Jingo

Discworld, Book 21

By: Terry Pratchett

Narrated by: Jon Culshaw, Peter Serafinowicz, Bill Nighy

Length: 13 hrs and 38 mins

Publisher's summary

Brought to you by Penguin.

The audiobook of Jingo is narrated by impressionist and actor Jon Culshaw, best known for BBC Radio 4’s Dead Ringers, and for the Doctor Who audiobooks and dramas. BAFTA and Golden Globe award-winning actor Bill Nighy (Love Actually; Pirates of the Caribbean; Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows) reads the footnotes, and Peter Serafinowicz (Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace; Shaun of the Dead) stars as the voice of Death. Featuring a new theme tune composed by James Hannigan.

'IT WAS SO MUCH EASIER TO BLAME IT ON THEM. IT WAS BLEAKLY DEPRESSING TO THINK THAT THEY WERE US.'

War is brewing on the Discworld.

An island has appeared from the ocean depths, right in the middle of the sea which separates the proud empires of Klatch and Ankh-Morpork. Of course, no one would dream of starting a war with the neighbours without a perfectly good reason… such as a 'strategic' piece of old rock, for instance.

But when a Klatchian Prince is almost assassinated, peace talks break down and violent nationalism begins to spread. Ankh-Morpork prepares to fight. Only thing is, they don't have an army. Or much in the way of weapons.

Commander Sam Vimes and the 'officially disbanded' City Watch get caught up in a deadly political game where the enemy appears to be on both sides and no one will listen to reason.

And if they don't stop this absurd war, no one will…

Jingo is the fourth book in the City Watch series, but you can listen to the Discworld novels in any order.

The first book in the Discworld series - The Colour of Magic - was published in 1983. Some elements of the Discworld universe may reflect this.

©1997 Dunmanifestin Ltd (P)2023 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

"Generous, amusing and the ideal boarding point for those who have never visited Discworld." (Sunday Telegraph)

Love the story, hate the narration

The voice actors are too aggressive. Even though it’s a book about war, it’s supposed to be ironic/sarcastic. The jingle every time there is a footnote is incredibly irritating and takes you out of the story. I wish I already owned the entire collection of old recordings because I will NOT be purchasing any more of these new ones.

Great story, new narration

It’s probably just me, but I miss the old narrator. Nigel is the one I grew up listening to and it’s weird hearing three new voices, but not his. Good satire on war and racism though.

Not enjoying

It’s a great story but I’m having a very hard time getting past the narration. The voice over is making the books so somber or serious. I regret the purchase and am not sure I’m going to finish listening.

Classic Pratchett, not the best performance

I’ve been a fan of Ji go since I first read it in 1999; current events seem to keep it relevant every few years. It may not have the strongest supporting cast, but the main story bridges Feet to of Clay to the much more complex Fifth Elephant, and the Colon/Nobby/Vetinari story is wonderful.
Unfortunately, I did not care for this new Audio recording. The reader made odd choices for the secondary guardsmen and women making them indistinguishable and uninteresting, except for the absurd Rasta Detritus. The main cast sounded more like imitations of popular movie characters (Vetinari as Snape?) and Vimes was a series of grumbling growls- perhaps not incorrect for the character, but challenging as a main pov. The performance was very ponderous and s l o w ; I needed to tweak playback to 1.25x to make the conversations seem realistic and the narrative move along. Not the strongest of the new editions.

Worst, narration, ever!

It is difficult to tell whether this would be a good book because their narration was so terrible. We have listen to several dozen Pratchett bucks, and the narrator makes all the difference. this one could not capture the comedic sense of the text at all. It was very flat. please do not let him narrate anymore.

Different take on narration, still great

Narrator emphasizes the gruff and gritty nature of the books, which in some cases adds interesting dynamics. Maybe missing a little silliness and charm of the older versions, but still a wonderful audio experience. Pratchett’s unique insight and humor still shine through in this captivating action novel. Nobby nobs and Fred colon will always be an incredible vehicle for comedy. Can’t recommend the night watch series of discworld enough.

It was great, narration could be better

I don’t know if it was actually written in the book this way but the book was interrupted by footnotes that took away from the experience

relevance

surprises, yet characters stay true to form. " random words to fill up the 15 word minimum"

Hilarious

Fantastic book with a fantastic performance. A great entry point for disc world and Terry Pratchett 

I miss Stephen Briggs

story is not as good as some Pratchett, and this narrator is just not as good as the older Stephen Briggs ones.