Mort - Terry Pratchett

Mort - Terry Pratchett. ~ About the Author ~ Terry Pratchett is one of the best known of Fantasy writers out there. He began writing in 1983, and when I first began reading his books (I read his second novel The Light Fantastic just after publication) no-one really knew who he was! It couldn't be more different today, and this has lead to one bizarre claim to fame - In the UK, he holds the record for the greatest number of books that are shoplifted! Pterry (as many of his fans will refer to him, harking back to a particular novel) does more than just write about a fantasy world. He includes ... more

A giant turtle slowly makes it's way across the vast emptiness that is space, and on it's meteor pocked shell stand four over-sized elephants, on whose backs rests the flat, circular, and highly magical Discworld. Discworld is world of heroes, heroines, witches and wizards, where magic is a very real part of life and DEATH may just come to collect your soul in (non) person, but there again he might just send Mort (his new apprentice) instead….. As this, the fourth of the Discworld series begins, we meet Mortimer, a gangly lad who not only appears to be all elbows and knees, but also thinks ... more

Terry Pratchett's incredible Discworld series is forever being likened to the Hitchhiker's Guide books (hmm... could one refer to it as a trilogy in 26 parts, I wonder?). The reason I bring this up is that in Douglas Adams' novels, Arthur Dent has the particularly human habit of stating the very, very, obvious, of which a prime example is "So this is it, we're going to die". Mort, the fourth book in the saga of the Discworld, and in many ways its genuine starting point, turns this on its head somewhat, as the principal character is dead already. He's Death, you see. Yes, that's right. Death ... more

Mort stands silently next to his father, the last remaining boy at the hiring fair. Approaching midnight it appears that no one is willing to take him on as an apprentice. His father told him all that thinking and reading of books put people off and perhaps he was right. Suddenly, a horse appears with a hooded figure aboard. Perhaps things will turn out all right after all… "Mort" is Terry Pratchett's fourth Discworld novel. Sat on a flat, disc shaped planet that floats through space on the back of a giant turtle it is a land were witches, wizards and dwarves mix while Gods look on. In such a ... more

Right, here's the latest installment in my ongoing quest to write an op on every Discworld novel. By now, I think just about everyone has heard of Terry Pratchett's Discworld, and it's easy to tell those that haven't - they're the ones that are looking bemused as their friends tell them "It's this big flat world, right? And it's on the back of a big turtle. And there's witches and wizards, and a librarian who's an orangutan, and Death, WHO TALKS IN CAPITALS, and you can get figures, and books, and computer games, and..." Personally, I find that it's easier just to chuck a book at them and say ... more