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Title: Small Gods by Terry Pratchett ISBN: 0-06-109217-7 Publisher: HarperTorch Pub. Date: 01 November, 1994 Format: Mass Market Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.63 (105 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: A pleasant surprise!
Comment: "Small Gods" came to land on my window sill after fluttering in the wind for what appeared to be ages; even though I knew it would eventually flutter somewhere nearby, it came as a pleasant, somewhat unexpected surprise.
Being my first Terry Pratchett novel, I didn't really know what to expect other than a number of sardonic comments on religion and its place in society. Prior to reading it, I thought it would take on the tone of a polemic: unrelenting and pretentious at heart; so I didn't necessarily rush out greet it. The great thing that I discovered afterwards, however, is that Terry Pratchett novels are so lighthearted in tone that they will make even the biggest cynic crack a smile.
The inherent message of the story is simple: as ridiculous as everything associated with a particular god may be, there is certainly no doubt in the fact that we cannot live without them. The book makes a conscious effort to let us feel how faith draws out the best, and sometimes the worst, in us, and through the story's protagonist, Brutha, professes that the best way to believe is by what you know lies deep inside you.
If you're wary of being offended, don't fret. Pratchett treats the matter with the respect it deserves, as long as you're not too big on organized religion. Give it a try; it just might inspire you to think a little intrinsically as opposed to simply going along with the waves.
Rating: 4
Summary: Really great - standalone Discworld
Comment: If you haven't read Terry Pratchett before, prepare yourself for some great laughs, inventive plot, and sharp satire. Pratchett's facility with satire within such an overfed genre (fantasy) is always a breath of fresh air.
Small Gods starts in Omnia, a country organized around a fundamentalist religion. Novice Brutha (our hero) is a simple, honest novice at the Temple who discovers that the voice that is speaking to him is coming from a tortoise claiming to be his god - Om. The tortoise explains that he's got some head-cracking to do, and he needs help. Why? Because he's a tortoise! Brutha gets set on a path walking between belief in his God and skepticism, while the evil Quisitor Vorbis tries to foment a holy war between Omnia and neighboring Ephebe. As the plot moves forward Brutha has to decide whether to do what he's been told or what he feels is right, even if the directions come from a tortoise.
Initially, I thought that Small Gods was a too obvious with the "question religion" type message, but I got over that because of some great writing by Pratchett: you shouldn't have to die for the truth - it's dying for lies makes more sense. Most of all, your god doesn't want you to die for it if the God's existence is dependent on you - you should live a long and fruitful life for your god.
If you're really put off by snarky references to religious tradition that may be too close for comfort, you may have probelms with Small Gods. But if you have a pretty good sense of humor and you're ready for some challenging satire that will make you think a little and entertain you, then go get some Terry Pratchett, for small Gods' sake.
Rating: 5
Summary: Perhaps the Best of the BEST?
Comment: Having just finished "SMALL GODS", I am somewhat embarrassed. Having been a fan of Mr Pratchett, it's somewhat emabarrassing to be writing a review of one of his books. I mean, even thinking I'm going to tell a reader something they don't already know is like thinking about the smell of the color purple! Either you know it, or you don't!
SMALL GODS is the sort of inside joke rich people share at cocktail parties, sniggering at those who don't get it. They are also the sort of people Vorbis could have made use of.
Pratchett makes use of Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, a dash of Catholicism, and a pinch of heresy in this incredibly brilliant novel. Even more, while making you enjoy a long, loud belly-laugh, he makes you think. Agnostics and athiests will enjoy this tale of God come to earth in the guise of a tortise <"There's good eating in one of those">, and God's subsequent adventures on earth--Oops, I meant DiscWorld--trying to get belief back in him-oops-Himself reinstated.
Because, you see, a god can't exist without the belief of his believers. . .it gets rather complicated. . .
It gets by turns, hilarious, hysterical, funny, howlingly funny, scary, funny, howlingly funny, howlingly hysterical, hysterically scary, terrifying, and above all, imminently readable. And oddly enough, whatever your religious persuasion, or antithesis thereof, ultimately thought provoking.
READ THIS BOOK. IF NOT, I'LL ASK YOU WHY YOU DIDN'T.
(Oh dear, all caps. . . Read this book, children. It will keep HIM who speaks only in all CAPS away. You'll enjoy it. You might as well, because sooner or later HE is going to find you anyway, so have a good laugh before hand.)
ARE YOU DONE NOW?
Er, yes. I think so.
YOU DIDN'T MENTION ME IN YOUR REVIEW.
Right. . .
Must go, that slip could cost me my life. But if not, read SMALL GODS, and do yourself a favor.
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Title: Lords and Ladies by Terry Pratchett ISBN: 0061056928 Publisher: HarperTorch Pub. Date: 01 October, 1996 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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Title: Reaper Man by Terry Pratchett ISBN: 0061020621 Publisher: HarperTorch Pub. Date: 30 July, 2002 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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Title: Witches Abroad by Terry Pratchett ISBN: 0061020613 Publisher: HarperTorch Pub. Date: 30 July, 2002 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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Title: Men at Arms by Terry Pratchett ISBN: 0061092193 Publisher: HarperTorch Pub. Date: 01 April, 1997 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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Title: Pyramids (Discworld Novels (Paperback)) by Terry Pratchett ISBN: 0061020656 Publisher: HarperTorch Pub. Date: 31 July, 2001 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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