The 24th Discworld novel, published 1999. Roughly, a Watch novel (as opposed to a Witches or Wizards one). It takes place largely in Uberwald, a loose Transylvania spoof and 'stars' Sam Vimes, Angua, Carrot, some Igors, and special guest star Death. Better than some of the recent DW books (Carpe Jugulum in particular was pretty lame) and laugh-out-loud funny in places. Terry Pratchett has still got it, although what it is and if there's anything he can do about it remains a mystery.

(Oh , and the Fifth Elephant doesn't really feature in the book - for once Discworld has a myth that isn't totally 100% certain to be true)

(It's also probably the most back-story effort that has every been put into one pun)

A fairly mindless pun on "The Fifth Element". According to this book, the Discworld once rested on the backs of five elephants instead of four; the fifth one was knocked loose back in the Disc's prehistory and sent hurtling around until it crashed into the Uberwald mountains, creating the enormous and highly profitable underground fat deposits on which Ankh-Morporkian cuisine is now dependent.

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