Back

reviewed Jingo by Terry Pratchett

Jingo (Paperback, 2006, Corgi) 5 stars

It isn't much of an island that rises up one moonless night from the depths …

Must stop quoting, Arrrggghhh

4 stars

There's also a very nice line about the thought of expanding the country border, but I must stop somewhere.

Jingo is comparatively more messy than the other books around this time; groups are split and regrouped more often than usual, making the narrative a bit hard to grasp, and the mirroring a bit hard to summarise. But it is somehow necessary, because every one of these characters represents an attitude towards foreigners. When Witches Abroad was only running a light commentary on arrogant attitude when going abroad, Jingo is full out on trying to show as many aspects of racism and xenophobia as the story could manage.

(especially as Jingo is the western culture representative versus the desert natives, this makes such a nice pause from Dune (sorry). I suppose it's because in Jingo, there are a lot of characters who actually do respect the other races, and are trying …