Hello, it's Reviewsday Tuesday and it's time for a new episode of Discworld Discourses.
Today I'm going to be reviewing Small Gods which is the 13th novel
In the Discworld series by Terry Pratchett first published in 1992.
In this book we meet Brutha who is a novice in the Church of the Great God Om in Omnia
Who finds himself able to hear the Great God Om
Who is for some reason currently inhabiting the body of a tortoise.
This book feels as a bit of a turning point in the Discworld series.
A lot of the previous books have been more satiric.
This book has a strong message and deeper themes.
It still has the humour of a Discworld book but it feels a bit darker.
It tackles some heavy subjects like religion and belief and faith and atheism and ethics and morality.
It never feels particularly heavy-handed, the message sits well within the story,
But it is a change, or at least it felt like one to me.
I feel like different people will take different things from the book
And I love that, it allows the reader to think for themselves.
There are a couple of characters in this book that really stood out to me in the Discworld series as a whole,
Particularly in this reread of the series.
I think Vorbis is one of the worst villains.
He scares me a lot as a character.
And also Brutha. To be honest I didn't remember Brutha very well before I reread this book.
I wouldn't have put him at all in a list of favourite Discworld characters.
But after this reread I definitely would.
Maybe I didn't get on with him as well the first time around,
Maybe I just read Small Gods at a weird time in the series
So it didn't sit in my memory so well,
But either way I really loved Brutha as a character this time round.
I love the way he sees the world, I love his memory,
And I love the way he responds to other characters.
Really fantastic, I'm so happy I reread this book.
I feel like this book has a few sections, there's the start where Brutha is in Omnia.
And the next is when he leaves Omnia and gets to see more of the world.
Then there is the section where he is returning to Omnia
And I'd put the final section as Brutha being back in Omnia.
And I personally enjoyed the book more after we left Omnia, after after the first section.
Where we get to see more clearly the contrasts between Omnia and the surrounding areas
And when Brutha is starting to look at the world and the Church a bit differently.
And I'd say that generally the second section and the final section where my favourites.
It also got slightly patchy to me when Brutha was returning to Omnia.
So I guess my relationship with this book had some peaks and troughs when I was reading it.
A very interesting book, as I said earlier I definitely preferred it more the second time I read it,
Maybe because I'm older now, maybe because now I've read the whole series I appreciate it's differences more.
I think one of the factors is definitely that there are a few things in this book
Which are relevant later on and I just didn't pick up on them the first time I read this book,
For instance, the history monks.
Small Gods is definitely worth reading, I would recommend it.
A bit of a change up but still very recognisably a Terry Pratchett book.
I will give Small Gods by Terry Pratchett 4.1 out of 5.
So, some facts about Small Gods.
This book sees the first appearance of Lu-Tze, a mysterious Discworld character
Who will be important in Night Watch and Thief of Time.
They are two of my favourite Discworld books.
This book also sees the first use of the phrase 'The turtle moves.'
Small Gods was adapted for radio in 2006.
The BBC Radio 4 adaptation starred Karl Precopp as Brutha
With Patrick Barlow as Om and Alex Jennings as Vorbis.
And this is also one of the Discworld books to be adapted as a graphic novel.
This book is one of the standalone books
But it is also sometimes placed in a Gods Trilogy with Pyramids and Hogfather.
If you liked Small Gods you could try reading Pyramids or Hogfather next.
Also I think Night Watch and Thief of Time could be good
But only if you have read the previous night watch and Death books, I would say
Because I think those books are definitely best appreciated when you read them later on in the series.
If you didn't enjoy Small Gods then Lords and Ladies is next in the series so you could maybe try that one.
Or maybe The Truth because it's another standalone book and it's also further along in the series.
I'd love to know what you think about Small Gods if you've read it, let me know in the comments below.
The next book I'll be reviewing in Discworld Discourses is Lords and Ladies
And that review will be on 6th August 2019.
And if you'd like to see a full list of the Discworld books and when I'm planning on reviewing them
Then I'll put a link to that in the description below.
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I hope you have a fantastic day and I will see you soon!