captaind's Full Review: Terry Pratchett - Small Gods
The inestimable John Clute (at least, I wouldn’t want to estimate him), co-editor of The Science Fiction & Fantasy Encyclopaedia, described this book as Pratchett’s “best and certainly funniest novel”. High praise indeed, from an immensely respected source in the fantasy world. But as those who have read my other Pratchett reviews will know, I personally feel it is extremely difficult indeed to define a “best” Discworld novel, for the simple reason that so many of them are just fantastic. How do you define the difference between one brilliant, side-splittingly funny novel from another? The important thing is always how much you enjoy the book, and if you had a great time reading it (as is almost always the case with Discworld novels), how do you label one as the “best”?
Well, there you go. Don’t expect me to tell you if this is the best or funniest, I leave that to Mr Clute because to me it is an impossible quest. However, what I can tell you is that ”Small Gods” more than deserves its place among the ranks of Pratchett’ books that have received a five star rating from myself. (Incidentally, in case you’ve been spending the last few years dead for tax reasons, Discworld is a place of magic and myth, which has many similarities to our own world. It is part of the Multiverse, and is always in danger of letting bits from other dimensions intruding on the people, dwarves, trolls, zombies, wizards, and other such riff-raff of the Discworld. Oh, and the Discworld novels make up the most popular and best fantasy humour series EVER… unless I’ve really missed something here…) One thing that makes it a little different is that none of the characters (with the exception of my favourite Discworld character, DEATH, who in this book however appears rarely and is disappointing when he does… though this is not actually a problem here) have appeared in any of the other Discworld novels. (At least to my knowledge). “Pyramids” was another book with (almost) all new characters, and while I thoroughly enjoyed that book I did miss the familiar characters to an extent. Here, though, I didn’t miss them at all, which just goes to show how good the characters are here.
So anyway, before I disappear up my own rhetoric, here’s the story… The god Om is in trouble. Despite the huge system of worship (and systematic torture) in Omnia, there is only one person (Brutha, a novice who has been such for years, which is the main reason why he can’t make any progress up the hierarchical ladder is because…) who actually believes in him (that was the reason, in case you missed it). Since on the Discworld Gods exist because they are believed in, and cease to exist in any real sense if no-one does, Om need to gain believers and fast. Oh, and the number of believers affects the power of the god, and so the Mighty Om is currently… a small, one-eyed tortoise (in constant dread of eagles, who are going to get a hell of a talking to when Om is restored to his former glory). Om spoke unto Brutha, and he said, “psst”. And Brutha failed to hear, at least for a while. When he did hear, the chief Exquisitor (worse even than an inquisitor) started to take an interest in him… and asked him to go on a diplomatic journey to a neighbouring country (styled on Greece, full of philosophers who babble incomprehensibly). Om goes along with Brutha, who is the only one who can hear him…
I won’t spoil it for you by telling you how the plot progresses. Needless to say, being a Pratchett novel (and not only that, but Pratchett at his incomparable best), the books is packed with humour and intrigue. It looks at religion, philosophy, science, and truth in a sort of respectfully irreverent way. (At this point I shall coin the new word, “irriseperefullent”. I wonder if it will catch on…) That’s the only way I can describe it. It’s poking fun at things in a non-judgemental way, a sort of, “well it looks funny to me but who knows you may be right…”. If it had been biased toward religion or science, or whatever, I don’t think it would work half as well.
Lost in the chill deeps of space between the galaxies, it sails on forever, a flat, circular world carried on the backs of four giant turtles. This is...More at Buy.com Marketplaces
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