Jingo (Discworld Series) by Terry Pratchett

From the Publisher

It isn't much of an island that rises up one moonless night from the depths of the Circle Sea — just a few square miles of silt and some old ruins. Unfortunately, the historically disputed lump of land called Leshp is once again floating directly between Ankh-Morpork and the city of Al-Khali on the coast of Klatch — which is spark enough to ignite that glorious international pastime called "war." Pressed into patriotic service, Commander Sam Vimes thinks he should be leading his loyal watchmen, female watchdwarf, and lady werewolf into battle against local malefactors rather than against uncomfortably well-armed strangers in the Klatchian desert. But war is, after all, simply the greatest of all crimes — and it's Sir Samuel's sworn duty to seek out criminal masterminds wherever they may be hiding ... and lock them away before they can do any real damage. Even the ones on his own side.

A. S. Byatt

Discworld is more complicated and satisfactory than Oz. Truly original. Pratchett creates a brilliant excess of delectable detail!

VOYA

The cover art says it all-a small green island floats in a tranquil sea below the water line, and the little land mass looks like a bomb with a lighted fuse. When a new island, Leshp, pops up one day in the sea between Ankh-Morpork and Al-Khali after more than a century of peace, there is immediate scrambling for possession of the tiny scrap of newly risen earth. The rival cities are at war! Diplomacy fails, arguments proliferate, murder is rampant, to say nothing of arson and kidnapping. The stage is set for another riotous Discworld adventure. Sir Samuel Vimes, removed from his position as Commander of the Watch, becomes a knight and organizes his own military force; Captain Carrot is off to rescue his werewolf girlfriend, Angua; and the Patrician, Vetinari, saves the day by surrendering Leshp to Al-Khali just before the tiny island slips back under the ocean waves again, leaving the adversaries with nothing left to fight over. Brimming with a dizzying array of favorite characters and rowdy Pythonesque humor, Pratchett's current addition presents a capricious, lighthearted look at the inanity of war and the warped ethics of diplomatic procedure. It joins over twenty-five publications in the consistently hilarious Discworld series, including Feet of Clay (HarperPrism, 1996/VOYA February 1997), Maskerade (HarperPrism, 1997/VOYA April 1998), and Interesting Times (HarperPrism, 1997). VOYA Codes: 5Q 5P J S (Hard to imagine it being any better written, Every YA (who reads) was dying to read it yesterday, Junior High-defined as grades 7 to 9 and Senior High-defined as grades 10 to 12).

Library Journal

Pratchett's best-known creation is "Discworld," in particular the fantastic medieval urban city-state Ankh-Morporkh, populated by humans, dwarves, and trolls aligned in a firm social pecking order. A keen observer of human behavior, Pratchett portrays nearly every conceivable type of Earthly people, and they work through social issues as the "Discworld" stories unfold. Jingo takes on discrimination and xenophobia as the crusty Sam Vimes, leader of the city's policing Watch, heads off war with the neighboring land of Klatch. Hogfather is a bit less accessible, possibly because most characters are so abstract. Discworld's equivalent of Santa Claus, the Hogfather has a price on his head. Death plays a large part, and his diminutive rodent counterpart, the Death of Rats, also appears. Death's granddaughter Susan is the worldly heroine who saves the day in this adventure involving the city's Magicians. Similar to the "Discworld" novel Reaper Man, Hogfather is an optional purchase. Jingo is highly recommended, especially if your patrons appreciate British humor. Nigel Planer is a stunning narrator in these stories, delivering a wide range of voices and styles while remaining wonderfully energetic and consistent.--Douglas C. Lord, Hartford P.L., CT Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

School Library Journal

YA-Jingo, the twentieth Discworld novel to be published in the United States, is a worthy addition to the series. It's a quiet night. Maybe too quiet. Solid Jackson and his son are fishing the waters between Ankh-Morpork and Al-Khali when their boat runs aground. To their amazement, an iron chicken rises out of the water, followed shortly by the island of Leshp. Solid Jackson immediately claims the island as Ankh-Morpork territory. There's only one problem. Greasy Arif and his son are also fishing for Curious Squid, and Arif swears that the island belongs to Al-Khali. Both cities are determined to annex it. By jingo, this means war. Ankh-Morpork is outgunned and out-manned but the city's nobles don't plan to let that stop them from carrying on the noble traditions of chivalry and showing those Klatchians what's what. This book is just as funny, clever, and unpredictable as the previous titles. Pratchett fans will not be disappointed, and new readers will not be confused. Jingo expands upon the lives of characters from titles in the series, but readers don't need to be familiar with them to enjoy this one. It's fast-paced, with lots of twists and turns, unexpected events, and football.-Susan Salpini, Kings Park Library, Burke, VA

Product Details

• Table of Contents
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Table of Contents

Read an Excerpt

It was a moonless night, which was good for the purposes of Solid Jackson.

He fished for Curious Squid, so called because, as well as being squid, they were curious.That is to say, their curiosity was the curious thing about them.

Shortly after they got curious about the, lantern that Solid had hung over the stern of his boat, they started to become curious about the way in which various of their number suddenly van-ished skyward with a splash.

Some of them even became curious—very briefly curious—about the sharp barbed thing that was coming very quickly toward them.

The Curious Squid were extremely curious.Unfortunately, they weren't very good at making connections.

It was a very long way to this fishing ground, but for Solid the trip was usually well worth it.The Curious Squid were very small, harmless, difficult to find and reckoned by connoisseurs to have the foulest taste of any creature in the world.This made them very much in demand in a certain kind of restaurant where highly skilled chefs made, with great care, dishes containing no trace of the squid whatsoever.

Solid Jackson's problem was that tonight, a moonless night in the spawning season, when the squid were especially curious about everything, the chef seemed to have been at work on the sea itself.

There was not a single interested eyeball to be seen.There weren't any other fish either, and usually there were a few attracted to the light.He'd caught sight of one.It had been making through the water extremely fast in a straight line.

He laid down his trident and walked to the other end of the boat, where his son Les was also gazing intentlyat the torch-lit sea.

"Not a thing in half an hour," said Solid.

"You sure we're in the right spot, Dad?"

Solid squinted at the horizon.There was a faint glow in the sky that indicated the city of Al-Khali, on the Klatchian coast.He turned round.The other horizon glowed, too, with the lights of Ankh-Morpork.The boat bobbed gently halfway between the two.

The stars twinkled on the surface of the water, too.Now that was something you didn't often see.

"I reckon we ought to be getting out of here," Solid said.

Les pointed at the slack sail."What're we going to use for wind, Dad?"

It was then that they heard the splash of oars.

Solid, squinting hard, could just make out the shape of another boat, heading toward him.He grabbed his boat-hook.

"I knows that's you, you thieving foreign bastard!"

The oars stopped.A voice sang over the water.

"May you be consumed by a thousand devils, you damned person!

The other boat glided closer.It looked foreign with eyes painted on the prow.

"Fished 'em all out, have you? I'll take my trident to you, you bottom-feedin' scum that y'are!'

My curvy sword at your neck, you unclean son of a dog of the female persuasion!"

Les looked over the side.Little bubbles fizzed on the surface of the sea.

"Dad?" he said.

"That's Greasy Arif out there!" snapped his father."You take a good look at him! He's been coming out here for years, stealing our squid, the evil lying little devil!"

"Dad there's—"

"You get on them oars and I'll knock his black teeth out!"

Les could hear a voice saying from the other boat "-see, my son, how the underhanded fish thief—"

"Row!" his father shouted.

"To the oars!" shouted someone in the other boat.

"Whose squid are they, Dad?" said Les.

"Ours!"

"What, even before we've caught them?"

"Just you shut up and row!"

"I can't move the boat, Dad, we' re stuck on something!"

"It's a hundred fathoms deep here, boy! What's there to stick on?"

Les tried to disentangle an oar from the thing rising slowly out of the fizzing sea.

"Looks like a ... a chicken, Dad!"

There was a sound from below the surface.It sounded like some bell or gong, slowly swinging.

"Chickens can't swim!"

"It's made of iron, Dad!"

Solid scrambled to the rear of the boat.

It was a chicken, made of iron.Seaweed and shells covered it and water dripped off it as it rose against the stars.

It stood on a cross-shaped perch.

There seemed to be a letter on each of the four ends of the cross.

Solid held the torch closer.

"What the—"

Then he pulled the oar free and sat down beside his son.

"Row like the blazes, Les!"

"What's happening, Dad?"

"Shut up and row! Get us away from it!"

"Is it a monster, Dad?"

"It's worse than a monster, son!" shouted Solid, as the oars bit into the water.

The thing was quite high now, standing on some kind of tower ... "What is it, Dad! What is it?"

"It's a damned weathercock.

There was not, on the whole, a lot of geological excitement.The sinking of continents is usually accompanied by volcanoes, earthquakes and armadas of little boats containing old men anxious to build pyramids and mystic stone circles in some new land where being the possessor of genuine ancient occult wisdom might be expected to attract girls.But the rising of this one caused barely a ripple in the purely physical scheme of things.It more or less sidled back, like a cat who's been away for a few days and knows you've been worrying.

Around the shores of the Circle Sea a large wave, only five or six feet high by the time it reached them, caused some comment.