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baldwig's review against another edition
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Mort by Terry Pratchett (Discworld #04, Death #1) 1987 4
• "When the tip of the staff passed it left a line of glowing octarine, the eighth color of the spectrum, the color of magic, the pigment of the imagination."
• "Light on the Discworld moves slowly because of the vast magical field. Light on the Discworld isn’t like light elsewhere. It’s grown up a bit, it’s been around, it doesn’t feel the need to rush everywhere."
Luxuriate, learn and laugh in Discworld's leisurely light.
• On Discworld, "Scientists have calculated that the chance of anything so patently absurd actually existing are millions to one. But magicians have calculated that million-to-one chances crop up nine times out of ten."
• "Reannuals are plants that grow backwards in time. You sow the seed this year and they grow last year. Mort’s family specialized in distilling the wine from reannual grapes. These were very powerful and much sought after by fortune-tellers, since of course they enabled them to see the future. The only snag was that you got the hangover the morning before, and had to drink a lot to get over it."
The memories, if I could only remember.
• mercer- a dealer in usu expensive fabrics.
• "Fifteen minutes to midnight. Mort shivered, but the crimson fires of shame and stubbornness flared up inside him, hotter than the slopes of Hell."
The farrier's left the fair and Mort's all that's there, unaware he's awaiting Death.
• "I DON’T KNOW ABOUT YOU, (a very British Death) said, BUT I COULD MURDER A CURRY." -Mort by Sir Terry Pratchett.
• "and, in the case of some of the more conservative fundamentalist religions, the brief screams of the victims."
• "They turned into a wider street leading into a more affluent part of the city (the torches were closer together and the middens further apart). There were no stalls and alley corner traders here, but proper buildings with signs hanging outside. They weren’t mere shops, they were emporia;"
Similar satire subjects: country kid in big city, organized religion, sex for sale, fetid Ahnk and armpits, etc.
• "OH YES, he said, MORT. WELL, BOY, DO YOU SINCERELY WISH TO LEARN THE UTTERMOST SECRETS OF TIME AND SPACE? “Yes, sir. I think so, sir.” GOOD. THE STABLES ARE AROUND THE BACK. THE SHOVEL HANGS JUST INSIDE THE DOOR."
• "The king, who was considerably more diffuse now"
Puns aplenty. diffuse- 1 verbose : wordy (~ writing) 2 not concentrated or localized (~ light).
• "And so Mort came at last to the river Ankh, greatest of rivers. Even before it entered the city, it was slow and heavy with the silt of the plains, and by the time it got to The Shades even an agnostic could have walked across it. It was hard to drown in the Ankh, but easy to suffocate."
• Where's the brassica love? Cabbage = destitute, though admittedly cabbage's bodily processing (or not) doesn't help Anhk's rank aroma any.
• Goodie Hamstring, "“Ah. (priests)’re always telling folk how much better it’s going to be when they’re dead. We tell them it could be pretty good right here if only they’d put their minds to it.”"
• Jokes take a back seat behind Binky's silver saddle when Mort becomes Death for day (or actually an evening's journey into night). Complications and compassion ensue.
pillion- a pad or cushion placed behind a saddle for an extra rider.
• To Ysabell, Death's adopted daughter, “We could have a sort of hate-hate relationship,” said Mort.
• "Mort was already aware that love made you feel hot and cold and cruel and weak, but he hadn’t realized that it could make you stupid."
• "There were human beings in there, doing uncomplicated human things like getting drunk and forgetting the words of songs."
Ah, more memories.
• "a small ferret-faced man sitting by the fire, who was giving Mort the kind of look a butcher gives a field full of lambs."
• "“I meant, what goes there?” the guard tried again, with a mixture of doggedness and suicidal stupidity that marked him for early promotion."
• wimple n -a cloth covering worn over the head and around the neck and chin by women esp in the medieval period and by some nuns. vb to ripple or cause to ripple
• Cutwell placing Princess Keli's picture everywhere, "“I’m not sure if it’s working. You see, people were beginning to get upset and they didn’t know why, and that made it worse. Their minds were in one reality and their bodies were in another." "people just don’t see what their mind tells them isn’t there.” “I could have told you that,” said Mort bitterly." "Belief is powerful stuff."
• "However, the Ankh-Morpork Chamber of Commerce would not be happy at the suggestion that the only real difference between their city and a swamp is the number of legs on the alligators,"
• "Some of the more streetwise in the crowd shuffled away from the stranger, because luck like that can be very unlucky in Cripple Wa’s floating crap game."
• "Cutwell, in tones designed to convey that he cherished this ignorance."
• "“Sodomy non sapiens,” said Albert under his breath. “What does that mean?” “Means I’m buggered if I know.”"
• vizier- a high executive officer of many Muslim countries
• Mort as Death, "THERE’S NO JUSTICE, said Mort. JUST US."
Richard Pryor's joke?
• Raf Blutaxt: Absurdist humor. Consensus reality: reality is what we believe and think.
• "When the tip of the staff passed it left a line of glowing octarine, the eighth color of the spectrum, the color of magic, the pigment of the imagination."
• "Light on the Discworld moves slowly because of the vast magical field. Light on the Discworld isn’t like light elsewhere. It’s grown up a bit, it’s been around, it doesn’t feel the need to rush everywhere."
Luxuriate, learn and laugh in Discworld's leisurely light.
• On Discworld, "Scientists have calculated that the chance of anything so patently absurd actually existing are millions to one. But magicians have calculated that million-to-one chances crop up nine times out of ten."
• "Reannuals are plants that grow backwards in time. You sow the seed this year and they grow last year. Mort’s family specialized in distilling the wine from reannual grapes. These were very powerful and much sought after by fortune-tellers, since of course they enabled them to see the future. The only snag was that you got the hangover the morning before, and had to drink a lot to get over it."
The memories, if I could only remember.
• mercer- a dealer in usu expensive fabrics.
• "Fifteen minutes to midnight. Mort shivered, but the crimson fires of shame and stubbornness flared up inside him, hotter than the slopes of Hell."
The farrier's left the fair and Mort's all that's there, unaware he's awaiting Death.
• "I DON’T KNOW ABOUT YOU, (a very British Death) said, BUT I COULD MURDER A CURRY." -Mort by Sir Terry Pratchett.
• "and, in the case of some of the more conservative fundamentalist religions, the brief screams of the victims."
• "They turned into a wider street leading into a more affluent part of the city (the torches were closer together and the middens further apart). There were no stalls and alley corner traders here, but proper buildings with signs hanging outside. They weren’t mere shops, they were emporia;"
Similar satire subjects: country kid in big city, organized religion, sex for sale, fetid Ahnk and armpits, etc.
• "OH YES, he said, MORT. WELL, BOY, DO YOU SINCERELY WISH TO LEARN THE UTTERMOST SECRETS OF TIME AND SPACE? “Yes, sir. I think so, sir.” GOOD. THE STABLES ARE AROUND THE BACK. THE SHOVEL HANGS JUST INSIDE THE DOOR."
• "The king, who was considerably more diffuse now"
Puns aplenty. diffuse- 1 verbose : wordy (~ writing) 2 not concentrated or localized (~ light).
• "And so Mort came at last to the river Ankh, greatest of rivers. Even before it entered the city, it was slow and heavy with the silt of the plains, and by the time it got to The Shades even an agnostic could have walked across it. It was hard to drown in the Ankh, but easy to suffocate."
• Where's the brassica love? Cabbage = destitute, though admittedly cabbage's bodily processing (or not) doesn't help Anhk's rank aroma any.
• Goodie Hamstring, "“Ah. (priests)’re always telling folk how much better it’s going to be when they’re dead. We tell them it could be pretty good right here if only they’d put their minds to it.”"
• Jokes take a back seat behind Binky's silver saddle when Mort becomes Death for day (or actually an evening's journey into night). Complications and compassion ensue.
pillion- a pad or cushion placed behind a saddle for an extra rider.
• To Ysabell, Death's adopted daughter, “We could have a sort of hate-hate relationship,” said Mort.
• "Mort was already aware that love made you feel hot and cold and cruel and weak, but he hadn’t realized that it could make you stupid."
• "There were human beings in there, doing uncomplicated human things like getting drunk and forgetting the words of songs."
Ah, more memories.
• "a small ferret-faced man sitting by the fire, who was giving Mort the kind of look a butcher gives a field full of lambs."
• "“I meant, what goes there?” the guard tried again, with a mixture of doggedness and suicidal stupidity that marked him for early promotion."
• wimple n -a cloth covering worn over the head and around the neck and chin by women esp in the medieval period and by some nuns. vb to ripple or cause to ripple
• Cutwell placing Princess Keli's picture everywhere, "“I’m not sure if it’s working. You see, people were beginning to get upset and they didn’t know why, and that made it worse. Their minds were in one reality and their bodies were in another." "people just don’t see what their mind tells them isn’t there.” “I could have told you that,” said Mort bitterly." "Belief is powerful stuff."
• "However, the Ankh-Morpork Chamber of Commerce would not be happy at the suggestion that the only real difference between their city and a swamp is the number of legs on the alligators,"
• "Some of the more streetwise in the crowd shuffled away from the stranger, because luck like that can be very unlucky in Cripple Wa’s floating crap game."
• "Cutwell, in tones designed to convey that he cherished this ignorance."
• "“Sodomy non sapiens,” said Albert under his breath. “What does that mean?” “Means I’m buggered if I know.”"
• vizier- a high executive officer of many Muslim countries
• Mort as Death, "THERE’S NO JUSTICE, said Mort. JUST US."
Richard Pryor's joke?
• Raf Blutaxt: Absurdist humor. Consensus reality: reality is what we believe and think.
ksells_72's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
3.75
antlerqueen's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
daleywhaley's review against another edition
3.0
This was a great read. In comparison to the colour magic, the only other discworld I’ve read so far, this was much improved.
The writing style, the humour, the fantastic world, and the speedy pace was all still there. Much improved, however, is the storyline. This was much more cohesive and compelling, this helped connect to the main character that much more.
I’m looking forward to my next discworld read, whatever that might be.
The writing style, the humour, the fantastic world, and the speedy pace was all still there. Much improved, however, is the storyline. This was much more cohesive and compelling, this helped connect to the main character that much more.
I’m looking forward to my next discworld read, whatever that might be.
nielsvanesch7's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.25
Nice book!!!
casual_henk's review against another edition
4.0
Fantastic, "Death has a Death life crisis" - Courland
caroreadssometimes's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
icephoenix44's review against another edition
lighthearted
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
theplaguedoctorreads's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
bugsberntie's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
fast-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
4.25
Just excellent!