Death comes to us all. When he came to Mort, he offered him a job. Death is the Grim Reaper of the Discworld, a black-robed skeleton carrying a scythe who must collect a minimum number of souls in order to keep the momentum of dying, well… alive. He is also fond of cats and endlessly baffled by humanity. Soon Death is yearning to experience what humanity really has to offer. But to do that, he’ll need to hire some help. It’s an offer Mort can’t refuse. As Death’s apprentice he’ll have free board, use of the company horse – and being dead isn’t compulsory. It’s a dream job – until Mort falls in love with Death’s daughter, Ysabell, and discovers that your boss can be a killer on your love life…
Entering the Disc World
When in school, my best friend used to repeatedly talk about Terry Pratchett’s Disc World series. I even watched one of the movie adaptations with her but never got around to read any of the books. Until now. When we decided on the fourth book in the series for out book club, I had no choice but to give it a shot. Thankfully, the books can be read independently, although they certainly have references and easter eggs. We are also nicely introduced to the world and don’t lack much world building on the grand level. That is not to say that I didn’t miss some more on the level of this book’s plot.
Albert grunted. ‚Do you know hat happens to lads who ask too many questions?‘
Mort thought for a moment.
‚No,‘ he said eventually, ‚what?‘
There was silence.
Then Albert straightened up and seid, „Damned if I know. Probably hey geht answers, and nerve ‚em right.‘
Style over Plot
I had no idea what was to come for me. Without knowing much about Terry Pratchett’s style or the world in depth, I started reading. Fortunately, I was quickly taken by the author’s humor and the dryness of some of his characters. The description of Mort and his family and eventually his encounter with Death drew me in easily. This book uses a lot of magic that was often taken as a given. Every now and then I wished for a little bit more insight, so I could have thought ahead of the plot and theorized. This certainly is my favorite part of reading fantasy, when everything fits together in the end. But as I didn’t know the puzzle pieces, it was not possible to put them together. Maybe reading the other books in advance would have allowed a deeper understanding of the possibilities.
‚What time’s sunset around here?‘
‚We normally manage to fit it in between night and day.‘
Stayed for the humor
I did get attached to the main characters and their fate. Even Death’s fate was of interest, even the most entertaining one. Nonetheless, I mostly sticked around for the hilarious dialogues and the humor. Death’s dry observation of his surroundings and his aim to make a change in his life was intriguing. The other characters’ fight for their survival and their intermingling was just as amusing. I joyfully shared some of the interactions with friends without them having any clue about the context. It was simply gold! Unfortunately, those scenes could not keep up the whole book which ended somewhat randomly. I’m not yet certain if I will return to the Disc World as I do appreciate Pratchett’s humor but was not convinced by the story itself.
In conclusion,
I’ve heard a lot about this series before and surely enjoyed this read although I missed some story- and worldbuilding. The author’s humor and his genuinely amusing characters carried me through the pages. It’s uncertain if I will return to the Disc World but I fancied my trip to these shores!
The author:
Professor Sir Terry Pratchett OBE was the creator of the hugely successful Discworld series of novels, and became Britain’s best-selling author of adult fiction, writing over fifty wildly successful titles in his lifetime. Here we chronicle Terry’s life and highlight some exciting facts you may not have known about this incredible author and scholar of the human condition. Source