eBook, 269 pages

Published May 26, 2009 by Transworld Digital.

ASIN:
B0035OC7OU
4 stars (5 reviews)

Death comes to us all. When he came to Mort, he offered him a job.

Death is the Grim Reaper of the Discworld, a black-robed skeleton with a scythe who ushers souls into the next world. He is also fond of cats and endlessly baffled by humanity. Soon Death is yearning to experience what humanity really has to offer, but to do that, he'll need to hire some help.

It's an offer Mort can't refuse. As Death's apprentice he'll have free board, use of the company horse - and being dead isn't compulsory. It's a dream job - until Mort falls in love with Death's daughter, Ysabell, and discovers that your boss can be a killer on your love life . . .

35 editions

Enjoyable and poignant

4 stars

Enjoyable read. Not my favourite of the first five, but had plenty of good moments.

Story revolves around Death taking on a (human) apprentice.

Of course, humans feel compassion and love and so on - so are not especially well-suited to the job of Death. Which is where the drama for the story comes.

But Sir Terry does a good job of 'humanising' Death - yes, he does not really experience life, and he seems to be trying to learn by copying what he sees - but he comes across as a very lonely creature indeed who cares greatly for those entrusted into his care, and it is quite poignant to read this after he took Sir Terry in the end.

#GNUTerryPratchett

Review of 'Mort'

4 stars

This is such an amazing book (my first Terry Pratchett book), would have given it a 5/5, but the last 20-30 pages just falls apart pacing wise and depends on some rushed exposition crammed into the last 2-3 pages that I had to open up the plot of the book on Wikipedia to understand it, the end also just feels out of place with the rest of the book. The first like 90% however has to be one of the most enjoyable reads I've ever had, every page (up to those last few) a pure joy.

Surprisingly unnecessary ending

3 stars

The ending of this book really doesn't make justice for the whole setup and build-up.

One of the Pratchett books that certainly gets worse on the re-read. I will dare to say that both Colour and Light were significantly better as a whole than this one.

Subjects

  • Death
  • Discworld (Imaginary place)
  • Fantasy
  • Fiction
  • anthropomorphic.
  • Discworld (imaginary place), fiction
  • Fiction, fantasy, general
  • Death (fictitious character : pratchett), fiction
  • Fiction, humorous
  • Fiction, humorous, general
  • Literature and fiction, fantasy
  • Science fiction
  • Fantasy fiction