Subject: Review: SMALL GODS by Terry Pratchett

From: [email-masked] (David Gibbs)
Date: 12 Dec 93 18:46:07 GMT

_Small Gods_
			by Terry Pratchett
			a review by David Gibbs
			
    _Small Gods_ is the twelfth book in the Discworld series by 
Terry Pratchett; unfortunately it shows.  When I read the first 
of the Discworld novels, I found them hilariously funny -- on the 
order of laughing too hard to continue reading.  In reading
_Small Gods_, I had a few weak chuckles.  It is possible that if
this were the first Discworld novel you were going to read, that
you would find it much funnier, because much of the humour in these
novels derives from the absurdity of Discworld, and the readers
surprise at this absurdity.  But after having read ten Discworld 
novels, the absurdities of the world are expected, and are no 
longer funny. 

    Disregarding the disappoint about the expected level of humour, 
it does tell a half-decent yarn, with a few interesting characters.  
I would say it is definitely worth picking up second hand, possibly 
new in soft cover, but not worth buying in hard cover.

(Spoiler warning)


For those who like plot summaries, the story follows Bruthra, 
last true believer in the Great God Om, and the god Om itself, 
incarnated as a turtle, through a series of misadventures.  
First with the cult of Om which has fallen into stagnation, 
later with a nieghbouring city specializing in philosophy, 
and finally with most of the neighbouring cities.

%A Terry Pratchett
%T Small Gods
%C London (England)
%D 1993
%G ISBN 0-552-13890-8
%I Corgi Books
%O Cdn$5.99; #4.99 UK
%P 381 pp.