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adventurous
challenging
dark
funny
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
tense
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Breathtaking.
I don't know how Terry Pratchett does it. This book is, all at the same time, spit-your-drink-out hilarious, tense, haunting, beautiful, poetic. I found myself laughing out loud and reading descriptions out to people in other rooms, I found myself muttering "oh dang!" at some of the twists and character reveals, I found myself chewing my lip in anxiety.
It's a take on the myth of Death that I haven't seen before. The plot is easy enough to follow and IMO is perfectly-paced, not too fast, not too slow. The descriptions of each character, each location, each process tell the reader exactly what they need to know in extremely clever ways. "Show, don't tell," is a sometimes hard rule to follow as a writer. "Immerse, don't show," is something that Terry Pratchett is uniquely a genius about, and holy crap, does this book really put that talent center-stage.
The characters' motivations are consistent and realistic even in this place where space and time don't matter. Death can be a cruel master. He doesn't understand humans and emotions and "why", so therefore, there are times he's setting Mort up for failure. Therefore, the stakes are always super high. Mort can be a bit unlikable sometimes and say and do some sketchy things but -- yeah, what would I do in his shoes? It's so easy to get completely immersed in this drama, this wonder, this tension.
For this story specifically, I don't love the fat jokes that pop up here and there, and there's some not-insanely-graphic-but-still depictions of animal abuse and death, so heads up if that can be upsetting to you. But those aren't too over-reaching. Can't wait to keep reading more Discworld books in general but definitely the Grim Reaper-related ones.
I don't know how Terry Pratchett does it. This book is, all at the same time, spit-your-drink-out hilarious, tense, haunting, beautiful, poetic. I found myself laughing out loud and reading descriptions out to people in other rooms, I found myself muttering "oh dang!" at some of the twists and character reveals, I found myself chewing my lip in anxiety.
It's a take on the myth of Death that I haven't seen before. The plot is easy enough to follow and IMO is perfectly-paced, not too fast, not too slow. The descriptions of each character, each location, each process tell the reader exactly what they need to know in extremely clever ways. "Show, don't tell," is a sometimes hard rule to follow as a writer. "Immerse, don't show," is something that Terry Pratchett is uniquely a genius about, and holy crap, does this book really put that talent center-stage.
The characters' motivations are consistent and realistic even in this place where space and time don't matter. Death can be a cruel master. He doesn't understand humans and emotions and "why", so therefore, there are times he's setting Mort up for failure. Therefore, the stakes are always super high. Mort can be a bit unlikable sometimes and say and do some sketchy things but -- yeah, what would I do in his shoes? It's so easy to get completely immersed in this drama, this wonder, this tension.
For this story specifically, I don't love the fat jokes that pop up here and there, and there's some not-insanely-graphic-but-still depictions of animal abuse and death, so heads up if that can be upsetting to you. But those aren't too over-reaching. Can't wait to keep reading more Discworld books in general but definitely the Grim Reaper-related ones.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Animal death
Minor: Animal cruelty, Fatphobia
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Content Warnings
Moderate: Fatphobia
funny
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Not sure how I feel about the overall plot, but there are some incredibly well-written jokes and sardonic comments in here that make it worth it.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death
Minor: Animal death, Body shaming, Confinement, Fatphobia, Sexual content, Violence, Murder
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Content Warnings
Moderate: Body shaming, Fatphobia, Racism, Xenophobia
Minor: Vomit, Alcohol
One of the main characters is frequently put down by the narrator for being fat/plus-size. There are caricatures of Middle-Eastern people who appear at least twice, but are not very relevant to the overarching plot.
adventurous
dark
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Moderate: Fatphobia, Murder
Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Classism
Fatphobia: Throughout the book a character is described as chubby in a way that implies she is unattractive for it.
Murder: There's a lot of murder and death in this book as a whole, the whole story is revolved around death.
Animal death and cruelty: Near the beginning, a bag of drowned kittens is found. We do see these kittens come up as ghosts which personally made me feel better but it's still definitely saddening for animal lovers. A man attempts to sacrifice an elephant but fails, however the elephant is still injured in the process.
Classism: A princess throws out a bit of classism here and there.
adventurous
emotional
funny
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
this is a tough one for me to puzzle out enough for a proper rating. once the main plot with princess keli kicked off, i realized almost immediately i didn't care about it or her. i actually wanted the "no one escapes death" ending rather than the plucky hero changes reality out of pluckiness that i got. the hero himself, mort, was only enjoyable as a protagonist up to a point, and after just got bullheaded, unreasonable, and overall grating. he was right, he definitely wasn't cut out for this kind of job. i found his romance with ysabell to be both abrupt and bland, and clearly set up for the plot following the later books with susan (from the knowledge i gathered when i looked up the death series) who is hopefully more engaging. i felt apathetic towards the death vs mort scene towards the end, and the way death acted didn't quite seem to be in line with the character in the rest of the book. the book is over three decades old, so the subtle fatphobia annoyed, but didn't shock me. the hints of attraction between cutwell and keli who are 20 and 15 respectively was disgusting and didn't need to be included at all.
all this aside, i really enjoyed death as a character, the atmosphere of discworld, and pratchett's writing style that even though i was ambivalent to most of the plot, kept me entertained.
all this aside, i really enjoyed death as a character, the atmosphere of discworld, and pratchett's writing style that even though i was ambivalent to most of the plot, kept me entertained.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Death, Fatphobia, Violence
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Fatphobia
Moderate: Death
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death
Minor: Fatphobia
adventurous
funny
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Most of this was fun and I had a good time, but there were too many random moments that took me out of the narrative with an off-putting comment that didn’t fit the rest of the story. Usually this took the place of treating the mention of someone’s fatness or the idea that they might be insane as if the observation of it was the whole joke. These moments were especially frustrating because so much of the rest of the humor is great. It’s paced well, the dynamic between DEATH and Mort was strange but interesting, and I liked the ending.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Ableism, Animal death, Death, Fatphobia, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Murder, Alcohol
Minor: Toxic relationship
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Loveable characters:
Yes
Content Warnings
Moderate: Fatphobia