Mort

Keno Goertz reviewed Mort: a novel of Discworld by Terry Pratchett (Discworld (4))

Review of 'Mort' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

Terry Pratchett is what I’ve been missing when reading Douglas Adams. Mort is not just witty, but actually quite touching and even frightening. The humour seems somehow profound, for example when Death explains that everyone gets what they think is coming for them, because “it’s so much neater that way”. This light-hearted fun actually opens up a philosophical can of worms: If I expect a heavenly afterlife together with my family, but my brother expects to be rotting in hell, is the brother in heaven actually my brother? He can’t be, but did I then actually get what I expected? This dilemma is even touched upon later. I much prefer this humour to cliché nihilism.

slayra reviewed Mort: a novel of Discworld by Terry Pratchett (Discworld (4))

Review of 'Mort' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

Death wants to understand humankind or at least he wants to try to understand humankind. To this end, he decides to have an apprentice and Mortimer, who goes by Mort, is the "lucky" one who accepts the offer. But maybe Death's affairs are too much for a human. After all, humans are taught to believe in justice and that pretty women shouldn't die young...

I loved [b:Equal Rites|34507|Equal Rites (Discworld, #3)|Terry Pratchett|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1348422848s/34507.jpg|583611] and I wasn't expecting to like this one as much, specially because the main characters have nothing to do with witches. But this book is hilarious and Death has the best lines such as "I DON’T KNOW ABOUT YOU, he said, BUT I COULD MURDER A CURRY." Glutton wizard Cutwell is also a great addition and even though the end is again something that happens out of nowhere, I was too amused to be bothered by the sudden …

Death wants to understand humankind or at least he wants to try to understand humankind. To this end, he decides to have an apprentice and Mortimer, who goes by Mort, is the "lucky" one who accepts the offer. But maybe Death's affairs are too much for a human. After all, humans are taught to believe in justice and that pretty women shouldn't die young...

I loved [b:Equal Rites|34507|Equal Rites (Discworld, #3)|Terry Pratchett|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1348422848s/34507.jpg|583611] and I wasn't expecting to like this one as much, specially because the main characters have nothing to do with witches. But this book is hilarious and Death has the best lines such as "I DON’T KNOW ABOUT YOU, he said, BUT I COULD MURDER A CURRY." Glutton wizard Cutwell is also a great addition and even though the end is again something that happens out of nowhere, I was too amused to be bothered by the sudden change of pace. I enjoyed this story immensely and I hope to see Death in other Discworld books. Maybe not on duty, though.

Chungledown Bim

rated it

Sept. 5, 2012

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