In this Discworld installment, Death comes to Mort with an offer he can't refuse -- especially since being, well, dead isn't compulsory.

As Death's apprentice, he'll have free board and lodging, use of the company horse, and he won't need time off for family funerals. The position is everything Mort thought he'd ever wanted, until he finds himself filling in for the grim reaper and discovers that this perfect job can be a killer on his love life. Things get complicated, when Mort, out of love and chivalry, prevents the scheduled demise of a pretty teenage princess, thus his actions cause a rift in the course of history from that point on, causing two realities to exist simultaneously on the Discworld, confusing the locals no end. Meanwhile, Death is off enjoying a much needed holiday, discovering for the first time this strange human thing called "fun," and deciding he rather likes life now that he's had a chance to see what it's all about.

This is a wonderful book by Terry Pratchett, possibly one of my favorites. To take a theme such as death and turn it into a story that is this amusing and warm-hearted is a remarkable achievement.

Mort marks Death’s first major appearance in the Discworld series, and is one of Pratchett's early works but it serves as a great entry point into Discworld. Death is one my favorite Discworld characters. And it's really to Sir Pratchett's credit, that beneath the gags there's a really warm and endearing outlook on life, death, and the need to cherish the time we have before us....


Reread 2022. I will forever love this book. ( )

I love Terry Pratchett's concepts and characters... But something just doesn't work for me. I don't like... His humor? Something about the story keeps bothering me. Not sure what, but I can't (am not allowed to?) connect with any of the characters. They all (including Death) do some really stupid things, even knowing they're stupid - that's part of it. I don't know.
Ok, it finally clicked for me - when Mort started changing, things fell into place. I'm really not sure what was going on at the end - the whys, the whats were pretty clear - but I liked it. All but the repeated "stole away my daughter" - that so didn't make sense for Death. Overall, not bad, glad I finished it - and glad that the consensus seems to be that this is the weakest of the Death books, so later ones should be better. ( )

2020's review can be found here:

https://nordie.wordpress.com/2020/08/10/book-review-mort-by-terry-pratchett/

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Mort, Mort, MORT. His name is Mort, not boy or that fellow or you there or sir. Oh and he's changing fast; becoming realer than real and more solid by the day, brown eyes becoming blue fireballs and that voice - oh boy, that voice. And he has the weight of the universe on his shoulders.

I wouldn't say Mort is ambitious, nay, maybe stubborn and determined? I mean, that combination alone is bound to upset the apple cart. From waiting until the very last stroke of midnight to be apprenticed right up to the duel of fates...just kidding - but there is a duel of sorts. And everything in between. Mort and Death are actually quite symbiotic. Mort carrying out the task that Death carries out and Death having a quasi-existential crisis inside multiple fabrics of time. In the end, I have to say I believe Death feels affection, familial attachment even but I won't go so far as to say Death feels love. Oh but he sure does love curries. WHY WOULDN'T I LOVE CURRY? ~ I imagine Death asking in that voice.

I will say this, Sir Terry Pratchett took death and made the entity feel relatable. I have adored the personification of death in a few books, The Book Thief, Under The Whispering Door, Sandman but this is the first time I found myself laughing out loud and blurting out between tears "Gosh I love Death" which granted kind of freaked me out at first.

In the end, this is the WEIRDEST love story out there and I totally dig it.
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I didn't enjoy this one as much as I do some of the other ones. Maybe it is because Mort is just so annoying. ( )