Jingo (Discworld, #21)

Jingo (Discworld #21)

4.01 of 5 stars 4.01  ·  rating details  ·  20,405 ratings  ·  355 reviews
'Neighbours... hah. People'd live for ages side by side, nodding at one another amicably on their way to work, and then some trivial thing would happen and someone would be having a garden fork removed from their ear.'





Throughout history, there's always been a perfectly good reason to start a war. Never more so if it is over a 'strategic' piece of old rock in the middle of...more
Paperback, 461 pages
Published February 12th 2006 by Corgi Books (first published 1997)
more details... edit details

Friend Reviews

To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.
Night Watch by Terry PratchettGoing Postal by Terry PratchettSmall Gods by Terry PratchettHogfather by Terry PratchettGuards! Guards! by Terry Pratchett
The Best of Discworld!
23rd out of 46 books — 513 voters
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas AdamsGood Omens by Terry PratchettLamb by Christopher MooreMe Talk Pretty One Day by David SedarisThe Princess Bride by William Goldman
Best Humorous Books
177th out of 1,871 books — 3,706 voters


More lists with this book...

Community Reviews

(showing 1-30 of 3,000)
filter  |  sort: default (?)  |  rating details
Melanie Brown
Ankh-Morpork gets involved in a war with Klatch and the Discworld equivalent of Atlantis, Leshp, is about to rise. It is up to the Watch, Vimes, Colon, Carrot and all the rest to find a way to prevent it. In Jingo the Discworld looks into the dark heart of war, land disputes, assassination, science and weapons development, and prejudice. Of course, Terry Pratchett does it in his special way, sneaking it in here and there and occasionally hitting you head on with it. Of course, there is a lot mor...more
Chris
A strange foreign country across the sea, a moneyed aristocracy eager to send young men off to war, political operatives using a flimsy pretext to incite nationalist and racist fervor to encourage said war....

Sounds unpleasantly familiar, which is probably why I was drawn to reading this book.

This is one of the Watch books in the Discworld series, and like so many of those books deals with the intersection between law and politics. In this case, a mysterious island surfaces halfway between the g...more
Emily
Jun 07, 2007 Emily rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Discworld fans, Night Watch fans
I've read this a few times, actually. Some of the fine details of the plot I still didn't remember until I read it just now. Part of this might just be poor memory (it's sort of nice to have that for books, actually, as some of the contents still come as a surprise upon rereading. I may remember the gist, but how exactly it comes about is still "novel"), and part of it might be that some of the major plot points are actually a bit unclear, even after they are revealed, in a single conversation.

I...more
Peter
War - what is it good for?: 'Jingo' is Terry Prathett's 21st Discworld novel, and the 4th to feature Sam Vimes and the City Watch as lead characters. The 3 previous City Watch novels - 'Guards! Guards!', 'Men At Arms' and 'Feet Of Clay' ranked amongst the very best of the Discworld novels, but sadly 'Jingo' is a more middling Pratchett work. It's by no means a bad book as such, and contains plenty of good jokes along the way, but compared to the depth of 'Feet of Clay' in terms of plot construct...more
Trent
So far, this certainly isn’t my favorite story among the Watch’s novels. It was certainly better than a 3, mind you, but a 4-star rating is perhaps pushing it for my sensibilities. For one, more than any of their stories so far, this one felt the least indicative of the Watch as a police force –due, perhaps, largely to the subject matter.

The bulk of the plot is spurred on by an international conflict between Klatch and Ankh-Morpork over the re-emergence of an island halfway between both countrie...more
Smcleish
Originally published on my blog here in January 1999.

The twenty-first Discworld novel tackles a most depressing subject - the warmongering, violent side of human nature. The scenario is that the lost continent of Leshp has risen again from the seabed, to be claimed by both Ankh-Morpork and the empire of Klatch. War seems to be inevitable, as patriotism apparently spontaneously breaks out in Ankh-Morpork. The City Watch are once again the centre of things as Commander Vimes tries to work out who...more
Fiona
It's not very often in the next few months that I'm going to get to read a whole book in a day, so I thought, in for a penny, in for a pound, took a Sunday off and settled down with Commander Vimes and a bar of Dairy Milk.

It was a good choice. Of course it was. I've been recommended 'Jingo' several times, and it's perfectly obvious why: it's exactly my kind of thing. A lot of page time is spent on my favourite supporting cast (Vetinari, Carrot, Angua) and Lady Sybil gets a good few pages of bein...more
Lutien Tinuviel
Тази сигурно ми е една от най-любимите, с идиотските разговори на серж. Колън и Ноби.

Двата момента, които са ми любими:
"Сержант Колън имаше широка обща култура. Той беше минал през школата на Баща Ми Винаги Казваше, завършил беше колежа Всички Знаят, а в момента правеше аспирантура в университета Един Човек В Кръчмата Го Разправя."


"Какво са йероглифите, сержант?
Колън се поколеба, но само за кратко.
— Вид молюски, ефрейтор.
— Хей, ти всичко знаеш, сержант! — възкликна възхитен Ноби. — Значи йерогли...more
Sally
I'm making my way through Disworld one book at a time, trying to read (or listen to) them in some sort of order, although not in order of publication. I read all the "Witch Novels" first, including the Tiffany Aching stories that are touted as being young adult novels. I read Going Postal, Making Money and The Truth, and then most of the "Rincewind Novels", for some reason thinking the ones featuring the Ankh-Morpork Watch might not be as good. I was wrong about that (although Feet of Clay was n...more
Melinda Snodgrass
I came to Terry Pratchett late which meant I have this lovely, long line of books to graze through. Pratchett's Discworld is just our world, but amplified by the presence of witches and wizards, and Death is a character, and a lovely old duffer with a charming, if prickly, granddaughter. Rounding out the cast is the enigmatic ruler of THe Discworld's major city, and the various citizens of that city from thieves and beggars, and bankers, and trying to help keep order over this motley crew is the...more
Hank Quense
Sep 06, 2009 Hank Quense rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: anyone who enjoys humorous genre fiction
While I've enjoyed every Terry Pratchett book I've read, I think Jingo has to rank near the top, possibly the best one Pratchett wrote. As with his others, it depicts the foibles of human interactions, this time it's war over a piece of soggy, seaweed-covered speck of land, an island that suddenly rises from the sea half-way between the countries of Ankh-Morpork (home of the good guys) and Klatch (home of the nasty foreigners). People in both countries get pumped up for war by accusing the other...more
sage
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
Al

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,

...more
Malquiviades
Another visit to our friends of the Night Watch, although it has become just the Town Watch.

Pratchett's satiric view usually touches many points and in this book it does so with war. Although it is not war directly, but patriotism (mingled with xenophobia) and how it may direct head on onto a war (for petty reasons).


Other Pratchett's books share this satiric view of a certain topic and it is sometimes present throughout them. I have already enjoyed it in some others as in Small Gods. It is a ref...more
Karen
I am getting into Pratchett's DiscWorld series in midstream, but I really enjoyed this one. I have to say that it has been a while since I read a book that was so full of both wry and overt humor. In fact, I almost got jaded with so much! So, I will have to try to go back and read the series from the start. Another Goodreads member gave me good advice about that--to pick a character and read the books that focused on him or her. Since Jingo focused on Lord Sam Vimes, the commander of The Watch,...more
Helen
I sometimes wonder how well Pratchett's books translate into different languages and cultures. This one has Ankh Morpork going to war with Klatch over an island that sprung from the depths of the Circle Sea. The Klatchians are a desert people, who wear Lawrence of Arabia robes and towels on their heads, make curry, offer visitors eyeballs to see if they'll eat them, speak in a curiously curly font that is reminiscent of Arabic script and are very hot on hospitality. They are also reputed to run...more
Ann
There may be a Terry Pratchett book out there that I don't like, but this isn't it. This one continues the City Watch series, so there is lots more of Sam Vines, Sgt. Colon, Nobby Nobs, Carrot, Angua, Vetinari, and all the other great characters of Ankh-Morpork. In this story, they find themselves involved in a war with the desert country of Klatch. Pratchett manages to write a very funny story that is also adventurous and bitingly real (think Iraq). Here is one of my most favorite paragraphs in...more
Matthew Shepherd
KBYU Radio (of all places) turned me on to Terry Pratchett, and I've been reading him non-stop since. So far, Going Postal is my very favorite, but I've enjoyed them all quite a bit.
Fans of Jerome K. Jerome, George Orwell, and other distinctly English humorous authors will enjoy Pratchett's wit and social commentary very much.
Greg Crites
The sheer volume of hilarity this man gave us is incalculable. More jokes, word-for-word, page-after-page, than any other has strung together since we first started painting stick-figures of four-legged lunch on dank rock walls. More importantly, beneath the fun is an unbroken strand of brilliant conceptual thinking. Jingo is far more than a hilarious read. It is a cogent examination of human interaction, expressed with humor, wit, cunning, and sarcasm. As a writer of twenty-plus humor novels my...more
Nenia Campbell
ah, politics, why didn't you say so?

a reluctant pratchett fan, i was urged into the genre by my mother and my grandmother and quickly got infested by the discworm parasite (a bit different than ringworm--much, much harder to get rid of).

in this book, a strange sea-weed covered city called leshp rises from the seas, and promptly starts a war between two countries: ankh-morpork, who want to launch an exploration of the site for curiosity and expansion of resources, and klatch, who obviously want t...more
Cecilia
Three and 1/2 stars. As always, I smile and chuckle when I read Terry Pratchett. I'll admit to a few out loud hoots as well. This book was no exception. It features my favorite character, Captain Vimes, along with Corporal Nobbs, Sergeant Colon, Lord Vetineri, and Captain Carrot. We are introduced to 71-hour Ahmed and learn a bit about other cultures, this time Klatchian, and we learn how politics affects events & visa versa.
I wish everybody the good luck to read a Terry Pratchett book at...more
Piotr
I still get chills when I get to this section:
(view spoiler)[

"What is that thing talking about?"

"Search me. Sounds like it's in a different world, doesn't it... ?" He could feel events racing towards a distant wall. Sweat filled his eyes. He couldn't remember when he'd last had a proper sleep. His legs twinged. His arms ached, pulled down by the heavy bow.

"...bingeley... Eight oh two eh em, Death of Corporal Littlebottombottom... Eight oh three eh em... Death of Sergeant Detritus... Eight oh thr
...more
Elizabeth (Miss Eliza)
Sir Samuel doesn't like the pomp and circumstance of his new job title and role of husband. And he really doesn't like tights. So when an assassination attempt is bungled during a parade, obviously for Sam it's an improvement. Because the chase is what it's all about. Worry about the details later. But why would anyone want to murder the Klatchian Prince? Could it be because a very strategic island has magically appeared between the two countries and war seems imminent? With the Guild leaders an...more
Dean Ashton
To be fair on Terry Pratchett, my love of this book was doomed from the start by the absense of the witches. This has been where TP has excelled.
I knew this book was centred around The Watch, the Ankh-Morpork police and I figured its about time I got to know the other regulary occuring Pratchett cast. Consisting of die-hard Commander Vimes, ever optimistic Captain Carrot, and a host of other characters which include (a werewolf, a zombie, a troll and a dwarf), I found the laudable ignorance of...more
Frank
I'm addicted to Discworld novels about the Watch. Help me . . . oh wait, don't help me. They're fun and I really like reading them. This one was really good, and had some really great moments. Especially the organizer on an alternate timeline . . .
b
I've been totally bingeing on the discworld Watch books, I can easily get through one a week, on top of any other reading I'm doing. This one wasn't the best, but I enjoyed it. Like many of the best pratchett books, it's fairly topical (on the subject of patriotism and cultural misunderstanding, especially between europe and the muslim world), and the solution presented is also typical of sir terry's deep humanism - search for common ground and analogous structures, beware those who exploit diff...more
Lissibith
I wish I knew why I don't like this novel as much as some of the others in the series. I suspect it has something to do with the premise being uncomfortably close to home for me as an American.

The premise revolves, as most Night Watch books do, around a mystery, but more socially it also revolves around xenophobia, cultural stereotyping and the sort of gung-ho "we kill it because it's there" attitude that's been at the base of a few wars in its time.

The book brings the familiar cast of characte...more
Ron Arden
First time in awhile that I read two Discworld books in a row, but it was great. This one pits Ankh-Morpork against the kingdom of Klatch fighting over an island (Lepsh) that just appeared in the ocean. In his inimitable way, Terry Pratchett shows how silly it is to fight over these things (and things in general). Ankh-Morpork and Klatchian fisherman both say they spotted the island first and claim it as theirs. And they only reason they want it is because each was there first.

The main plot sta...more
Trevin Sandlin
4.5 Stars. Discworld #21 of my read of all the Discworld novels in order (a project I've been working on for a few years now). The City Watch novels are probably my favorite of the Pratchett "groups" of Discworld books - the characters tend to be ones I enjoy spending time with and this was no exception. Moreover, I find that the Watch novels tend to deal better with "big issues" better than any of his other theme-groups (with the possible exception of the stand-alone novels). This one is no dif...more
Tammy
Vol. 21 of Discworld. 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 leadin...more
« previous 1 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 99 100 next »
There are no discussion topics on this book yet. Be the first to start one »
Jingo (Discworld, #21)
Jingo (Discworld, #21)
Jingo (Discworld, #21)
Jingo (Discworld, #21)
Jingo (Discworld, #21)

1654
Sir Terry Pratchett sold his first story when he was thirteen, which earned him enough money to buy a second-hand typewriter. His first novel, a humorous fantasy entitled The Carpet People, appeared in 1971 from the publisher Colin Smythe. Terry worked for many years as a journalist and press officer, writing in his spare time and publishing a number of novels, including his first Discworld novel,...more
More about Terry Pratchett...
Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch The Color of Magic (Discworld, #1) Mort (Discworld, #4) Guards! Guards! (Discworld, #8) Night Watch (Discworld, #29)

Share This Book

Your website
“Give a man a fire and he's warm for a day, but set fire to him and he's warm for the rest of his life.” 7,798 people liked it
“Always be wary of any helpful item that weighs less than its operating manual.” 461 people liked it
More quotes…