Yeah I've used that comparison to describe it as well. Also I've used that to try and quickly explain Hitchiker's Guide to people. In fact, for some of my book reading scifi fans, I'll simply ask 'Are you familiar with Douglas Adams?" "Yes, love his books." "Ok cool so, it's basically like that, as far as tone and humor in a lot of ways, but D&D, instead of scifi" "Oh, ok I get it, cool! I'll go check it out!" *thumbs up from me* "Mission accomplished"
Met him once as well. It was his second signing of the day so he was a little run down. It was a little mom and pop bookstore I drove almost 5 hours to get to. Got there super early and even helped set up for it, make a sign welcoming him and even helped stock shelves. Awesome people the owners. I got to keep both the "editors edition" (signed) and publicity poster for Wintersmith they were sent. He was as gracious as he was humorously snarky. Had never gone to a signing before and haven't gone since.
One of my absolute favorite books, which is notable because I am a religious person ! I always refer to this book as a good example of criticizing religious institution without dismissing faith as a concept, it's also very funny and we should all be willing to have a laugh even about the most serious of things! It's been a while since I read it though, perhaps it's time for a re-read!
Vorbis is such an incredibly chilling villain - and you never actually see him do all that much. It's his mind - that steel ball of a mind...and the realisation of where that mind wants to take humanity. And then the final scene with him and Brutha is one of the most quietly beautiful things I've read in Fantasy. Also - another character who shows up in Small Gods as well other Discworld books is Lu-Tze. One of my favourites.
Christian from a Catholic family here - yeah we all absolutely adore Small Gods (and Terry Pratchett honestly), its the best fictional commentary on religion I've ever read
I am not Christian and never have been (and not the most firm believer in my faith either), but one of the things I always found both delightful and touching is the atheist (Simon?) responding to a minor but fairly direct revelation of Om, and immediately becoming a fervent believer - as the character explains, before he had no evidence there was something out there, so it was simpler to believe in its absence. Now that he has seen the evidence, he would be foolish to reject it - and as I recall his belief in the existence and power of Om is so intense that _Om_ is unsettled.
@@fredricksimen personally I always loved the philosopher's reaction to being confronted with Om and Om's fury at his stoicness(english?). From personal experience, its a brilliant conversation that triggers thoughts in a young person starting to be skeptic about the religion they've been taught.
I'll always maintain that Pratchett is one of the great literary geniuses of the 20th and 21st centuries. His craft in positioning every word exactly where it needs to be is unbelievable, his compassionate look at human nature can change how you look at things. GNU Sir Terry.
Probably already mentioned by someone else, but the sweeper Lu-Tze shows up in other discworld stories too. I love that old man, and this book is just amazing. I went back and reread all of the discworld books over the summer, and it was so satisfying. So many gems.
I wanna finally get into Discworld. I read the Tiffany Achings books as a kid and Going Postal I enjoyed but wasn’t terribly enraptured by. Is there a specific way I should start reading the books?
@@britwww There are a few ways to start, it mostly comes down to personal preference. If you've read the Aching books then Wyrd Sisters might be good, it's the start of Granny Weatherwax and her little covens story, personally I started with The Watch books, the first of which is "Guards! Guards!" Because they have some really great characters you get attached to pretty quickly. When I reread them over the summer I did The Watch books, then The Witches stories which flow into the Tiffany Aching books, then the wizard's stories with Rincewind and Unseen University, followed by Death's stories, Moist von Lipwig's trilogy, and then the stand alone books. Small God's, and Pyramids are both great stand alones if you wanted to go that route. It's pretty much down to reader's preference which sub series to start with, hope I could help a little though, and that you enjoy. Also the Nac Mac Feegles in the Aching books were just gold. I loved them so much.
@@TheBrotherGrim technically Equal Rites is the first Granny Weatherwax story, though rest of the coven does not appear. I would not recommend it for Discworld beginners, as it is a very early book, and has some early discworld quirks (though nowehere near as much as early Rincewind books)
I've always loved disc world books, but my favourite is Going Postal, because i worked for the finnish post when i found it, and the way he writes So Accurately how that job feels. Of course there is a lot of carityring in there, but my colleagues and i were certain the author has had experience in our field of work. And that's probably the most i have ever related to a book in my entire life.
He was a journalist (he said he saw a corpse on his first day on the job as a teen), and an assistant librarian (as a schoolboy, mostly so they'd let him borrow more books), but I don't think he ever worked for the postal service.
@@armcie5080 He used to say, based on the way he wrote characters like Fred and Nobby, cops and military veterans he met at cons would often assume he'd served in uniform. But nope, I think he just... had developed a way of paying attention to people and observing them without filtering the experience too strongly through his own assumptions and expectations. I imagine that would be a useful skill to cultivate for a career journalist, as I understand he had been before his hobby got so financially successful it was costing him money to go to work.
It could have... it could have come once you’d finished the book haha. Then you’d know if you’d agreed or disagreed with him. (Spoiler: I think you’ll agree 😁)
I always considered Small Gods, Anansi Boys, and Good Omens to be kind of a collection. You can see Terry Pratchet's view on divinity, then see Neil Gaiman's, and finally the synthesis of their sheer brilliances (does this word exist? I'm not an native English speaker) as they combine their talent to produce Good Omens. Yes, those books were not produced in the other I mentioned, but when experienced like this, for me, they become something more than the sum of their parts.
You have to wonder just what Om would have to say about those who can't tell the difference between a turtle and a TORTOISE. I suspect smiting would be involved. And probably fire ants. And maybe figgins.
@@tilljagodzinski9331 I like Good Omens, I read most of Pratchett's work when I was a teenager. This is going to sound like sacrilege but... the Neil Gaimany bits put me off. I'm not a huge fan. I know... I know... put down the pitchforks...
@@The_Reviewist No argument there I think Neil Gailman is a great author buthe is not that funny though. ANd I am a bit taken aback by his latest creative decisions...
Small Gods has always been one of my personal favourite Discworld novels; right up there with Night Watch and Hogfather. Also, it honestly had so much influence on my personal opinions regarding religion
The covers! Talks about the Discworld books' covers! I cannot stress enough how important Josh Kirby's wonderful covers were to the popularization of the Discworld books. And then, when Kirby died, Pratchett was lucky enough to find a completely different artist who was just as amazing- Paul Kidby. That has to be worth talking about.
This is my favourite book of all time and I should thank you, Daniel, for it. You see, I'm from a religious family, in a country run by government whose ideology is -almost- completely based upon religion and tries SO HARD to be HOLY. I even went to a so-called religious school! For so long I considered myself a religious person- and honestly, a somewhat fanatic one of that. (Funny thing- I picked up this book during that time and was so offended by the idea that I quit reading it after just a few pages and then completely forgot about it.) But, as I got older, I began to doubt all of it. I couldn't put these doubts into words and couldn't talk about them with anyone and I felt really ashamed and guilty because of them. Then, last year, I was introduced to Terry Prachett and his work by Good Omens, and I LOVED it. so I decided to read other books by him and that was when I watched your "Discworld- before you read" video in which you recommend this one as a good introduction to discworld and I picked it up and I was astonished by it. It was simply the most enjoyable thing I read last year -arguably in my whole life- and helped me A LOT with sorting and reshaping all my beliefs. So~ thank you very much for this great recommendation😄 (and also sorry for the long comment and possible errors in it~ unfortunately speaking and writing in English is a lot harder that understanding its written and spoken form😅)
I've been reading Discworld books since i was about 10, and it's a great journey, of looking at those multilayered texts, where anyone could find something for himself. A comedy for a kid, brilliant characters for a young teenager, and the underlying themes for someone older. It's absolutely my favourite series, and my life without it wouldn't be the same.
As a practising Catholic, I still love this book and agree it's one of the best of Pratchett's Discworld. It would be great to hear your thoughts about some of your other favourites from the series! (Full disclaimer: the Night Watch and Death books also happen to be mine.)
Yes, it is. Staggering how many good books Sir Terry cranked out before his much too early demise. Still can't bring myself to read the last one - there has to be one left. The thought there could not be, would just be too sad.
When you can bring yourself to crack it open, it has a chapter that at the very least will make you misty-eyed. The book was a fantastic way for Sir Terry to bid his readers goodbye
Same here!! It’s literally sitting on my shelf and every so often I go pick it up, and then put it back down. Of course, it has another layer added to it that Sir Terry died about a week after my Mom died suddenly from cancer, so my brain has put the two together
not om it was the 3 people in the room testing his memory. vorbis and the other 2. but it is such a good line. "there was a bright light, and then someone hit me"
Vorbis is such an interesting character. I love Terry's ability to make archetypal characters that always feel like they are utterly unique. Ive never read a Terry Pratchett novel and thought that i could actually predict what a character was like, even if i actually could! One of my favorite ways he describes Vorbis in the book is "a man who kills people to see if they die" that had me laughing for a solid minute.
Very well spoken, spoiler-free review. My ONLY critique - Om was in the form of a tortoise, not a turtle. Om = tortoise, A'Tuin = turtle. But other than that tiny correction, 11/10, same score I give the book. Literally just gave a coworker a copy of Small Gods to try and hook her in earlier today!
Absolutely agree - 'Small Gods' is an excellent place to begin Discworld. There's something so unbelievably special about how Terry Pratchett writes dialogue, I've never read anything like it! These interactions can be read repeatedly, yet it's really tough to figure out why they endlessly entertain. And, yes - his works are all about bullying, inequality, and how people can be petty, yet he subverts his anger about these issues and writes with kindness. I really don't know how he pulled this off. Thank you for the review!
This is and has been one of my absolute favorites from Terry, and definitely one that I got most into when I was maybe around 16 or 17....? When I was in high school, in any case. I actually used that book as a kind of a practice piece in that I translated the whole book -- partly to get better at English, partly because I was planning to become a translator at the time, and partly because I just really, really liked that book.
Yesssssssss. Definitely a good first discworld. It is a great stand alone. I think I started with Mort which was great too. After that it was just whatever discworld book was available in the bookshelf at the back of the English classroom. I will say for high schoolers who have recently had to study Macbeth and or hamlet, the Witches are also great starting points with Wyrd Sisters.
Some of his kids stuff is a bit pants and his early Rincewind stuff is spoofing a kind of fantasy that isn’t current. Having said that the consistent quality of his books is incredible, especially taking into account the volume of work he produced. Nation is also criminally underrated!
Get a copy of A Blink Of The Screen. It's a collection of lesser known shorts by Sir Pterry, and while none of them are awful, a lot of them are clearly very raw and lacking polish.
I love Small Gods; it gains from reading other Discworld books but is complete in itself, like Monstrous Regiment. I read the Carpet People first, but had no memory of the author or the title, actually. So Small Gods was first for me, then Thud (love trolls), The Last Hero, The Wee Free Men, and then started in on it chronologically. The best noticeable part of Sir Terry’s writing is his ability to describe characters in a single sentence: Mort, the Luggage, Rincewind, Granny Weatherwax, Nanny Ogg, Greebo and all the rest. One sentence was always enough to get me hooked again.
watched this review many months ago and had to come back after finally getting around to reading it. Gorgeous book all the way through but especially towards the ending WOW, quite glad to have chosen this as my discworld introduction
The audio book is available on Audible now, and it's fantastic! Andy Serkis narrates, and there are a few other big names attached to it (specifically the voice of Death, its perfection).
Small Gods is certainly one of Pratchetts best! A question to the audience (and Daniel too): How many know of the book "Dark Side of the Sun"? Pterrys excursion into SciFi. Maybe not as humorous (though light hearted) but very very interesting concept-wise! (though the idea became more popular later, I won't spoil it here). It feels like nobody ever talks about it.
Discworld is so nostalgic for me. I LOVED it when my dad read the Colour of Magic to me, when I was about 10-11, and got absolutely hooked. I really should pick the series up again.
Start listening after i posted and find you recommend this to be the best entry point top his work....dare I say great minds think alike?😋 Great, thoughtful review.
It really is a treasure. I love how Terry Pratchett can critique our world while not coming off as malicious and mocking. As a side note I read Guards guards second. My first Discworld book was Mort.
3:52 - Don't forget Lu Tze, everyone's favourite sweeper is first introduced here, reappearing later in Thief of Time and Night Watch. Didactylos is referenced elsewhere (Hogfather) but doesn't make another appearance.
It makes me so happy how you went from not being super interested in Discworld (after reading the first or first two books I believe) to giving it another chance and ending up loving it!
I finished the book just now. I must say that with the first 4 discworld novels under my belt so far, this felt different. Jokes aside, this would fit perfectly as one of the books in the bible. As a catholic and with how my old country has an obsession with religion, I must say I can really relate with what was being discussed in the book. I can relate to Brutha's upbringing being her grandmother doing things similar to what my grandmothers used to do. Also the progress of the story kinda feels like how my eyes have been opened with religion and what my past experiences have felt like. All in all a great book and I like its way of discussing religion and the way it is presented in a light hearted way. Makes you really ponder your existence. PS: I wish I have that fancy pants edition you got. Checked their site and sadly it is our of stock 😭
I am currently reading this (for the first , certainly not the last, time!). I am a huge Discworld fan and have been for years. I'm not sure why I'd not read this one before. But I am absolutely loving it!! Yes, to everything you've said in this video, and I have already begun to recommend it as a "jumping in" point to friends!
Incredible. I've read all of the discworld novels. Most of them several times, and I'm going to read them again. It's just something else. Noone can possibly create something this potent and funny and even believable (for absurd fantasy), not even close. Death, Watch, Witches, Technical revolution, von Lipwig, Rincewind, wonderfull. There are some lower points on some (few) books, but damn. It's just so exciting.
I read Small Gods after you recommended it as a good starter for the Discworld series. It's now one of my all time favourite books! Had to wipe away a tear after I finished it
Very interested in picking this one up. I just started my Discword journey (I decided to start with Death’s entry because his character just sounds so intriguing). But I am a Christian, and as someone who knows that religion is practiced by very flawed people (myself being one of the greatest of these) and that religious people are often the lens through which non-religious individuals view different faiths, observing this through a “god’s” perspective is unique to be sure. Not sure what to think before going into it, but I think the concepts would be interesting to explore. I definitely don’t think that anyone should be afraid to have their beliefs challenged.
im a religious jew and you asked how do texts change thru time they dont we find ways to aplly them to modern day but NONE of our texts changed at all we have more written to explain how it apllies to moder day
I'd already read colour of Magic and found it to be fine, but once I saw you'd released this video, I bought a copy of Small Gods, got through it in about a week, and now I'm back! Completely agree with the pro's, the chemistry between Brutha and Om is just great and what made the point of the book for me was the sarcasm. Great book! Your video was a great incentive.
This is the first book that opened my eyes to Terry Pratchett writing commentary on real world topics and not just some funny fantasy. This book really made me read his books in a new way and take way more than I was taking from them before. Since then there are many I love more than Small Gods but gee golly I love it and it's truly one of the best books to enter the Discworld.
Nice video Daniel. Small Gods is definitely one of my favorite Pratchett novels as well. As an atheist I agree with your comment about how it's a good book to illustrate why a lot of people take issue with religion or spirituality in general, through a lens that isn't hard to digest. Keep putting out the good content man, and The Turtle Moves!
I just finished it today and really enjoyed it! It was my first time reading anything Pratchett (also the video on Discworld starting points influenced my decision to pick Small Gods, so a big thank you for that) 😁😁
I found this channel only yesterday and have been binging ever since. Love your work, keep on going and please never stop making videos on the wheel of time.
It never occurred to me until you read it out loud that Brutha's name was a joke on the word "brother", now I'm laughing at it after having read the novel a full 10 years ago. And I'm off to buy it to read it again. Nice review! Fully agreed with how good it is. I confess I'm not always able to get into Discworld books, but Small Gods really stood out as amazing.
Pratchett's writing is unmatched. He can make you laugh with one line and be moved the next. Small God's is my favorite of his books. Thank you for talking about this one, it means a lot.
I read Mort and Reaper Man in 3 days, then I decided to step back and read Small Gods after. I personally loved it. I may wanna read it out loud to my children taking some inspiration from the audiobook for Om specificly.
Also - Small Gods is a good entry point. It depends on whether the intended "victim" i into considering these topics. If the one to start out is maybe more into war or gender issues, Monstrus Regiment is excellent too. Then if there is some more a need of processing of permanent loss or sorrow, one of the Death books? Issues in relation to policing and the justice system and an enjoyment of a bit more action - the Night Watch series starting with Guards Guards is good. So many different, good entry points, depending on the person.
I love Discworld, though I sadly haven't done a full reread since Sir Terry passed. The Glass clock stopped at that point. That being said, Shepherd's Crown is the absolute best goodbye from an author knowing that his time was nigh
I chose this book quite randomly at the local library one fateful day in middle school. That was my introduction to Discworld and my life was changed for the better!
This was the first Terry Pratchett book a red (except good omens, but that was a collaboration), and I highly recommend it. The audiobook narration was really good too.
I loved this book! I read it back in late December after watching your video about how to approach the Discworld books. The dynamic between Brutha and Om was by far my favorite part about the book--the combination of the brattiest character being a tortoise and poor Brutha having to pack him around was so funny to me. I plan to read more Discworld in the future, maybe I'll start with the Death novels.
Had me chuckling throughout but it really comes into its own during the 3rd act . Literally just cracking up when everything comes together . Definitely more of a light hearted take on fantasy with still a very strong satirical point to make that isn’t so heavy handed . Andy Serkis does the audiobook and the voice of Sméagol makes a brief appearance . Before I knew it was him I was like holy shit that’s a dead ringer for Sméagol ? Sure enough it’s Andy !
Yes. Yes it is. I had never before read Terry Pratchett before, bur have heard of him. Saw a special edition hardcover of Small Gods in the book store (so beautiful, gold emboss ink, green color cover and Om is depicted upside down wriggling!), picked up, read it and fell in love!
Hi Daniel. I'm a fan of the channel and an ordained minister through my church (non-denominational). If no one else has offered, I'd love to have that dialogue you talked about in the video with you
Daniel I just have to tell you how much I enjoy your channel. And this coming from a newbie to the genre having only read from the cosmere thus far. I will be taking many of your recommendations to heart!
Om is also featured in The Science of Discworld IV: Judgment Day. Also, while Brutha doesn't appear elsewhere, he is mentioned in Carpe Jugulum and Thief of Time.
Small Gods, Guards Guards, Mort, Moving Pictures, Theif of Time, Night Watch, Reaper Man....i could go on. Terry was arguably the best writer of his generation. And his work will be discovered on and on by people for generations to come. Full of wisdom and wit, silliness and satire, beautiful moments, awseome characters.
I may have to take a little Dresden break to read this. I am on Dresden book 7 and can’t put it down. The first handful were okay but they get so good and I know you’ve said they get super good later too.
I love Terry Pratchett and his discworld. I got introduced to it by someone online and I looked it up and it seemed appealing. So I started at the beginning, “The Color of Magic” and i was hooked. Most ppl don’t like the first few books as much but i love them. I’ve read all 41 his discworld books most of them more then once, which is amazing for me lol. And plan to get his non-discworld books too. I’d say, “Guards! Guards!” Is a good starter too. And “Small Gods” is a good one even if you just wanna use the themes in it to discuss belief. Course the other one that should then be read with it is “The Hogfather”. Both deal with religion but most importantly the define what believe really is.
Most awesome moment in fantasy: One or two people, who had been watching Vorbis closely, said later that there was just time for his expression to change before two pounds of tortoise, traveling at three meters a second, hit him between the eyes. It was a revelation. And that does something to people watching. For a start, they believe with all their heart.
One of the funniest and profound Discworld novels. Pratchett has such a beautiful way of conveying ideas. "there are hardly any excesses of the most crazed psychopath that cannot easily be duplicated by a normal, kindly family man who just comes in to work every day and has a job to do."
Do American editions of Small God's describe Om's form in the book as a "turtle"? Does that create confusion with the in-book references to the Great A'Tuin's motion towards the end?
Nope, Om is a tortoise in the versions we get over here, and given the sheer amount of British-isms in Pratchett's writing, I'm pretty sure our is the same as the Brits.
Well, a devout Christian here, and I appreciate any sort of media that portrays the critique of religion because it is not perfect, in no way shape or form is any denomination of faith, nor a house of worship, or a horse of worship perfect. My previous pastor, my grandfather, (My mother for intents and purposes was atheist and raised us that way), would tell you, if you find a church that is perfect, you find another church. I came up with my own determination on why you would leave a seemingly perfect church, and I'll get down to that in a second, but my grandfather would tell you to leave a perfect church because you'll ruin it, jokingly of course. But joking aside, if a church seems perfect, I am sure I would question heavily the validity of the specific church in question if everything is all sunshine and roses and there doesn't seem to be anything out of place, because a church is run by man, essentially and to err is human. If something seems perfect, or too perfect in a church, in my opinion, and experiences of others given to me, there is a strong chance that specific church may be a cult, twisting the translated scriptures, and pulling them out of context to tell you a story that is their own story and not a God-inspired word. Considering translation: no translation is going to be absolutely perfect, and you can really appreciate etymology when studying the scripture as it will provide certain things in better context than just a simple read-through, like the difference between joy and happiness. Happiness is a farce. Joy is where its at. I'll reference my grandfather, who reads the bible in ancient Greek and Hebrew before delivering a Sermon, and would stop in the middle of re-reading a passage and bring to light the translation discrepancy, and say something like this, "This really isn't a good translation here, this word here is going to be much closer to this" and provide an example, and he might even go on to say something like, "This is the chosen translation for this particular text, but scholars can't agree if this is the right translation on it, and I think it translates better into this". With that said, on to my next writing project.
Probably true that with a perfect seeming church there gas to be either somthing culty or burried. With anything really. If there is at least some openness with not great stuff, its just better company. Frpm entirely different pagan group i hot the most important thing. Faith with the god in question is personal, and its no excuse to harm , being culty and on a power trip with abuse being harm. I think its more important to adapt a healthy relationship with open eyes than staying word by word loyal. And yes happiness cant last, because we are humans with more than one emotion, satisfaction and some joy, yay.
This sorta thing is also prevalent in later Misty Lackey 'Valdemaar' books specifically the Storm trilogy, where Vkandis reveals that He had been protecting ONE country but ignoring another More 'Devout' country that devolved into ....kinda symbolic religion
There is some follow up to Small Gods in later books such as Carpe Jugulum Also Constable Visit-The-Infidel-With-Explanatory-Pamphlets is a member of the Watch in Feet of Clay, Hogfather, The Fifth Elephant, and Jingo Monstrous Regiment is another book in the series that deals with religion. But it's a bit darker. Pyramids also talks about religion. Both of those books can be read alone.
I'm reading the disc world novels in chronological (release) order and I'm like 15 books in. Small Gods is my favorite so far. Like, some of the novels have been better than others, some were just okay, some were really great. But Small Gods was pretty much perfect. Every concept had depth, every joke had a reason and there was no page, sentence or word too much. People always talk about The Colour of Magic, Guards! Guards! or Mort, but Small Gods is the big achievement imo.
I listened to it over the past few days and really enjoyed it. I have read quite a lot of Discworld and this one is certainly up there as one of the best of a very good bunch. One thing though, Om is a tortoise not a turtle
Interesting that you should come out with this review now! I just bought basically every Discworld novel and have started from the beginning. I know you advised against it, but thus far I think it was the right move for me. Finished Sourcery today (that's the 5th published out of 41), and am on to Wyrd Sisters in a moment. I'm enjoying these books so much that the prospect of reading 36 more is exciting rather than daunting. A great series thus far and due to get even better - especially knowing Small Gods and Guards! Guards! are just around the corner. Appreciate what you do, Daniel, keep it up! Hope you put in for a few more Discworlds, so I can hear your thoughts on those as well.
I come from a christian family not a fanatic one or anything like that but my parents made me go to church every Sunday etc. Yet from an early age I started to question the existence of God. All of that just didn't make any sense for me. A bearded guy in the sky. Are you kidding me? Everybody already stopped believing in Santa and this is okay with you? Really? And nobody semmed to care what I had to say about it and I myself couldn't really express my thoughts properly. I was a very misunderstood child. I come from Poland where almost everybody is raised to be a christian so why would I be something else. When I started to grow up I turned pretty rebellious. I stopped attending religion classes, started to ask more and more questions etc. And then I discovered sir Terry Pratchett and everything changed. I finally found someone who understood me, who thought in the same way as I did. So I binged all of his books, stories and interviews and by the age of 13 or 14 I knew everything about discworld and what's more important I learned that I wouldn't accomplish anything by just being a rebel kid. I convinced my parents that I have my own views on how the world works and nothing would change it. And they accepted it. I officially stopped attending religion classes and nobody made me go to church anymore. I was extremely proud of this accomplishment back then. Now it's all cool, everybody knows who I and what I believe in and that there's no point convincing me otherwise. Well, not everybody but screw those wickked hobbitses. So yeah, I guess discworld for me is like the wheel of time is for you. Something special, something that helped me in the times of hardship and something I will always go back to
Yep. I’m not done yet, but I’m loving it. Monty Python meets fantasy!
And the rest is just as good. I got my parents back into fantasy with Discworld.
Is this Dad?
HI DAD!!
A nudge as is good as a wink to a blind man 👨🦯
Yeah I've used that comparison to describe it as well. Also I've used that to try and quickly explain Hitchiker's Guide to people. In fact, for some of my book reading scifi fans, I'll simply ask 'Are you familiar with Douglas Adams?" "Yes, love his books." "Ok cool so, it's basically like that, as far as tone and humor in a lot of ways, but D&D, instead of scifi" "Oh, ok I get it, cool! I'll go check it out!" *thumbs up from me* "Mission accomplished"
Hello Mr Greene!
The holy grail movie, and meaning of life are fantasy, ond mediecal fantasy but fantasy.
My mate once met Terry Pratchett at a convention and him and his dad ended up getting a curry with him. Surealist story for a surealist author :)
I COULD MURDER A CURRY
Met him once as well. It was his second signing of the day so he was a little run down.
It was a little mom and pop bookstore I drove almost 5 hours to get to. Got there super early and even helped set up for it, make a sign welcoming him and even helped stock shelves. Awesome people the owners.
I got to keep both the "editors edition" (signed) and publicity poster for Wintersmith they were sent.
He was as gracious as he was humorously snarky.
Had never gone to a signing before and haven't gone since.
One of my absolute favorite books, which is notable because I am a religious person ! I always refer to this book as a good example of criticizing religious institution without dismissing faith as a concept, it's also very funny and we should all be willing to have a laugh even about the most serious of things!
It's been a while since I read it though, perhaps it's time for a re-read!
Vorbis is such an incredibly chilling villain - and you never actually see him do all that much. It's his mind - that steel ball of a mind...and the realisation of where that mind wants to take humanity. And then the final scene with him and Brutha is one of the most quietly beautiful things I've read in Fantasy.
Also - another character who shows up in Small Gods as well other Discworld books is Lu-Tze. One of my favourites.
I agree.
Christian from a Catholic family here - yeah we all absolutely adore Small Gods (and Terry Pratchett honestly), its the best fictional commentary on religion I've ever read
I am not Christian and never have been (and not the most firm believer in my faith either), but one of the things I always found both delightful and touching is the atheist (Simon?) responding to a minor but fairly direct revelation of Om, and immediately becoming a fervent believer - as the character explains, before he had no evidence there was something out there, so it was simpler to believe in its absence. Now that he has seen the evidence, he would be foolish to reject it - and as I recall his belief in the existence and power of Om is so intense that _Om_ is unsettled.
@@fredricksimen personally I always loved the philosopher's reaction to being confronted with Om and Om's fury at his stoicness(english?). From personal experience, its a brilliant conversation that triggers thoughts in a young person starting to be skeptic about the religion they've been taught.
In contrast to the soldier who is aso ardent in his atheist that when he meets the gods he says its insultingly illogical of them to be there
I met him once, randomly in a pub. Bought him a drink, unfortunately I never got a pic with him but he let me try on his hat!
Hat off, a hell of a story to tell.
@@marocat4749 hat off indeed. Surprising no one recognised him. So I asked him quietly so as not to disturb
I'll always maintain that Pratchett is one of the great literary geniuses of the 20th and 21st centuries. His craft in positioning every word exactly where it needs to be is unbelievable, his compassionate look at human nature can change how you look at things. GNU Sir Terry.
Probably already mentioned by someone else, but the sweeper Lu-Tze shows up in other discworld stories too. I love that old man, and this book is just amazing. I went back and reread all of the discworld books over the summer, and it was so satisfying. So many gems.
I wanna finally get into Discworld. I read the Tiffany Achings books as a kid and Going Postal I enjoyed but wasn’t terribly enraptured by. Is there a specific way I should start reading the books?
@@britwww There are a few ways to start, it mostly comes down to personal preference. If you've read the Aching books then Wyrd Sisters might be good, it's the start of Granny Weatherwax and her little covens story, personally I started with The Watch books, the first of which is "Guards! Guards!" Because they have some really great characters you get attached to pretty quickly. When I reread them over the summer I did The Watch books, then The Witches stories which flow into the Tiffany Aching books, then the wizard's stories with Rincewind and Unseen University, followed by Death's stories, Moist von Lipwig's trilogy, and then the stand alone books. Small God's, and Pyramids are both great stand alones if you wanted to go that route. It's pretty much down to reader's preference which sub series to start with, hope I could help a little though, and that you enjoy. Also the Nac Mac Feegles in the Aching books were just gold. I loved them so much.
@@TheBrotherGrim Wow wow wow!! Thank you so much!! Screenshotting this and gonna go book hunting!
@@britwww No problem! I'm always happy to spread word of The Disc. They really are some amaaaazing stories. Have fun hunting!
@@TheBrotherGrim technically Equal Rites is the first Granny Weatherwax story, though rest of the coven does not appear. I would not recommend it for Discworld beginners, as it is a very early book, and has some early discworld quirks (though nowehere near as much as early Rincewind books)
"Guards, Guards!" got me hooked and fell in love with Pratchett's work. Gonna pick Small Gods up for sure
Guards Guards hooks you.
Small Gods pushes you down the Rabbithole.
Read them all
I started with "the wee free men" and "the amazing maurice and his educated rodents"
It was "Mort" for me. It took me while to get to "Small Gods", but it was so worth it!
Same
I've always loved disc world books, but my favourite is Going Postal, because i worked for the finnish post when i found it, and the way he writes So Accurately how that job feels. Of course there is a lot of carityring in there, but my colleagues and i were certain the author has had experience in our field of work. And that's probably the most i have ever related to a book in my entire life.
Going postal is absolutely incredible and a very underrated disc world novel
@@benjackson91 yes.
He was a journalist (he said he saw a corpse on his first day on the job as a teen), and an assistant librarian (as a schoolboy, mostly so they'd let him borrow more books), but I don't think he ever worked for the postal service.
@@armcie5080 well, then i would say he is a brilliant writer, to be able to make so many feel like i felt 😊 and in a different country to boot.
@@armcie5080 He used to say, based on the way he wrote characters like Fred and Nobby, cops and military veterans he met at cons would often assume he'd served in uniform. But nope, I think he just... had developed a way of paying attention to people and observing them without filtering the experience too strongly through his own assumptions and expectations. I imagine that would be a useful skill to cultivate for a career journalist, as I understand he had been before his hobby got so financially successful it was costing him money to go to work.
I bought this book yesterday on a whim, remembering what Daniel had said about it; so this video couldn’t have come at a better time.
It could have... it could have come once you’d finished the book haha. Then you’d know if you’d agreed or disagreed with him. (Spoiler: I think you’ll agree 😁)
This might be my favorite book of all time. This book is definitely for people who like a little philosophy.
I always considered Small Gods, Anansi Boys, and Good Omens to be kind of a collection. You can see Terry Pratchet's view on divinity, then see Neil Gaiman's, and finally the synthesis of their sheer brilliances (does this word exist? I'm not an native English speaker) as they combine their talent to produce Good Omens. Yes, those books were not produced in the other I mentioned, but when experienced like this, for me, they become something more than the sum of their parts.
The way that turtle curses is the funniest thing I've ever read!!!!
🤪🤪🤪🐢✌ yeah
Oh yes, his furiously impotent attempts to smite everyone around him are freaking gold.
You have to wonder just what Om would have to say about those who can't tell the difference between a turtle and a TORTOISE. I suspect smiting would be involved. And probably fire ants. And maybe figgins.
Let there be another leaf
Possibly one of the funniest books ever written.
Yeah you should read Good Omes if you haven't yet ;)
@@tilljagodzinski9331 I like Good Omens, I read most of Pratchett's work when I was a teenager. This is going to sound like sacrilege but... the Neil Gaimany bits put me off. I'm not a huge fan.
I know... I know... put down the pitchforks...
@@The_Reviewist No argument there I think Neil Gailman is a great author buthe is not that funny though. ANd I am a bit taken aback by his latest creative decisions...
And yet one 9f the smartes ones at the same time
This one and hitchhikkers guide to the galaxy
Small Gods has always been one of my personal favourite Discworld novels; right up there with Night Watch and Hogfather. Also, it honestly had so much influence on my personal opinions regarding religion
Eric is a fun one for a quiet afternoon, but it helps to know Rincewind first
Agreed!
I've met Terry several times, only to get a load of my first edition hardbacks signed. They are my pride and joy of collection. The man was a genius.
The covers! Talks about the Discworld books' covers! I cannot stress enough how important Josh Kirby's wonderful covers were to the popularization of the Discworld books. And then, when Kirby died, Pratchett was lucky enough to find a completely different artist who was just as amazing- Paul Kidby. That has to be worth talking about.
This is my favourite book of all time and I should thank you, Daniel, for it.
You see, I'm from a religious family, in a country run by government whose ideology is -almost- completely based upon religion and tries SO HARD to be HOLY. I even went to a so-called religious school! For so long I considered myself a religious person- and honestly, a somewhat fanatic one of that. (Funny thing- I picked up this book during that time and was so offended by the idea that I quit reading it after just a few pages and then completely forgot about it.)
But, as I got older, I began to doubt all of it. I couldn't put these doubts into words and couldn't talk about them with anyone and I felt really ashamed and guilty because of them. Then, last year, I was introduced to Terry Prachett and his work by Good Omens, and I LOVED it. so I decided to read other books by him and that was when I watched your "Discworld- before you read" video in which you recommend this one as a good introduction to discworld and I picked it up and I was astonished by it. It was simply the most enjoyable thing I read last year -arguably in my whole life- and helped me A LOT with sorting and reshaping all my beliefs.
So~ thank you very much for this great recommendation😄 (and also sorry for the long comment and possible errors in it~ unfortunately speaking and writing in English is a lot harder that understanding its written and spoken form😅)
I've been reading Discworld books since i was about 10, and it's a great journey, of looking at those multilayered texts, where anyone could find something for himself. A comedy for a kid, brilliant characters for a young teenager, and the underlying themes for someone older. It's absolutely my favourite series, and my life without it wouldn't be the same.
As a practising Catholic, I still love this book and agree it's one of the best of Pratchett's Discworld. It would be great to hear your thoughts about some of your other favourites from the series! (Full disclaimer: the Night Watch and Death books also happen to be mine.)
Yes, it is. Staggering how many good books Sir Terry cranked out before his much too early demise. Still can't bring myself to read the last one - there has to be one left. The thought there could not be, would just be too sad.
When you can bring yourself to crack it open, it has a chapter that at the very least will make you misty-eyed. The book was a fantastic way for Sir Terry to bid his readers goodbye
@@nealhoffman7518 Thanks, that is a nice outlook to whenever I read that book. It might be some decades yet, though.
Same here!! It’s literally sitting on my shelf and every so often I go pick it up, and then put it back down. Of course, it has another layer added to it that Sir Terry died about a week after my Mom died suddenly from cancer, so my brain has put the two together
I still can't help but laugh when I remember Om asking what was Brutha's first memory, and Brutha's answer to that.
not om it was the 3 people in the room testing his memory. vorbis and the other 2. but it is such a good line. "there was a bright light, and then someone hit me"
@@nicholasgait3739 Good catch, it's been about 20 years since I read it, so I'm not surprised I messed up the details... But I love that line :D
Vorbis is such an interesting character. I love Terry's ability to make archetypal characters that always feel like they are utterly unique. Ive never read a Terry Pratchett novel and thought that i could actually predict what a character was like, even if i actually could!
One of my favorite ways he describes Vorbis in the book is "a man who kills people to see if they die" that had me laughing for a solid minute.
7:44
I love how casually you can say “or some of the death books”
Very well spoken, spoiler-free review.
My ONLY critique - Om was in the form of a tortoise, not a turtle. Om = tortoise, A'Tuin = turtle.
But other than that tiny correction, 11/10, same score I give the book.
Literally just gave a coworker a copy of Small Gods to try and hook her in earlier today!
This and the witches are part of my favorite, also sam vimes is one of the best charcthers i ever read. The work he made is amazing.
Dad: did you wait for me to catch up on the tragedy of Terry Pratchett the wise?
Daniel: no
Dad: I thought not....
It's not a story the Jedi would tell you...
I did my summer book report on this book junior year of high school and still get warm fuzzy feelings thinking about it. RIP Terry Pratchett.
Absolutely agree - 'Small Gods' is an excellent place to begin Discworld.
There's something so unbelievably special about how Terry Pratchett writes dialogue, I've never read anything like it! These interactions can be read repeatedly, yet it's really tough to figure out why they endlessly entertain.
And, yes - his works are all about bullying, inequality, and how people can be petty, yet he subverts his anger about these issues and writes with kindness. I really don't know how he pulled this off.
Thank you for the review!
This is and has been one of my absolute favorites from Terry, and definitely one that I got most into when I was maybe around 16 or 17....? When I was in high school, in any case. I actually used that book as a kind of a practice piece in that I translated the whole book -- partly to get better at English, partly because I was planning to become a translator at the time, and partly because I just really, really liked that book.
Thanks to Daniel i started reading wheel of time and stormlight archive and now im going to start reading disc world. Thank you man
Pyramids is also a good companion piece to Small Gods.
Hands down, it's my favorite book and favorite Author.
Yesssssssss.
Definitely a good first discworld. It is a great stand alone.
I think I started with Mort which was great too. After that it was just whatever discworld book was available in the bookshelf at the back of the English classroom.
I will say for high schoolers who have recently had to study Macbeth and or hamlet, the Witches are also great starting points with Wyrd Sisters.
Everything by Terry Pratchett is a masterpiece. Change my mind.
Some of his kids stuff is a bit pants and his early Rincewind stuff is spoofing a kind of fantasy that isn’t current. Having said that the consistent quality of his books is incredible, especially taking into account the volume of work he produced. Nation is also criminally underrated!
Get a copy of A Blink Of The Screen. It's a collection of lesser known shorts by Sir Pterry, and while none of them are awful, a lot of them are clearly very raw and lacking polish.
Some of his works are super masterpieces.
Nope. Not even trying to change your mind
You read Strata? There's a not so good Pratchett work.
I love Small Gods; it gains from reading other Discworld books but is complete in itself, like Monstrous Regiment. I read the Carpet People first, but had no memory of the author or the title, actually. So Small Gods was first for me, then Thud (love trolls), The Last Hero, The Wee Free Men, and then started in on it chronologically.
The best noticeable part of Sir Terry’s writing is his ability to describe characters in a single sentence: Mort, the Luggage, Rincewind, Granny Weatherwax, Nanny Ogg, Greebo and all the rest. One sentence was always enough to get me hooked again.
watched this review many months ago and had to come back after finally getting around to reading it. Gorgeous book all the way through but especially towards the ending WOW, quite glad to have chosen this as my discworld introduction
The audio book is available on Audible now, and it's fantastic! Andy Serkis narrates, and there are a few other big names attached to it (specifically the voice of Death, its perfection).
Thank you for this! My recommendation is start with Pyramids then Small Gods. Starts with the beginning of time and other books build off these.
Small Gods is certainly one of Pratchetts best!
A question to the audience (and Daniel too): How many know of the book "Dark Side of the Sun"? Pterrys excursion into SciFi. Maybe not as humorous (though light hearted) but very very interesting concept-wise! (though the idea became more popular later, I won't spoil it here).
It feels like nobody ever talks about it.
Discworld is so nostalgic for me. I LOVED it when my dad read the Colour of Magic to me, when I was about 10-11, and got absolutely hooked. I really should pick the series up again.
Lu-Tze also appears in other books, i believe a night guard novell.
most notably thief of time
also, D'blah!
My first Terry Pratchett book. Since then I have devoured his work. Nostalgia googles may be in play, but it's my favourite of his.
Start listening after i posted and find you recommend this to be the best entry point top his work....dare I say great minds think alike?😋 Great, thoughtful review.
Same here. Small Gods was my first, and I fell in love with Discworld right from the very first page. :)
It really is a treasure. I love how Terry Pratchett can critique our world while not coming off as malicious and mocking.
As a side note I read Guards guards second. My first Discworld book was Mort.
3:52 - Don't forget Lu Tze, everyone's favourite sweeper is first introduced here, reappearing later in Thief of Time and Night Watch. Didactylos is referenced elsewhere (Hogfather) but doesn't make another appearance.
It makes me so happy how you went from not being super interested in Discworld (after reading the first or first two books I believe) to giving it another chance and ending up loving it!
I finished the book just now. I must say that with the first 4 discworld novels under my belt so far, this felt different. Jokes aside, this would fit perfectly as one of the books in the bible.
As a catholic and with how my old country has an obsession with religion, I must say I can really relate with what was being discussed in the book. I can relate to Brutha's upbringing being her grandmother doing things similar to what my grandmothers used to do. Also the progress of the story kinda feels like how my eyes have been opened with religion and what my past experiences have felt like.
All in all a great book and I like its way of discussing religion and the way it is presented in a light hearted way. Makes you really ponder your existence.
PS: I wish I have that fancy pants edition you got. Checked their site and sadly it is our of stock 😭
3:50 The Librarian makes an appearance. :)
I am currently reading this (for the first , certainly not the last, time!). I am a huge Discworld fan and have been for years. I'm not sure why I'd not read this one before. But I am absolutely loving it!! Yes, to everything you've said in this video, and I have already begun to recommend it as a "jumping in" point to friends!
I saw your video about how to begin Discworld. Took your advice about starting with Small Gods.
Sweet Om, what an amazing read.
Incredible. I've read all of the discworld novels. Most of them several times, and I'm going to read them again. It's just something else. Noone can possibly create something this potent and funny and even believable (for absurd fantasy), not even close. Death, Watch, Witches, Technical revolution, von Lipwig, Rincewind, wonderfull. There are some lower points on some (few) books, but damn. It's just so exciting.
Monstrous regiment is also a good Book to get people interested in Discworld.
Sir Terry Pratchett is a genius. A true mad genius.
was*, unfortunately...
@@frostblizzard8499 Terry Pratchett is eternal and timeless. Is, was and shall be.
@@frostblizzard8499 a genius even in death
@@pattheplanter GNU Terry Pratchett
I read Small Gods after you recommended it as a good starter for the Discworld series. It's now one of my all time favourite books! Had to wipe away a tear after I finished it
Very interested in picking this one up. I just started my Discword journey (I decided to start with Death’s entry because his character just sounds so intriguing). But I am a Christian, and as someone who knows that religion is practiced by very flawed people (myself being one of the greatest of these) and that religious people are often the lens through which non-religious individuals view different faiths, observing this through a “god’s” perspective is unique to be sure. Not sure what to think before going into it, but I think the concepts would be interesting to explore. I definitely don’t think that anyone should be afraid to have their beliefs challenged.
im a religious jew and you asked how do texts change thru time they dont we find ways to aplly them to modern day but NONE of our texts changed at all we have more written to explain how it apllies to moder day
I'd already read colour of Magic and found it to be fine, but once I saw you'd released this video, I bought a copy of Small Gods, got through it in about a week, and now I'm back!
Completely agree with the pro's, the chemistry between Brutha and Om is just great and what made the point of the book for me was the sarcasm. Great book! Your video was a great incentive.
This is the first book that opened my eyes to Terry Pratchett writing commentary on real world topics and not just some funny fantasy. This book really made me read his books in a new way and take way more than I was taking from them before. Since then there are many I love more than Small Gods but gee golly I love it and it's truly one of the best books to enter the Discworld.
Nice video Daniel. Small Gods is definitely one of my favorite Pratchett novels as well. As an atheist I agree with your comment about how it's a good book to illustrate why a lot of people take issue with religion or spirituality in general, through a lens that isn't hard to digest. Keep putting out the good content man, and The Turtle Moves!
I just finished it today and really enjoyed it! It was my first time reading anything Pratchett (also the video on Discworld starting points influenced my decision to pick Small Gods, so a big thank you for that) 😁😁
I found this channel only yesterday and have been binging ever since. Love your work, keep on going and please never stop making videos on the wheel of time.
It never occurred to me until you read it out loud that Brutha's name was a joke on the word "brother", now I'm laughing at it after having read the novel a full 10 years ago. And I'm off to buy it to read it again. Nice review! Fully agreed with how good it is. I confess I'm not always able to get into Discworld books, but Small Gods really stood out as amazing.
Pratchett's writing is unmatched. He can make you laugh with one line and be moved the next. Small God's is my favorite of his books. Thank you for talking about this one, it means a lot.
I read Mort and Reaper Man in 3 days, then I decided to step back and read Small Gods after. I personally loved it. I may wanna read it out loud to my children taking some inspiration from the audiobook for Om specificly.
Also - Small Gods is a good entry point. It depends on whether the intended "victim" i into considering these topics. If the one to start out is maybe more into war or gender issues, Monstrus Regiment is excellent too. Then if there is some more a need of processing of permanent loss or sorrow, one of the Death books? Issues in relation to policing and the justice system and an enjoyment of a bit more action - the Night Watch series starting with Guards Guards is good. So many different, good entry points, depending on the person.
I love Discworld, though I sadly haven't done a full reread since Sir Terry passed. The Glass clock stopped at that point.
That being said, Shepherd's Crown is the absolute best goodbye from an author knowing that his time was nigh
Wasn't it just! I sobbed. For hours.
I chose this book quite randomly at the local library one fateful day in middle school. That was my introduction to Discworld and my life was changed for the better!
Just read this a couple weeks back! Once discworld gets its hooks in you just cant stop.
Awesome! Discworld!!!
And yes, as an entry point it is excellent if only on how self-contained it is compared to the other books.
This was the first Terry Pratchett book a red (except good omens, but that was a collaboration), and I highly recommend it. The audiobook narration was really good too.
I loved this book! I read it back in late December after watching your video about how to approach the Discworld books. The dynamic between Brutha and Om was by far my favorite part about the book--the combination of the brattiest character being a tortoise and poor Brutha having to pack him around was so funny to me. I plan to read more Discworld in the future, maybe I'll start with the Death novels.
Had me chuckling throughout but it really comes into its own during the 3rd act . Literally just cracking up when everything comes together . Definitely more of a light hearted take on fantasy with still a very strong satirical point to make that isn’t so heavy handed .
Andy Serkis does the audiobook and the voice of Sméagol makes a brief appearance . Before I knew it was him I was like holy shit that’s a dead ringer for Sméagol ? Sure enough it’s Andy !
Great review! I started Discworld thanks to your vid from last year that discussed the best entry points for the series.
Yes. Yes it is. I had never before read Terry Pratchett before, bur have heard of him. Saw a special edition hardcover of Small Gods in the book store (so beautiful, gold emboss ink, green color cover and Om is depicted upside down wriggling!), picked up, read it and fell in love!
I have read most of the Discworld books. My favorites are Thud!, Small Gods, Witches Abroad, and Hogfather.
Yess!! Love Small Gods!
One of my favorites!
My 3 go to starting suggestions are-
Mort
Guards, Guards
Small Gods
Hi Daniel. I'm a fan of the channel and an ordained minister through my church (non-denominational). If no one else has offered, I'd love to have that dialogue you talked about in the video with you
Daniel I just have to tell you how much I enjoy your channel. And this coming from a newbie to the genre having only read from the cosmere thus far. I will be taking many of your recommendations to heart!
Om is also featured in The Science of Discworld IV: Judgment Day. Also, while Brutha doesn't appear elsewhere, he is mentioned in Carpe Jugulum and Thief of Time.
My dad had most of the discworld books and read them all multiple times and loved them.
As someone who grew up in an ultra-religious household, now I want to start discworld!
Do it
Small Gods, Guards Guards, Mort, Moving Pictures, Theif of Time, Night Watch, Reaper Man....i could go on. Terry was arguably the best writer of his generation. And his work will be discovered on and on by people for generations to come. Full of wisdom and wit, silliness and satire, beautiful moments, awseome characters.
I may have to take a little Dresden break to read this. I am on Dresden book 7 and can’t put it down. The first handful were okay but they get so good and I know you’ve said they get super good later too.
They do but try doing one dresden and then a disc world
I love Terry Pratchett and his discworld. I got introduced to it by someone online and I looked it up and it seemed appealing. So I started at the beginning, “The Color of Magic” and i was hooked. Most ppl don’t like the first few books as much but i love them. I’ve read all 41 his discworld books most of them more then once, which is amazing for me lol. And plan to get his non-discworld books too.
I’d say, “Guards! Guards!” Is a good starter too. And “Small Gods” is a good one even if you just wanna use the themes in it to discuss belief. Course the other one that should then be read with it is “The Hogfather”. Both deal with religion but most importantly the define what believe really is.
Most awesome moment in fantasy:
One or two people, who had been watching Vorbis closely, said later that there was just time for his expression to change before two pounds of tortoise, traveling at three meters a second, hit him between the eyes. It was a revelation. And that does something to people watching. For a start, they believe with all their heart.
Thank you, Daniel, because of you I've finally discovered my possibly favourite series, currently finishing Guards Guards! and what a ride it is)
My roommate gave me this book to get me into Disc World and 20 years later it’s still for both of us one of our all time favorites.
One of the funniest and profound Discworld novels. Pratchett has such a beautiful way of conveying ideas.
"there are hardly any excesses of the most crazed psychopath that cannot easily be duplicated by a normal, kindly family man who just comes in to work every day and has a job to do."
Do American editions of Small God's describe Om's form in the book as a "turtle"? Does that create confusion with the in-book references to the Great A'Tuin's motion towards the end?
Nope, Om is a tortoise in the versions we get over here, and given the sheer amount of British-isms in Pratchett's writing, I'm pretty sure our is the same as the Brits.
Well, a devout Christian here, and I appreciate any sort of media that portrays the critique of religion because it is not perfect, in no way shape or form is any denomination of faith, nor a house of worship, or a horse of worship perfect. My previous pastor, my grandfather, (My mother for intents and purposes was atheist and raised us that way), would tell you, if you find a church that is perfect, you find another church.
I came up with my own determination on why you would leave a seemingly perfect church, and I'll get down to that in a second, but my grandfather would tell you to leave a perfect church because you'll ruin it, jokingly of course.
But joking aside, if a church seems perfect, I am sure I would question heavily the validity of the specific church in question if everything is all sunshine and roses and there doesn't seem to be anything out of place, because a church is run by man, essentially and to err is human. If something seems perfect, or too perfect in a church, in my opinion, and experiences of others given to me, there is a strong chance that specific church may be a cult, twisting the translated scriptures, and pulling them out of context to tell you a story that is their own story and not a God-inspired word.
Considering translation: no translation is going to be absolutely perfect, and you can really appreciate etymology when studying the scripture as it will provide certain things in better context than just a simple read-through, like the difference between joy and happiness. Happiness is a farce. Joy is where its at. I'll reference my grandfather, who reads the bible in ancient Greek and Hebrew before delivering a Sermon, and would stop in the middle of re-reading a passage and bring to light the translation discrepancy, and say something like this, "This really isn't a good translation here, this word here is going to be much closer to this" and provide an example, and he might even go on to say something like, "This is the chosen translation for this particular text, but scholars can't agree if this is the right translation on it, and I think it translates better into this".
With that said, on to my next writing project.
Probably true that with a perfect seeming church there gas to be either somthing culty or burried. With anything really. If there is at least some openness with not great stuff, its just better company.
Frpm entirely different pagan group i hot the most important thing. Faith with the god in question is personal, and its no excuse to harm , being culty and on a power trip with abuse being harm. I think its more important to adapt a healthy relationship with open eyes than staying word by word loyal.
And yes happiness cant last, because we are humans with more than one emotion, satisfaction and some joy, yay.
This sorta thing is also prevalent in later Misty Lackey 'Valdemaar' books specifically the Storm trilogy, where Vkandis reveals that He had been protecting ONE country but ignoring another More 'Devout' country that devolved into ....kinda symbolic religion
There is some follow up to Small Gods in later books such as Carpe Jugulum
Also Constable Visit-The-Infidel-With-Explanatory-Pamphlets is a member of the Watch in Feet of Clay,
Hogfather, The Fifth Elephant, and Jingo
Monstrous Regiment is another book in the series that deals with religion. But it's a bit darker.
Pyramids also talks about religion. Both of those books can be read alone.
I'm reading the disc world novels in chronological (release) order and I'm like 15 books in. Small Gods is my favorite so far. Like, some of the novels have been better than others, some were just okay, some were really great. But Small Gods was pretty much perfect. Every concept had depth, every joke had a reason and there was no page, sentence or word too much.
People always talk about The Colour of Magic, Guards! Guards! or Mort, but Small Gods is the big achievement imo.
I listened to it over the past few days and really enjoyed it. I have read quite a lot of Discworld and this one is certainly up there as one of the best of a very good bunch. One thing though, Om is a tortoise not a turtle
Great take on one of the best Discworld books. Great work. The Turtle Moves!
Interesting that you should come out with this review now!
I just bought basically every Discworld novel and have started from the beginning. I know you advised against it, but thus far I think it was the right move for me.
Finished Sourcery today (that's the 5th published out of 41), and am on to Wyrd Sisters in a moment. I'm enjoying these books so much that the prospect of reading 36 more is exciting rather than daunting. A great series thus far and due to get even better - especially knowing Small Gods and Guards! Guards! are just around the corner.
Appreciate what you do, Daniel, keep it up! Hope you put in for a few more Discworlds, so I can hear your thoughts on those as well.
My favorite Discworld book and one of my favorite books of all time.
Absolutely LOVE STP. You are correct. This is one of my favorites, along with Guards Guards.
I come from a christian family not a fanatic one or anything like that but my parents made me go to church every Sunday etc. Yet from an early age I started to question the existence of God. All of that just didn't make any sense for me. A bearded guy in the sky. Are you kidding me? Everybody already stopped believing in Santa and this is okay with you? Really? And nobody semmed to care what I had to say about it and I myself couldn't really express my thoughts properly. I was a very misunderstood child. I come from Poland where almost everybody is raised to be a christian so why would I be something else. When I started to grow up I turned pretty rebellious. I stopped attending religion classes, started to ask more and more questions etc. And then I discovered sir Terry Pratchett and everything changed. I finally found someone who understood me, who thought in the same way as I did. So I binged all of his books, stories and interviews and by the age of 13 or 14 I knew everything about discworld and what's more important I learned that I wouldn't accomplish anything by just being a rebel kid. I convinced my parents that I have my own views on how the world works and nothing would change it. And they accepted it. I officially stopped attending religion classes and nobody made me go to church anymore. I was extremely proud of this accomplishment back then. Now it's all cool, everybody knows who I and what I believe in and that there's no point convincing me otherwise. Well, not everybody but screw those wickked hobbitses. So yeah, I guess discworld for me is like the wheel of time is for you. Something special, something that helped me in the times of hardship and something I will always go back to
I just finished reading this last night. It's the first time I've read Pratchett, and I love it.