Mort

I've been hearing about Terry Pratchett for the better part of 15 years now. My dad was a massive fan of his, owning about 20 or so of the books at one point, desperately trying to get me interested in his works. However, the thing that finally got me to read his works was in fact the adaptation of another of his books, Good Omens. And I couldn't be happier for it.

This book doesn't just mark my first foray into the Discworld however, it's also the first time that I've listened to an audiobook the entire way through, and hoo boy, what a good one to start with. Specifically, I listened to the new audiobook narrated by Sian Clifford, who does a stellar job selling the world and characters, though I'll get back to that soon.

The brass tacks of the plot are as follows: Death decides he wants an apprentice, picks a young lad called Mort, we find out that Death isn't actually an utter bastard, then once Mort starts taking on more of the job, him and Death start to swap personality traits, and we discover why it's so important for Death to be impartial.

Ultimately, this story is a love letter to being alive. And that's wonderful to experience. So many fantasy stories feel like they want to focus on how cool war and death is, so it's nice to hear a story that wants you to know that it's okay to just live, and be normal. I think that even when I've read all of Discworld, that Mort is going to stand out to me as one of the best examples of Pratchett's personality shining through his work.

But, that's not where the good bits end, because this book is absolutely hilarious. Almost every single joke landed for me. Maybe I'm just a soft touch, but I think it's more likely that Pratchett was just that good of an author. He can weave in-universe jokes with pop culture references together deftly, without it feeling jarring, which is just masterful.

Then there's the characters. I'm going to quickly touch on Mort, because he's the character we spend the most time with. Mort is a solid protagonist. He's nothing special, if anything, he's quite tropey, being a farmboy from the middle of nowhere who embarks on a quest, but that's actually to the characters advantage, as he's put up against this backdrop of events that are far far above him, and rises to the occasion. He also manages to serve as a kind of “Human Prime” who contrasts with Death to show why the two should never intermingle, creating a wonderful dichotomy.

Then there's Death. Death is one of the single greatest characters in the history of Fantasy. This is a character who's inspired by the Grim Reaper, but if he was nice. Death is fascinated by humans, he absolutely adores them. But not just humans. He has this deep respect for life that is just intoxicating to read about.

For instance, one of the few times we see Death get genuinely angry appears at the beginning of the book. Mort is asking him rather banal questions, and struggling to comprehend the answers, and all of a sudden, Death becomes incredibly terse and angry. Mort continues with his questions, and Death sprints off down a back alley, and stops at a fountain. Mort is understandably worried that he's already annoyed his new master less than a few hours into his apprenticeship, but this worry is soon allayed when Death pulls a wet bag out of the fountain.

Death proceeds to open the bag, and out comes the souls of a few dead kittens. And Death is disgusted by the callous disregard of their lives, and the cruelty of their end. I could sit here for a long time, and gush about Death, because he is endlessly wonderful, and I'm sure as I continue with the Death books he'll grow even more so, but I'll leave it here with a heartfelt recommendation to read the book just for this.

Though, I would highly recommend the audiobook. I had an absolutely stellar time with it, the only issue I could point to being Albert's voice, which I found grating most of the time, due to the combination of pitch and how nasally it was. Death's voice actor in particular was a standout to me, the only voice I would have preferred would have been the late Christopher Lee's, who had voiced the character in the animated adaptation of Soul Music.

All in all, this is a damn near perfect book, and I think you owe it to yourself to read it. 5/5 stars, heartily recommend it.