Reaper Man by Terry Pratchett

They say there are only two things you can count on ...But that was before DEATH started pondering the existential. Of course, the last thing anyone needs is a squeamish Grim Reaper and soon his Discworld bosses have sent him off with best wishes and a well-earned gold watch. Now DEATH is having the time of his life, finding greener pastures where he can put his scythe to a whole new use.But like every cutback in an important public service, DEATH's demise soon leads to chaos and unrest -- literally, for those whose time was supposed to be up, like Windle Poons. The oldest geezer in the entire faculty of Unseen University -- home of magic, wizardry, and big dinners -- Windle was looking forward to a wonderful afterlife, not this boring been-there-done-that routine. To get the fresh start he deserves, Windle and the rest of Ankh-Morpork's undead and underemployed set off to find DEATH and save the world for the living (and everybody else, of course).

Y'know what, I was prepared to give this book maybe a 4 stars until the ending hit me straight in the feels and I cried throughout the last 10-20%.

It's not even a particularly sad ending. Pratchett keeps the action and the plot light-hearted and completely absurd throughout the entire book. But Reaper Man really showcases how masterful he is in writing about such complex, deep, and abstract thoughts in such a light-hearted and absurd way. (Huge kudos to Nigel Planer whose narration of the audiobook and performance for each character significantly amped up my enjoyment of this book)

Reaper Man's plot is fairly simple - Death has been sort of “suspended” from his work and has gone to seek work elsewhere. In the meantime, all around Discworld, lives are ending but Death isn't there to take it away, resulting in an overabundance of life force which makes things happen.

The humour here is still very much on point, but what struck me as the biggest difference between this one and the first book in the series, Mort, is that it's more - introspective somehow? It's funny that this book is more philosophical and thought-provoking than actual philosophy or self-help books.

I don't know if it's just me being emotional or hormonal, but the themes in this book and the semi-abusrd way Pratchett dealt with them just went straight to my feels. This review is all over the place because this book is truly one of a kind. I'll end it with some amazing quotes:

Alone of all creatures in the world, trolls believe that all living things go through Time backwards. If the past is visible and the future is hidden, they say, then it means you must be facing the wrong way. Everything alive is going through life back to front.

“If people knew when they were gonna die, they'd probably lead better lives.”IF PEOPLE KNEW WHEN THEY WERE GONNA DIE, THEY WOULDN'T LIVE AT ALL.

Death travels inside that space where time has no meaning. Light thinks it travels faster than anything, but it's wrong. No matter how fast light travels, it finds that darkness has always got there first, and is waiting for it.

I truly enjoyed the adventures of Bill Door, and Pratchett has some lovely sentiments about the human condition. But I always feel like he's amusing himself far more than he's amusing me, and the wizards' plot grew tiresome. Still, the other side of the story deserves 4 stars on its own, and Mrs. Cake & Ludmilla are well worth getting to know.

Executive Summary: I enjoyed this, but it wasn't as funny or enjoyable as [b:Mort 386372 Mort (Death, #1; Discworld, #4) Terry Pratchett https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1388181166s/386372.jpg 1857065] in my opinion.Full ReviewSo I love Death as a character in Discworld. His parts in the previous books are always some of the highlights. I also feel like [b:Mort 386372 Mort (Death, #1; Discworld, #4) Terry Pratchett https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1388181166s/386372.jpg 1857065] has been one of my favorite books of the series so far.I didn't find myself laughing at this one as much as I have with the others, but I did enjoy it. My main issue was it focused too much on Windle Poons and not enough on Death himself. The parts that focused on Death were great.Death goes on vacation is a great seed for a story, and while Windle is meant to highlight some of those consequences, I just never really connected with him or the other supporting characters in his story that much. The two exceptions would have to be the Boogeyman and Mrs. Cake. I especially liked Mrs. Cake and the reaction from other characters to her throughout the book.But as this is a Death book, Death himself is the real star. His experience at what it means to be human is at times amusing, but often very insightful. Mr. Pratchett has some very poignant things to say about what it means to be alive, which is that much more meaningful because it ends.Death comes to all things, and a world without death is one that could not sustain itself as this book illustrates.Overall I thought this was still one of the better books of the series so far, but not quite as good as some of the others. I hope the next Death book in the series will spend more time focused on him than this one did.