Reaper Man

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.