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Small Gods Terry Pratchett 9780552152976 Books

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Small Gods Terry Pratchett 9780552152976 Books

While not in the nucleus of Discworld canon, by any means (even Ankh Morpork and the Librarian only get brief cameos), Small Gods is one of the more powerfully philosophical books in the series so far, without sacrificing the humor and wit Pratchett is rightly known for. Moreover, after the likes of Moving Pictures and Witches Abroad, which consisted mainly of tightly and loosely stitched (respectively) vignettes and homages and outright transplants of other work, Small Gods refreshingly returns to complete, coherent original narrative, while still giving breadth and diversity enough to support the plurality of independent subplots Pratchett appears to increasingly prefer. Slightly distracting, although I would not go so far as to say detracting from the book overall, is Pratchett's lingering tendency to frame some scenes in ways almost anticipating a cinematic production over a literary work- e.g. awkwardly brief cuts to purely "visual" foreshadowing, or descriptions of visuals and scenery so direct and/or generic as to be more at home in a VFX storyboard than a piece of impactful prose. But, on the whole, as I continue through the series, this one may very well have displaced my earlier favorite, Equal Rites, as a top recommendation.


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Small Gods Terry Pratchett 9780552152976 Books Reviews

This was my first Terry Pratchett book, and I found it intriguing and would recommend it. It doesn't fit neatly into a category, bearing plenty of humor, fantasy, and social commentary along with religion, theology, and philosophy - as a minister, the latter was of great interest. The characters were interesting, from the innocent, challenged young novice to the darkly sinister Deacon to the curious little god and its frustrations. In winding through his story, Pratchett brings the reader on a journey into areas of great contradictions, revealing them in different places and making connections that are worthy but not obvious.

The book got me asking many questions in contexts that I had not truly considered before. It was not predictable and the reader was invariably wondering where we might be headed, how and why.

Pratchett's style at times seems unnecessarily flippant at first encounter, but it becomes more familiar and less disconcerting as you stay with the story. Other reviewers familiar with the series picked up nuances that a newbie like me would not. Perhaps that explains some of the unexplained, assumptions, and seemingly random items that would pop up and seem more distracting than helpful.

I'll probably re-read this, and may sample more of Pratchett's writing. There are questions that got produced that I want to go back and look over further. Try "Small Gods." It has a lot to offer.
Terry Pratchett's writing is a wonderful balance to the seriousness, and sometimes dryness, of those books we read for our improvement. I often read one alternately with a history, scientific, or even serious novel. They are all well written, funny, often critical, extremely original stories with a message worth thinking over.
"Small Gods" pokes fun at religion, philosophy, government, and as always human nature. The plot is complex for Pratchett, but woven expertly. As always there rarely is a page where you don't slap your forehead and laugh-or groan. That is why I love Terry Pratchett and am grateful he was such a prolific writer.
Small Gods is a novel of Discworld where the world is a flat disc, balanced on the backs of four elephants which are standing on the back of a giant turtle. There are many novels set in Discworld, and most of them are clever, witty, and rapid-fire novels. Almost all of the Discworld novels fall into different categories Tiffany Aching, Rincewind, the three witches, Sam Vines and the guards, and Death. Each book in a group focuses on one of them, although they cross over and pop up in each others' books all the time. This book is one of the few that stands alone. There are only the fleeting mentions or appearances of the familiar such as Ankh- Morpork (a familiar setting in Discworld), Lu Tse (an ancient monk), and the librarian from the Unseen University (an orangutan). Death has a more substantial appearance, but I would not consider this book to be a novel of Death. This is a story of faith, religion, philosophy, war, loyalty, and integrity. That sounds a bit highfalutin, but do not forget that this is a Terry Pratchett book so it is also satirical, absurd, and occasionally silly. Brutha, the main character, is a naïve novice monk in Omnia. Vorbis is a scheming high priest and head of state of Omnia who dominates through fear and directs their version of the inquisition. These story begins when an eagle drops a turtle in the garden where Brutha is working. The turtle is currently the manifestation of a small god (Om) who regains his consciousness on the descent. Only Brutha can hear the god speak. Antics, diplomacy, treachery, prayer, and great adventure ensue. There is method to the madness. Terry Pratchett does a wonderful job of maintaining the integrity of his absurd world and his characters while keeping everything fresh and creative. As always, the humor is wrapped around serious themes. The discussions of religion, faith, and philosophy are absurd, but thought provoking. Actually, there is a large cast of characters in this book with gods, philosophers, monks, priests, torturers, soldiers, sailors, a turtle, foreign leaders, a fisherman, and so on. I cannot read too many of them in a row, but when I need something different, a Discworld novel is the perfect metaphorical palate refresher. Like all the Discworld books, the tone is satirical and clever. While it makes sense to generally read the books in order, this book can stand alone. These books do not contain any scenes, language, or images that would rate even a PG-13 rating at the movies. If a reader does not have sufficient maturity, much of the book will be wasted, because you won’t get the jokes or understand the satire. It should be impossible to write such pure nonsense that ends up making great sense.
While not in the nucleus of Discworld canon, by any means (even Ankh Morpork and the Librarian only get brief cameos), Small Gods is one of the more powerfully philosophical books in the series so far, without sacrificing the humor and wit Pratchett is rightly known for. Moreover, after the likes of Moving Pictures and Witches Abroad, which consisted mainly of tightly and loosely stitched (respectively) vignettes and homages and outright transplants of other work, Small Gods refreshingly returns to complete, coherent original narrative, while still giving breadth and diversity enough to support the plurality of independent subplots Pratchett appears to increasingly prefer. Slightly distracting, although I would not go so far as to say detracting from the book overall, is Pratchett's lingering tendency to frame some scenes in ways almost anticipating a cinematic production over a literary work- e.g. awkwardly brief cuts to purely "visual" foreshadowing, or descriptions of visuals and scenery so direct and/or generic as to be more at home in a VFX storyboard than a piece of impactful prose. But, on the whole, as I continue through the series, this one may very well have displaced my earlier favorite, Equal Rites, as a top recommendation.