In the thirteenth part of Jingo, I DON’T UNDERSTAND WHAT IS GOING ON. Intrigued? Then it’s time for Mark to read Discworld.
What is happening???
Angua
I’m never going to be bored by Angua’s POV sections because they’re always so well written! I just love that Pratchett writes her as existing in two forms at once instead of saying she is 100% human at one moment, and then 100% wolf once she changes form. I’ve never liked werewolf stories that do that because it just doesn’t make sense to me. Instead, I’m way more interested in what he presents here: a mixture of the two brains and instincts, with one overpowering the other whenever Angua is in that specific state. She’s still got access to some parts of her humanity, even though her wolf brain is mostly in control.
Also, I really need her to be okay. I’M WORRIED.
71-Hour Ahmed
I DON’T UNDERSTAND HIM. AT ALL. Obviously, that’s partially by design. Despite that we get some sections from his point of view in this section of Jingo, Pratchett still keeps us at a distance. He never thinks about his plans, and we’re still left largely in the darkness. Which is frustrating because from context clues, you can deduct that he’s working on his own mission of sorts, which seems to be in direct contradiction to what the Klatchians want. His agenda makes no sense to me, but I know that’s because I don’t have all the information that I should.
So, here’s what I can discern from the text: He sees something in the sea behind the ship after one of his men reports that there is a monster that came out of the water. He doesn’t think it’s a sea monster, but assumes it’s something he just doesn’t know about yet. He also DELIBERATELY cuts the sails on his ship to allow the one following his to catch up to him. In order to force a confrontation??? He also doesn’t seem all that bothered by the ridiculous St. Ungulant’s storm??? I DON’T KNOW WHY?
Colon
Look, I just want to state that the whole, “Glad I’m not like those poor bastards,†line is one of the funniest jokes in this whole damn book. Oh, Colon, you are exactly as Lord Vetinari described you.
Vimes
So, Vimes really did make a universe-shifting decision when he chose to go after Angua. He was supposed to be facing an assassin! But that’s not the big takeaway I had from this section. No, instead, I realized that this is perhaps the most poorly planned mission in the entirety of the Discworld series. Not only did Vimes order his people to throw everything overboard – literally everything that wasn’t alive or being worn by said living people – but he has no real plan in terms of what he’s going to do once he catches up to the ship where Angua is being held. Now, Vimes has talent in devising last-minute strategy, so maybe he’ll come up with something, but he has NOTHING to go on. Or to use. At all. IT’S ALL AT THE BOTTOM OF THE OCEAN.
And then there’s the storm. I am at a complete loss here, y’all. I have zero theories about what it is or where it came from. Based on what Jenkins says, I’m guessing this might be a common thing in the Circle Sea??? So, it could all be a bit of random coincidence thrown in to add some chaos to the story, but I never get the sense that Pratchett is random, you know? And given Ahmed’s reaction to the storm, the magic element of it cannot be a mistake. Right??? Except… damn it, octarine energy is everywhere, and random intrusions of it in the Discworld is common. SO I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT TO THINK.
Except that Cheery is a genius for eating the sardines from the tins that fell from the sky. Bravo. When life gives you sardine cans, eat sardines.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9X8_pJpOSuI
Mark Links Stuff
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