Monday, July 11, 2005
Review: Small Gods by Terry Pratchett
Writing Style-6.5
Originality-7.3
Plot-7.9
Literary Merit(whatever that means)-6.8
Overall-7.3
This is a really fun, exceptionally funny book that was also surprisingly smart with a swiftly moving plot. This book is in a series of books called the Discworld series that I don’t believe you have to read in sequence. This one is somewhere in the middle of probably a couple dozen books set in Discworld.
If you haven’t already guessed by the fact that it’s part of a series of at least 20 books called the Discworld series, it is in fact fantasy/sci-fi. This book (I can’t speak for the series) is religious satire. Sort of like if you took James Morrow and Douglas Adams and smashed them together, they would write a book something like this.
It starts off in the land of Omnia, a theocracy that worships the god Om. Om unwittingly manifests himself in the form of a tortoise who is dropped into a temple by an eagle. All gods have power based on the number of followers they have. Om is now a pretty impotent god and in the form of a tortoise because he has only one true believer.
Om meets his one true believer, Brutha, and speaks to him about his problem, namely being a powerless turtle. Brutha is the main character of the book and is set on a dual quest to 1) act as a diplomat with Omnia’s neighbor and enemy, Ephebe and 2) restore Om’s power by hiring one of Ephebe’s ubiquitous philosophers to help.
Though the story is set in an alternate world in an alternate universe, the author makes it obvious that he intends it to be allegorical. For instance, Omnia has a group of bishops that torture and kill non-believers, this group is called Quisitors. Discworld is actually a flat disc and the Quisitors kill those that believe that the world may be round.
Other examples of the humor:
‘And you were going to be a bull?’ he said.
‘Opened my eyes…my eye… and I was a tortoise.’
‘Why?’
‘How should I know? I don’t know!’ lied the tortoise.
‘But you… you’re omnicognisant,’ said Brutha.
‘That doesn’t mean I know everything.’
Brutha bit his lip. ‘Um. Yes. It does.’
‘You sure?’
‘Yes.’
‘Thought that was omnipotent.’
‘No. That means you’re all-powerful. And you are…
And:
‘Uh, I want to find out about gods,’ said Brutha.
The philosophers looked at one another.
‘Gods?’ said Xeno. ‘We don’t bother with gods. Huh. Relics of an outmoded belief system, gods.’
There was a rumble of thunder from the clear evening sky.
‘Except for Blind Io the Thunder God,’ Xeno went on, his tone hardly changing.
Lightning flashed across the sky.
‘And Cubal the Fire God,’ said Xeno.
A gust of wind rattled the windows.
‘Flatulus the God of the Winds, he’s all right too,’ said Xeno…
…
…The philosophers looked very embarrassed. Then Ibid said, ‘Foorgol the God of Avalanches? Where’s the snowline?’
‘Two hundred miles away,’ said someone.
They waited. Nothing happened.
‘Relic of an outmoded belief system,’ said Xeno.
A wall of freezing white death did not appear anywhere in Ephebe.
‘Mere unthinking personification of a natural force,’ said one of the philosophers, in a louder voice. They all seemed to feel a lot better about this.
‘Primitive nature worship.’
I’d recommend this book highly to fans of Douglas Adams or any fantasy/sci-fi fan that likes satire and poking fun at religion.
Originality-7.3
Plot-7.9
Literary Merit(whatever that means)-6.8
Overall-7.3
This is a really fun, exceptionally funny book that was also surprisingly smart with a swiftly moving plot. This book is in a series of books called the Discworld series that I don’t believe you have to read in sequence. This one is somewhere in the middle of probably a couple dozen books set in Discworld.
If you haven’t already guessed by the fact that it’s part of a series of at least 20 books called the Discworld series, it is in fact fantasy/sci-fi. This book (I can’t speak for the series) is religious satire. Sort of like if you took James Morrow and Douglas Adams and smashed them together, they would write a book something like this.
It starts off in the land of Omnia, a theocracy that worships the god Om. Om unwittingly manifests himself in the form of a tortoise who is dropped into a temple by an eagle. All gods have power based on the number of followers they have. Om is now a pretty impotent god and in the form of a tortoise because he has only one true believer.
Om meets his one true believer, Brutha, and speaks to him about his problem, namely being a powerless turtle. Brutha is the main character of the book and is set on a dual quest to 1) act as a diplomat with Omnia’s neighbor and enemy, Ephebe and 2) restore Om’s power by hiring one of Ephebe’s ubiquitous philosophers to help.
Though the story is set in an alternate world in an alternate universe, the author makes it obvious that he intends it to be allegorical. For instance, Omnia has a group of bishops that torture and kill non-believers, this group is called Quisitors. Discworld is actually a flat disc and the Quisitors kill those that believe that the world may be round.
Other examples of the humor:
‘And you were going to be a bull?’ he said.
‘Opened my eyes…my eye… and I was a tortoise.’
‘Why?’
‘How should I know? I don’t know!’ lied the tortoise.
‘But you… you’re omnicognisant,’ said Brutha.
‘That doesn’t mean I know everything.’
Brutha bit his lip. ‘Um. Yes. It does.’
‘You sure?’
‘Yes.’
‘Thought that was omnipotent.’
‘No. That means you’re all-powerful. And you are…
And:
‘Uh, I want to find out about gods,’ said Brutha.
The philosophers looked at one another.
‘Gods?’ said Xeno. ‘We don’t bother with gods. Huh. Relics of an outmoded belief system, gods.’
There was a rumble of thunder from the clear evening sky.
‘Except for Blind Io the Thunder God,’ Xeno went on, his tone hardly changing.
Lightning flashed across the sky.
‘And Cubal the Fire God,’ said Xeno.
A gust of wind rattled the windows.
‘Flatulus the God of the Winds, he’s all right too,’ said Xeno…
…
…The philosophers looked very embarrassed. Then Ibid said, ‘Foorgol the God of Avalanches? Where’s the snowline?’
‘Two hundred miles away,’ said someone.
They waited. Nothing happened.
‘Relic of an outmoded belief system,’ said Xeno.
A wall of freezing white death did not appear anywhere in Ephebe.
‘Mere unthinking personification of a natural force,’ said one of the philosophers, in a louder voice. They all seemed to feel a lot better about this.
‘Primitive nature worship.’
I’d recommend this book highly to fans of Douglas Adams or any fantasy/sci-fi fan that likes satire and poking fun at religion.
