Small Gods: A Discworld Novel (Paperback)
by Terry Pratchett
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An excerpt:
"It was the dreamtime. The unformed time.
The small gods chittered and whirred in the wilderness places, and the cold places, and the deep places. The swarmed in the darkness, without memory but driven by hope and lust for one thing, the one thing a god craves -- belief.
Then there was a day. In a sense, it was the first day.
Om had been aware of the shepherd for some ti--for a while. The flock had been wandering closer and closer. The rains had be...more
"It was the dreamtime. The unformed time.
The small gods chittered and whirred in the wilderness places, and the cold places, and the deep places. The swarmed in the darkness, without memory but driven by hope and lust for one thing, the one thing a god craves -- belief.
Then there was a day. In a sense, it was the first day.
Om had been aware of the shepherd for some ti--for a while. The flock had been wandering closer and closer. The rains had be...more
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Read in December, 2007
I discovered Terry Pratchett's "Discworld" books a few months ago, and have read about 8 of them so far. Some are better than others. Discworld is a place that exists on a disc (as you might've guessed) that rests on four elephants standing on the back of a giant turtle swimming through space (which you probably wouldn't've guessed). It's populated by a weird assortment of comic characters, various countries and cities, magic aplenty, all interwoven from book to book. This one wasn...more
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Read in February, 2007
Terry Pratchett has written more than thirty-five Discworld books. Of the lot I've ready maybe a dozen. I read Colour of Magic the year it was first published and some how completely missed that the book had become a series. Even though I introduced Ian to Pratchett's books he has read significantly more of the series than I have.
I decided to read Small Gods after hearing it performed on Radio 4 and a copy came my way via BookCrossing. I'm glad I heard the audio version first because I foun...more
I decided to read Small Gods after hearing it performed on Radio 4 and a copy came my way via BookCrossing. I'm glad I heard the audio version first because I foun...more
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Read in January, 2003
This is the only Terry Pratchett book I've ever really been able to stomach. I've always found it odd that the stories of Discworld fail to strike home with me. I've tried to read several (Mort, The Color of Magic, Hogfather) and none have struck me enough within the first forty pages to keep reading.
This is the exception to the rule.
It covers the story of a forgotten god of the Discworld universe: the Great Turtle. Everyone knows about the Four Elephants holding up the great disc of the...more
This is the exception to the rule.
It covers the story of a forgotten god of the Discworld universe: the Great Turtle. Everyone knows about the Four Elephants holding up the great disc of the...more
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Read in June, 2007
recommends it for:
People who like Terry Pratchett and/or people who like witty British humor
So, I'm nearly to the end of this book and I have to say...I think maybe I'm just not Terry Pratchett material. I will admit I've only read 2 of his books, The Color of Magic and [Book: Small Gods] so maybe I haven't given him proper review. The Color of Magic was painfully boring for me, and I finished it because I felt like I should, not because I wanted to. Small Gods is better but not a lot...I've concluded that some of this is fun...more
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Read in January, 2004
Hands-down my favorite DiscWorld novel.
From the perfectly twisted and filigreed mind of Terry Pratchett we have a book that addresses why religion starts stupid and only gets dumber. And no religion is spared!
Brutha is a child-like novice in his religious order, and he will never achieve anything more than novice status. Until one day his god literally falls from the sky and realizes that Brutha is the only person in his entire religion who actually *believes* and isn't just going throug...more
From the perfectly twisted and filigreed mind of Terry Pratchett we have a book that addresses why religion starts stupid and only gets dumber. And no religion is spared!
Brutha is a child-like novice in his religious order, and he will never achieve anything more than novice status. Until one day his god literally falls from the sky and realizes that Brutha is the only person in his entire religion who actually *believes* and isn't just going throug...more
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Read in January, 2005
This is one of my favorite Pratchett novels. Even though it's set in Discworld, there aren't a lot of DW characters to contend with if you haven't read the earlier books. DEATH makes several appearances, but that shouldn't be a problem for someone new to DW.
Small Gods deals with religion, and the author is a bit more free with the biting satire. Gods gain strength by having more believers, the more fervent the better. When they're forgotten they fade away to nothingness. Not a new theme- it...more
Small Gods deals with religion, and the author is a bit more free with the biting satire. Gods gain strength by having more believers, the more fervent the better. When they're forgotten they fade away to nothingness. Not a new theme- it...more
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This wonderful standalone novel set in Terry Pratchett's Discworld starts with the idea that gods are only as powerful as their true believers. At the beginning of the novel a distant god who has long ignored his followers comes to awareness trapped in the body of a turtle. He has exactly one believer left; a naive farmboy. In order to stop being a turtle, he has to convince the farmboy that he's really a god, then get the boy to recruit more believers. As his campaign for new believers continue...more
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Read in May, 1999
recommends it for:
People with a sense of humor, the anti-religious
This is my favorite Discworld, and perhaps my favorite Pratchett novel.
This is mostly because a lot of the digression that Pratchett usually has in his work is gone. The narrative is tight, the story is a ruthless indictment of religion (woo!) and the humor is the sort of "haha, ow" humor.
I dare say this is Pratchett's angriest work and there are places where he really cuts to the quick.
I remember, though it's been some time, a paragraph or so about how awful it is when...more
This is mostly because a lot of the digression that Pratchett usually has in his work is gone. The narrative is tight, the story is a ruthless indictment of religion (woo!) and the humor is the sort of "haha, ow" humor.
I dare say this is Pratchett's angriest work and there are places where he really cuts to the quick.
I remember, though it's been some time, a paragraph or so about how awful it is when...more
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Read in October, 2007
This book is a satire on all things faith, and is hilariously, hilaroiusly funny. Working from the premise that gods derive their power from the extents of human belief, Pratchett, to great effect, explores religion, philosophy, and their impact on society.
When the Great God Om returns to the Discworld to wreak some havoc on humanity, he finds himself reduced in stature and power to the form of a tortoise. Eventually, Om connects with Brutha, his one remaining true follower (and the source o...more
When the Great God Om returns to the Discworld to wreak some havoc on humanity, he finds himself reduced in stature and power to the form of a tortoise. Eventually, Om connects with Brutha, his one remaining true follower (and the source o...more
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Read in May, 2008
Small Gods was different from the other Terry Pratchett books I've read. It wasn't as easy to get caught up in it because it didn't have some crazy kind of plot. My only opinion about it as I read it was that it was "different." The ending is great. It is a pretty good crack at talking about religion and god and what they all should really look like, and it is also a pretty good description of problems with structured religion.
It makes a lot of sense why he and Neil Gaiman teamed ...more
It makes a lot of sense why he and Neil Gaiman teamed ...more
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recommends it for:
a smart teen/any one looking for a thoughtful religious satire
A clever, funny, imaginative book, ideal for a thinking teenager but enjoyable for anyone looking for a well-written epic fantasy, and one which raises interesting questions about faith and religion (with Pratchett's ever-present editorializing footnotes).
There a handful of books that I look forward to sharing with whatever children there will be in my life....the Cartoon History of the Universe, The Little Prince, and this novel.
The first few pages are quite possibly my favorite firs...more
There a handful of books that I look forward to sharing with whatever children there will be in my life....the Cartoon History of the Universe, The Little Prince, and this novel.
The first few pages are quite possibly my favorite firs...more
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Read in January, 2008
Some interesting ideas in this cute little book -- it actually fits in quite well with one of my current preoccupations, which is what is it about the human mind that makes us believe that gods exist. And it was very amusing to read it immediately after Pinker's "The Stuff of Thought," because Pratchett uses the very same analogy of Plato's that Pinker does, of humans perceiving the real world as dimly perceived shadows on a cave wall; I laughed out loud when I read that.
So: it's...more
So: it's...more
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This book gets you to take a look at what you believe: do you believe in a god, gods, God, or do you believe in a church? If too many people believe in the Church and not the god, the rituals and trappings become the whole religion, and the god starves.
Enter the Great God Om, currently residing in the body of an old, beat-up tortoise, whose only believer is... not the sharpest knife in the drawer, but that's what Om has to work with.
Ancient Greece, metaphysics, irony, and political comme...more
Enter the Great God Om, currently residing in the body of an old, beat-up tortoise, whose only believer is... not the sharpest knife in the drawer, but that's what Om has to work with.
Ancient Greece, metaphysics, irony, and political comme...more
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Read in July, 2007
This began as a pretty run-of-the-mill Pratchett novel, but around the midpoint it really took off for me. What started as a pretty transparent swipe at organized religions became far more nuanced in its treatment of faith in general. What began as Pratchett's repetitive shtick, good for an occasional smile, came to have some generally funny moments and lines that made me literally put the book down to laugh out loud.
Honestly, four stars is still too generous, but it deserved more than three...more
Honestly, four stars is still too generous, but it deserved more than three...more
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Read in February, 2007
I wound up reading a lot of Discworld books, because I got them free, and they were quick, and there was usually a couple of really funny lines or bits in it. Most of them disappeared from my mind immediately after I finished them, so I stopped.
This is one of the best ones, though. And I'd say it's a bit controversial, as it says, essentially, that gods are stupid weird figments of our imagination that we make real only by the craziness of our beliefs.
Which I can get behind, of course, b...more
This is one of the best ones, though. And I'd say it's a bit controversial, as it says, essentially, that gods are stupid weird figments of our imagination that we make real only by the craziness of our beliefs.
Which I can get behind, of course, b...more
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Has a copy to sell/swap
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Read in January, 1996
I love Terry Pratchett. His humor and intelligence make every one of his books worth reading. This one in particular contains more overt philosophy than most of his others, but it doesn't ever get in the way of his storytelling.
Some of the philosophical tenets:
--Gods depend on the belief of people to give them strength and life.
--If no one believes in a god, does that god exist?
Pretty heavy philosophy for a comic SF novel! This book prompted some great heavy discussions in my family, b...more
Some of the philosophical tenets:
--Gods depend on the belief of people to give them strength and life.
--If no one believes in a god, does that god exist?
Pretty heavy philosophy for a comic SF novel! This book prompted some great heavy discussions in my family, b...more
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recommends it for:
fans of satire and fantasy
I love this book. I do not know any other more eloquent way to say it. I was surprised to learn how much I love Terry Pratchet, me not being a big fan of fantasy and whatnot, but this is an exception. The Discworld series is more based on satire than on pure fantasy and Small Gods is a spoof on religion. Even those who are religious will find themselves nodding in approval at Pratchet's observations of the foibles and benefits of major religions. I laughed so hard reading this on a subway everyo...more
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Read in May, 2008
recommends it for:
Everyone
This was an excellent book. Pratchett's themes run the gamut, but this one was probably the most serious one that I've read. It was essentially a condemnation of organized religion, and a worst-case scenario of what can happen when people start putting more stock in the structure that builds up around the church, than in central messages like being nice to each other.
Very well-written as always, and entirely relevant. You don't have to be familiar with the Discworld series to enjoy this b...more
Very well-written as always, and entirely relevant. You don't have to be familiar with the Discworld series to enjoy this b...more
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Read in July, 2001
Terry Pratchett is the master of pure reading pleasure. His books are for the plane, the eight-hour stopover in Bahrain, the endlessely delayed German trains. His books take on "big topics" (in this case: religion) through allegory and humor, without ever descending to lecture mode or chuckling didactics. Pratchett books are funny, smart, and surprisingly re-read-resilient. Other greats among the discworld novels: Night Watch, Thief of Time, Jingo.
Yeah, it's 'genre' -- right. (Roll
Yeah, it's 'genre' -- right. (Roll
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book data (includes all editions)
avg rating (all editions): 4.14 (2402 ratings) avg rating (this edition): 4.13 (1875 ratings) number of reviews: 119popular shelves
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"One day a tortoise will learn how to fly."
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