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A review by crufts
Small Gods by Terry Pratchett
adventurous
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? It's complicated
4.75
I "read" Small Gods twice: once in the original novel format and once in the BBC radio play. They're both excellent.
Small Gods is Terry Prachett's satire of gods and organized religion. It's funny, entertaining, insightful, sometimes even heartwarming, and it ends on a bang.
Something the book does really well is the selection of its main characters, which are:
- The protagonist Brutha, a young novice in the order of the god Om, who takes Omnian religion extremely seriously; and
- The god Om himself, who has been accidentally transferred into the body of a turtle, and who doesn't take Omnian religion very seriously at all.
The back-and-forth discussions of these two bring rise to all the one-liners and witty observations that the author inserts into the novel. I liked how Brutha's victory in the novel is basically the result of his good nature and sincerity. It was also a clever move to make the protagonist the most devout believer in the entire novel, as it avoids heavy-handedly placing religion as the enemy and instead explores it from the inside.
Definitely a good read.
Did You Know? The Ogg Vorbis audio codec is named after the main baddie in this book, Exquisitor Vorbis!
Small Gods is Terry Prachett's satire of gods and organized religion. It's funny, entertaining, insightful, sometimes even heartwarming, and it ends on a bang.
Something the book does really well is the selection of its main characters, which are:
- The protagonist Brutha, a young novice in the order of the god Om, who takes Omnian religion extremely seriously; and
- The god Om himself, who has been accidentally transferred into the body of a turtle, and who doesn't take Omnian religion very seriously at all.
The back-and-forth discussions of these two bring rise to all the one-liners and witty observations that the author inserts into the novel. I liked how Brutha's victory in the novel is basically the result of his good nature and sincerity. It was also a clever move to make the protagonist the most devout believer in the entire novel, as it avoids heavy-handedly placing religion as the enemy and instead explores it from the inside.
Definitely a good read.
Did You Know? The Ogg Vorbis audio codec is named after the main baddie in this book, Exquisitor Vorbis!
Content Warnings
Moderate: Religious bigotry and Violence
Minor: Death