reader. Don't get me wrong, species tension and prejudice isn't new to the Disc. Trolls for example, Gollums in the fantastic Feet of Clay. But between humans it's not been obvious until now. And darling Fred Colon is not a fan. I saw a lot of reviews on Reddit or the internet as a whole where people were understandably uncomfortable with their bumbling, nature's own sergeant suddenly being so openly racist. I do agree with that but I also really admire how Terry Pratchett can add so much more layers to a longer running character so well. Fred doesn't automatically get rid of it even when a molotov is thrown in a window of a Klatchian family. He doesn't like Klatchians and he has to sit with it now that he is adding to this vitiriol.

Nobby is a bit less painful. See Nobby is struggling with being single and being regarded as barely human by basic standards. He is taking into consideration what he might do to meet someone. And even though his part in the book leads to a trope I'm not the biggest fan of, he still goes through a bit more of his own growth. He feels a lot more fragile and emotional than ever. He's far more aware of women and what it takes to be one by the end. He gets some well deserved attention these last two Watch books.

This book is essentially following the plot of extended police chase. While I do love a good police/detective story and especially one where Vimes is the one doing the detecting. This one was a bit too messy for me to keep track. While I do remember how things went and followed for what reason, I still struggled with the pacing. A police chase I would expect to be quick or sudden. This one felt a bit stilted. But a chase is a chase and it has to end, and the ending to it does come together very well despite the stopping and starting of the plot.

Overall, I'll not be keeping this in my higher favourites of the series, it's still another great adventure. Now the real challenge to see how many more Discworld books into my reading by the year's end. Thanks for checking in guys! Happy reading!

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