Mort (1987)

Continuing the saga of Discworld, Death takes an apprentice with surprising results. I felt this one dragged a bit at times, but still on each page there was a delicious bit of satire to keep me going. The first in the Death story arc, so definitely recommended, just not my favorite. ( )

I was hoping this was going to be "How Death became Death", so I had to work through the full DADBA (5 stages of grief) before I could accept that Mort was actually Death's apprentice.

In this book, Pratchett aims his silly gun primarily at the world of work, and of course, death. I especially enjoyed these parts: The 'romantical' nature of suicide. The interlude between Death and the bartender. The components that Death thinks the perfect job ought to include.

*plays Aerosmith's "Back in the Saddle" in tribute to The Pratch*
( )

Still no tingles, but I did enjoy this book a lot. ( )

Fantastic Novel, it really seems like Pratchett hit his stride here. ( )

This was my introduction to the discworld and is still (just about) my favourite.



Death comes to all of us, when he came to Mort, he offered him a job. This is the first in the series to feature Death. The death of the disk world is, in his own words, AN ANTHROPOMORPHIC PERSONIFICATION, meaning that he looks how people imagine he does, So he's a skeleton that walks, talks (in block capitals like lead being dropped on granite), eats curry and rides a horse called Binky. Which only goes to show you never can tell.

Where he gets the idea of hiring an aprentice is never quite explained, but he end up hiring Morrtimer (Mort for short). There is a host of trouble, which starts when death takes the evening off and leaves "the Duty" to Mort - the part of his body that does the thinking isn't his brain. Reality becomes confused in a mess of teenage emotions and misunderstandings. Captures that awkward phase in life very well and turns it into a hilarious disaster of epic proportions.

You know what? it doesn't matter how many times I read this, I still love it. I tried reading it a bit more critically this time, but it still had me under its spell. I get the impression that Pratchett is an intelligent & erudite man, and that his does his readers the credit of assuming that they are equally intelligent. He doesn't explain all of the references he makes between that reality and this, he just assumes you're going to recognise them. If I could give it more than 5 stars I would - 11 out of 10 every time. ( )