I wrote last week about how Terry Pratchett’s Equal Rites was a bit of a letdown. Fortunately I didn’t let that slow me up and went right into Mort, which is considered by many to be one of his better Diskworld books. Much like Equal Rites, Mort deals with the subject of apprenticeship, but it does it in a fairly different way. The eponymous character, Mort, is a clumsy but earnest young lad who is unsuited for just about any job his well meaning father can find for him. At a hiring fair, Mort’s potential apprenticeship is turned down by everyone until the stroke of midnight when the grim reaper Death himself appears and agrees to teach Mort his own macabre craft. Mort accepts and starts immediately, largely unaware of the slightly madcap calamity waiting for him but willing to give an honest go at it.
Pratchett really seems to hit his stride with Mort, and his knack for clever writing and endearing characters is on full display. The jokes-per-page ratio is sky high, and a lot of them made me smile, snicker, or even laugh out loud. And Mort is a great character –he’s a klutz who doesn’t know he’s a klutz, and in the course of the book his character really does change. Even Death is made into a sympathetic and interesting character, and I always find the idea of Death as an entity with a job to do fascinating and ripe for satire.
It’s smart fun, and if you want a sample of what the Diskworld books are like to decide if they’re for you, I’d recommend Mort since it’s a self-contained story. If you like it, you can go back and read the first 3 books, then move on to the next ones. I am. But don’t worry if you’re not a fan; this is the last Pratchett book review for a few weeks.
Others doing the 52-in-52 thing this week:
- Jeremy reviews Little Brother by Cory Doctorow
- Heliologue reviews Knight of hte Avenging Blowfish by John Welter and Napoleon’s Buttons by Penny Le Couteur and Jay Burreson
I was very disappointed lately when I had to pass on a chance to see a local playhouse production of Wyrd Sisters. I didn’t even know that there was such a thing as a Terry Pratchett book translated to even the smallest stage. But, no babysitters were to be found and I had to let it go, reluctantly.
Have you read or considered reading / listening to the Thursday Next series by Jasper Fforde? Your tastes seem to intersect with ours somewhat, so I feel pretty safe with that recommendation.
Never herd of Forde, but I’ll put it in my queue to check out. Thanks!