Jingo is another book in Pratchett’s never ending Discworld series. And although the subject is sometimes interesting, on the whole this novel fares poorly in comparison to others of the series. I have developed a theory about his series of books. Well, perhaps it’s just more analysing the obvious. Pratchett has a few sets of characters he likes to come back to: Rincewind (and the wizards of Unseen University), The City Watch of Ank-Morpck, the Witches of Lancre, or Death. Because he’s written something like 25 books in this series now many of them are centered around these characters, Every few books or so he’ll branch out and do a story following new people or something more general about the Disc, but for the most part he sticks to those characters listed above. Not that it’s really a bad thing, I mean it is a series, you want your readers to be comfortable with the players, but these books all have a similarity to them that after having read 20 books in this series is really starting to drag me down. The best stories by far concern Rincewind and the wizards, followed by Death, any new concept or idea, the City Watch, and finally the witches. Maybe I’ve read too much of this series, maybe I’ just bored with it, but although I don’t think these newer novels are any worse than the older ones, I just can’t seem to get involved in them like I used to.
Well, after that rambling dissertation I should probably talk a little about Jingo. This novel is a City Watch story, Commander Vimes, Corporal Carrot, and the rest of the gang are here to save the streets of Ank-Morpock from (insert baddie here). These Watch stories are basically mysteries, and not bad ones on the whole, sorry if I sound cynical, I shouldn’t. In this one a new continent something like Atlantis has risen out of the ocean and both Ank-Morpock and the continent across the ocean Klatch (something like the our middle east) are laying claim to it. An atmosphere of tension begins to brew and the Watch may be the only ones who can prevent an out and out war between these two nations.
Like most Discworld books this one is written well. There are funny bits in all the right places, the mystery (which accompanies all the Watch storylines) is a decent one, and the action is fun, if not somewhat stifled. I can’t say this is a bad book in any respect, but I can say that I’m getting tired of the predictability of these novels. I like Pratchett, he’s smart and a witty author. I’d really like to see him do some other work, leave the Discworld series, or finish it somehow. Just because something works for a while doesn’t mean the entertainment value will continue forever.
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