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Reaper Man (Discworld #11)

4.22 of 5 stars 4.22 · rating details · 29,174 ratings · 738 reviews

DEATH IS MISSING - PRESUMED...ER...GONE.

Which leads to the kind of chaos you always get when an important public service is withdrawn.

Meanwhile, on a little farm far, far away, a tall dark stranger is turning out to be really good with a scythe. There's a harvest to be gathered in...

Paperback, 288 pages

Published May 21st 1992 by Corgi (first published 1991)

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Aug 27, 2007 Jennie rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Anyone

Shelves: comedy-satire, discworld, read-more-than-once, sci-fi-fantasy

Probably my favorite of all of the Discworld novels (and that's a hard choice, given my total love of the series). Of all of Pratchett's many quirky characters, I think I love Death the best, though I couldn't begin to tell you why. In this installment, Death gets fired and has to get a day job. In typical Discworld fashion, not everything goes according to plan.

Don't pay attention to the critics' quotes on the front of the book. Anyone who compares Pratchett to Tolkien or Douglas Adams hasn't a...more

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Jan 06, 2013 Callista rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy-satire, four-star-novels, vampires-after-all, werecreatures

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I couldn't quite accept the concepts of snowglobes hatching into shopping carts (trolleys--I wish we called them trolleys in America), which then are somehow part of the organic development of a predatory shopping mall. But seeing the wizards and friends track and battle the carts was fun, and I liked the rest of the book enough to give it 4 stars.
It's as if Terry Pratchett were psychic, because so many of his books from about 20 years ago are in tune with current trends. Or maybe so many writer...more I couldn't quite accept the concepts of snowglobes hatching into shopping carts (trolleys--I wish we called them trolleys in America), which then are somehow part of the organic development of a predatory shopping mall. But seeing the wizards and friends track and battle the carts was fun, and I liked the rest of the book enough to give it 4 stars.
It's as if Terry Pratchett were psychic, because so many of his books from about 20 years ago are in tune with current trends. Or maybe so many writers have read him, they've imitated his themes? Anyway, this one has zombies and vampires. Although none of them are particularly dangerous.
In this story, Death has been fired and lives as a mortal for a while, working on a farm for the lonely Miss Flitworth. He learns what it's like to have a limited amount of time and comes to understand and sympathise with mortals more than he did before. I've seen Death in other Pratchett novels, and he continues to be such a great character. Some of his dealings with people are hilarious, and his relationship with Miss Flitworth is sweet as well as funny. What he does for her at the end is very touching.
Meanwhile, no one and nothing can move beyond the mortal plain when he/she/it dies, and an excess of life force builds up in very strange ways. The spirit of Windle Poons, the oldest wizard at Unseen University, returns to his body, rendering him a strong, clear-minded zombie. He's an adorable old guy, meaning no harm to anyone. His own and his friends' attempts to send him on his way don't work, in funny ways. He joins a support group for the not-quite-mortal which includes a zombie who's pushing for undead rights, a bogeyman with confidence issues, a banshee so shy he delivers his wailing cry in writing, a pair of newly-made vampires attempting to be upwardly mobile (at least the wife is intent on it, and she's dragging her poor husband along with her), and a werewolf who has his cycle backwards (perhaps more properly termed a wereman).
Along with a medium who's become the terror of every religion on the Discworld and her werewolf daughter, Windle and the group set out to try to set things right, while the wizards approach from the other direction. One wizard starts acting uncharacteristically like a movie action hero, annoying everyone with his constant shouts of "Yo!"
There was even an Indiana Jones reference--unrelated to the action-fan wizard.
I'd been slightly baffled by the Auditors in Hogfather, and they appear in this book, as well--now making a bit more sense to me. They're awful, little bureaucrats.
The characters in this were just delightful, and I enjoyed watching them navigate the situations. It was a very fun read overall.
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May 19, 2013 Lee Broderick rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, fiction-fantasy, fiction-comic

Re-read 3/5/13: A lot of people seem to think that this is a book about what happens when Death takes a holiday. To a certain extent it is. The premise is simple: if you believe in a psychopomp then what would happen if they were no longer there? That though, is just the opening gambit - the framework within which to explore something more fundamental - time.

At the heart of this book is a tale of two people (or personalities, as Terry Pratchett would no doubt refer to them). One person has too m...more Re-read 3/5/13: A lot of people seem to think that this is a book about what happens when Death takes a holiday. To a certain extent it is. The premise is simple: if you believe in a psychopomp then what would happen if they were no longer there? That though, is just the opening gambit - the framework within which to explore something more fundamental - time.

At the heart of this book is a tale of two people (or personalities, as Terry Pratchett would no doubt refer to them). One person has too much time; the other too little. When an ageing wizard fails to die properly, he suddenly realises he never truly lived: feeling somewhat detached from the humdrum lives of those around him he seeks meaning and purpose; principally through initially purposeless action. At the same time, an ancient being suddenly finds that he only has a finite amount of his existence left: he retires to a quiet life of agricultural labour in order to experience the kind of life he has never had. This last point is used as a counterfoil to the lives of the many in the city.

The city's inhabitants are running from one fad to another, always looking to the future and wishing for something else; never enjoying where they are and what they have. Death's assertion that human beings could never cope with knowing how much time they have left to live seems pertinent - how would you spend it and would you truly be any happier? The happiest lives of all (here) are lived out away from the rat-race, where treasure and gold is meaningless when compared with a good harvest, whilst concerns within the city are often to do with perception rather than reality - keeping up with the Joneses (here having the right accent or access to things that you don't need but want because others have them).

This is arguably the first of the 'Big Theme' Discworld novels (an argument could also be made for Moving Pictures to have that title), where the author uses his now established fictional world to satirise features of our own (a style hinted at in earlier books but never explored fully). Its success here is no doubt responsible for the longevity of the recipe.(less)

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May 16, 2007 Aaron rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Everyone

If I could steal credit for a book and claim it as my own, Reaper Man would most likely be it. This is the point, I think, where the Discworld novels stopped being entertaining light reading, and really became literature. It's a very subtle shift from the little parodies of science fiction and fantasy conventions of things like The Light Fantastic to the rich satire of a book like Jingo. Behind the story of Death being fired for having developed a personality, there's a clever little parable abo...more

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Mar 07, 2009 Jon rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, science-fiction, read-in-my-40s

Probably a 3.5 stars, but I'm feeling generous today.

I enjoyed the humor and the silliness churned out by Terry Pratchett in this Discworld novel. I also liked the philosophical wonderings of Death that resulted in a kinder, gentler Grim Reaper.

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Jul 24, 2011 Hosker rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Major spoilers.

Overall, I didn't really like this book, but there were some good things about it. It's been a little while since I've read this book, so my memory is a little hazy.

One of my main problems is the abundance of characters in this book. There are three separate stories going on here, one of which barely has anything to do with the other two. The first is about 5 (?) wizards from the university going around with little motivation to their actions (for the large middle portion of the...more Major spoilers.

Overall, I didn't really like this book, but there were some good things about it. It's been a little while since I've read this book, so my memory is a little hazy.

One of my main problems is the abundance of characters in this book. There are three separate stories going on here, one of which barely has anything to do with the other two. The first is about 5 (?) wizards from the university going around with little motivation to their actions (for the large middle portion of the book). They are funny characters but I felt there were too many of them, and their personalities were too similar, so I found it hard to become attached to them. I think it would have worked much better if there was two or three of them, with slightly more distinct personalities.

The second story is about an old wizard who is dead but possessing his own body. He's a good character but most of his parts had the same problem: he didn't really know what was going on. This left me without a sense of direction for the plot. It all seemed quite aimless. He has some good scenes and meets interesting characters, though.

The third story is about Death, and how he is coping with becoming mortal. I didn't enjoy these chapters much at all. Very little goes off in these parts; there wasn't much there to keep me interested. Death is a good character, but there was just happening for him to do. The ending starts off pretty cool, but all he seems to do is run away, before getting his status of Death back, because God says so, and basically making all of his story moot. Death's story never interacts with the other two (which I consider the main stories), so it feels like a separate story altogether. I think Mort did a much better job with the separate story lines: merging them together as the plot progresses.

I felt there was very little direction overall to the book. It felt random and disjointed with little structure to it. None of the characters knew what was going on or what to do, for the most part. However, I did have some fun with it. The start was good, with some good laughs, and the five wizard characters are still likeable, despite what I said earlier, so they make their scenes enjoyable even with a lack of direction.

I think I have come off negative about this book, but I did get some enjoyment out of it. While there were a few too many characters in my opinion, they were likeable, keeping my enjoyment up.

I would still recommend it to anyone who is interested, as it seems well liked overall, but, personally, I'm not much of a fan.
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Jun 29, 2010 Nancy rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Anyone who loves fantasy with some wisdom thrown in.

Recommended to Nancy by: Laura

Shelves: fantasy

Terry Pratchett is funny. Terry Pratchett is a philosopher. Terry Pratchett is a delight and the trouble with Terry Pratchett is you should read his books more than once.
Terry Pratchett is maddening. I'm not at all sure I got everything he was saying. There are double meanings everywhere and to read this book is to want to start over and read it again.

If anyone asks about what Pratchett's book is about, just hand it over. He is very hard to explain. If you want to add quotes, it is nearly imp...more

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Mar 22, 2013 Teri rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

What if Death took a vacation? Well, that was Pratchett's last book in his "Death" series, Mort, but Reaper Man picks up the story of Death when the keepers of the continuum (known as the Auditors of Reality) decide that Death isn't quite grim enough to be the Grim Reaper, and is therefore flawed and must be done away with. Death notices his own hourglass running low and running out of something he thought he'd never have a problem with: time. And he's going to spend it.

With Death enjoying his f...more What if Death took a vacation? Well, that was Pratchett's last book in his "Death" series, Mort, but Reaper Man picks up the story of Death when the keepers of the continuum (known as the Auditors of Reality) decide that Death isn't quite grim enough to be the Grim Reaper, and is therefore flawed and must be done away with. Death notices his own hourglass running low and running out of something he thought he'd never have a problem with: time. And he's going to spend it.

With Death enjoying his final days as a farmhand (he is a reaper, after all), no one is around to do his job of ushering souls into the next realm. So other Deaths begin to pop up: the Death of Rats, for example, and The Death of Trees, the Death of Mayflies to name a few. But without a proper Death of Humans around, no person can properly die. And there the antics begin.

I give this book five stars because I just can't bear giving a Death novel any less. Death is one of the best characters I've ever read in any series anywhere, and even if I didn't love all of the book, I loved the parts with him in it so much that it made up for anything I didn't.

Don't get me wrong; I also loved Windle Poons, Ridcully, and the other wizards running around Ankh-Morpork, though I'm not entirely sure I enjoyed that part of the story 100%. There's some strange stuff in the middle that passed from amusing, to absurd, to just weird, but the last quarter of the novel or so make up for that nonsense in spades.

In short, it wasn't really the book I was expecting, and so some of that I found disappointing. But, as I'm quickly becoming to realize, Terry Pratchett has a way of taking his ridiculous fantasies and communicating ideas of such depth that every book I've finished of his I can honestly say has changed me in some way. It may just be a conversation or a paragraph, but it's worth reading the entire book just for that little bit of enlightenment. Sure you can look up the quotes on Wikiquote, but you'd be robbing yourself of the journey to get to them. Just go read the damn book, instead.(less)

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Jan 11, 2010 Matt rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, humor

"But now, Lord, what do I look for? My hope is in you." - Psalm 39, verse 7

"LORD, WHAT CAN THE HARVEST HOPE FOR, IF NOT THE CARE OF THE REAPER MAN" - Death, 'Reaper Man' by Terry Pratchett

Now is the season of being snowed in and unable to take hikes or paddle down streams. Now is the season of drinking tea on a couch and trying to keep the mind from hibernating, while at the same time, not necessarily forcing it to wake up. Hense, Terry Pratchett. As part of my usual winter reading and rereading...more "But now, Lord, what do I look for? My hope is in you." - Psalm 39, verse 7

"LORD, WHAT CAN THE HARVEST HOPE FOR, IF NOT THE CARE OF THE REAPER MAN" - Death, 'Reaper Man' by Terry Pratchett

Now is the season of being snowed in and unable to take hikes or paddle down streams. Now is the season of drinking tea on a couch and trying to keep the mind from hibernating, while at the same time, not necessarily forcing it to wake up. Hense, Terry Pratchett. As part of my usual winter reading and rereading of Pratchett, I just read Reaper Man.

I think I've been spoiled by his later works. It's sorta funny to think of the #11 book in a series as part of the early works. For most authors, by book #11 you are wishing they'd find something else to write about, but it's not the case here. Right around book #10 or #11, Pratchett is just finally getting warmed up. Such is the joys of liking a prolific author.

I may be one of the few readers of Pratchett that just doesn't much care for Death as the protagonist. I like him better in his frequent cameos. For me, things don't really seem to pick up in the Death story arc until Susan takes center stage. Death himself just leaves me cold.

I think maybe it is because in most of Pratchett's works, the story is really about people. Death has an ostencibly funny fascination with humans, but its not really the same thing. The stories about Death or where in Death plays a central role are on a larger metaphorical stage than those where the protagonists aren't anthromorphic representations. Exactly what that stage is, I'm not really sure. I'm not really sure that the author is sure either. For myself, if I'm going to write fiction, I'm going to write about something I believe in, at least at a metaphorical level. I figure most writers are similar in that regard. What does Pratchett believe in? I can't tell. Whatever it is, it doesn't here seem to inspire me quite the way a good Sam Vimes or Granny Weatherwax speach does.

Or maybe if I'd actually grown up with Morris Dances this would all mean something more to me.

I'm not really sure what Pratchett's buy-in is on this work. Is he interested in exploring the meaning of metaphor itself? Is he interested in Death? Is he interested in life after death? I'm not really sure. There are alot of other reviews on Goodreads by people who say how insightful and clever this work is, but interestingly they don't seem to say what that clever insight actually was. I missed whatever meaning it had that turns this story from a two star work into a five star one. If anyone wants to fill me in on it in the comments, I'd appreciate it. Like Death, I can often be clueless.

It's fairly typical of a Pratchett work that the story doesn't have so much a subplot, as a whole entire other novella - parallel to but otherwise largely unrelated to the main plot - tucked into the novel. The entire second plot concerning the shopping carts takes up far too much of the story and is unsatisfying from start to finish. By shear page count the main plot of the story might actually be the shopping cart story and it's only because of hints like the book title that you might consider the story of Death to be mainly what is going on. The twist about the shopping carts is clever, but perhaps a little bit too clever, and the theme seemed like it was better suited to a completely different work that was actually about cities. I felt it did nothing really to bolster the main plot, as it might have had the focus been on the City Watch or even Unseen University, and seemed to be mostly around as a good excuse to blow things up. I suppose some future Hollywood director will thank him for that.

Another reason I can't lavish more stars here is that unlike some of his other stories, there isn't a point in the story where you burst into such irrespressible chuckles that your spouse looks at you like you funny. There is some sort of joke to be made here about Pratchett's morbid humor, or lack of it, but everything I'm attempting is falling flat, so I'll kill this review here.(less)

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Aug 19, 2009 Josh rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I'm going to assume that anyone reading this review has neither read this book nor much in the way of Discworld. If you saw either Hogfather or (especially) The Colour of Magic Sky TV productions, forget what you saw in them - the way to enjoy Discworld is to read Discworld!

The book is more or less about Death. Both Death the Grim Reaper and death the fact of life, actually. Reading Mort before Reaper Man is a good way of getting into Discworld's Grim Reaper - he's actually a loveable kind of gu...more

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Apr 11, 2009 Anthony Eaton rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

How can you not like Death?

HOW, INDEED?

I'm sorry, did someone say something?

NEVER MIND. I'LL ONLY BE HERE A MOMENT.

Oh, okay then. Anyway, as I was...erk...

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Feb 10, 2013 Gavin Felgate rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Reaper Man is the second Discworld novel to give a starring role to Death, a character who appears in every single book, usually making a brief cameo close to the start. The book opens with Death being forced into retirement; he subsequently leaves home and finds work as an actual reaper on a farm, making good use of his scythe. Of course, as we are told, "another Death" will come, and there is a big turning point in the book after Death saves a girl's life, despite the fact that he knows fate c...more Reaper Man is the second Discworld novel to give a starring role to Death, a character who appears in every single book, usually making a brief cameo close to the start. The book opens with Death being forced into retirement; he subsequently leaves home and finds work as an actual reaper on a farm, making good use of his scythe. Of course, as we are told, "another Death" will come, and there is a big turning point in the book after Death saves a girl's life, despite the fact that he knows fate cannot be tampered with (as demonstrated in Mort).

In the book's sub-plot, a wizard called Windle Poons, who briefly appeared in the previous book, Moving Pictures, dies; however, due to the fact that Death is not around, he cannot pass over to the other side and instead comes back as a zombie. When the efforts of the other wizards to help him fail, he joins an undead support group. To help the reader, the sections involving Windle Poons and the wizard are printed in a bolder typeface throughout the book.

Reading the book again, I found Death's storyline a lot more compelling. I loved the fact that he was constantly nonchalant about even the most shocking of events, and his attempts to fit in with normal life were at time hilarious. The story gets gradually darker as the plot builds up to an inevitable confrontation at the end. The storyline also introduces the Death of Rats, who appears in many subsequent books. The Windle Poons storyline eventually centres around bizarre events at Unseen University, involving the appearance of mysterious "eggs", and trolleys. I wasn't precisely sure how it all fitted into the book's central conceit of Death taking retirement, and it felt like it was added in to make the book longer.

However, there were some hilarious moments inolving the undead support group. The book pokes fun at the way vampires are perceived to always dress in evening wear (which seems to have originated with Bela Lugosi), and I loved the idea of a banshee with a speech impediment who had to push notes under the doors instead of screaming.

I loved all of the subtle literary references that Terry Pratchett inserted; this time, there were a couple of implicit references to Edgar Allen Poe (The Pit and the Pendulum and The Raven). Personally, I think any book that centres around Death is worth reading, and the only drawback with this one was that it took a while to get going, particularly with Death's storyline.(less)

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Dec 23, 2012 Sha rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Dec 13, 2012 Barbara78e rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. In questa avventura nel Mondo Disco, il protagonista è la Morte, intesa non come evento, bensì come entità dotata di personalità. Accade però che qualcuno decreti che la Morte abbia ella stessa un tempo che sta per scadere. La vita ha il sopravvento, venendosi a creare così uno squilibrio che porta al caos totale. Ecco che il mago Windle Poons, che trapassa alle nove e mezza di sera, si ritrova "morto e vegeto", poiché Morte non si è fatta vedere. Inizia così un'avventura parallela: da un lato,...more In questa avventura nel Mondo Disco, il protagonista è la Morte, intesa non come evento, bensì come entità dotata di personalità. Accade però che qualcuno decreti che la Morte abbia ella stessa un tempo che sta per scadere. La vita ha il sopravvento, venendosi a creare così uno squilibrio che porta al caos totale. Ecco che il mago Windle Poons, che trapassa alle nove e mezza di sera, si ritrova "morto e vegeto", poiché Morte non si è fatta vedere. Inizia così un'avventura parallela: da un lato, in una fattoria molto lontana, arriva uno straniero alto e scuro, abile come mietitore, ma con una tecnica tutta sua, e dall'altra, Windle Poons e una combriccola di strani "non-morti", o "non-vivi" o quello che è, che devono fronteggiare un'epidemia di vitalità che sta prendendo il sopravvento.
Questo romanzo è un'insieme di chicche che spiazzano, lasciandoti interdetto ("Un'altra Morte nascerà dalle menti dei vivi", oppure "...in cosa può sperare il raccolto se non nella cura del mietitore?", e ancora: "...la vita di una persona era solo il nucleo della sua vera esistenza?"). Citarle tutte, significherebbe riportare l'intero libro! La trama stessa poi, ti catapulta in un mondo filosofico che apre la mente come un soffio di aria fresca, e per un attimo ci si sente come Sofia, ne "Il mondo di Sofia" di Gaarder, quando sale il pelo del coniglio e si affaccia sull'infinito: la sensazione di essere di fronte a qualcosa di talmente enorme da non aver confini. Terry Pratchett ci mostra questo spazio, che è anche tempo, dove non c'è passato o futuro, ma un eterno presente in continuo divenire.
Fantastica l'immagine dell'orologio a pendolo, simile ad una lama, ma senza lancette, nell'atrio della casa di Morte, che "ondeggia con un leggero spostamento d'aria, affettando dolcemente sottili strisce di intervallo dalla pancetta dell'eternità". Che dire poi dei due punti di vista sullo scorrere della vita, subito all'inizio, dal punto di vista delle efemere, la cui vita durava un solo giorno, e dal punto di vista dei Pini Contatori, gli esseri più vecchi di Mondo Disco.
Devo dire che, appena terminato questo libro, ho una gran voglia di ricominciarlo e di ritrovarmi con le parole di Azrael: "Ricordo quando tutto questo sarà di nuovo".(less)

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Nov 09, 2012 Federica rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

W i maghi di Mondo Disco!

Morte è stata licenziata da Azrael per aver assunto una personalità e ora su Mondo Disco tutto inizia ad andare storto: nessuno muore più, le cose si animano,soprattutto i carrelli dei supermercati e i maghi hanno finalmente da fare qualcosa,anzichè stare ad abbuffarsi e ciabattare in giro per l'Università della magia.
Così veniamo a conoscenza di un mago,appena non-morto, che diventa un simpaticissimo zombie e che,all'inizio prova in tutti i modi a rimanere morto; di due...more

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May 02, 2012 Remo rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2005, humor, novela

Nueva entrega de la serie de Mundodisco. Como comenté hace unos días, este libro narra una divertida historia en la que la Muerte (que siempre habla en versalitas) es despedida por Azrael (que no es el gato de Gargamel, sino el Ser Supremo del Mundodisco), volviéndose mortal y, por tanto, dejando de llevarse de este mundo a los que mueren. La Muerte se hace campesina, y demuestra una habilidad sobrenatural con el uso de la guadaña en el campo. Eso sí, sólo corta las espigas de una en una... En M...more

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Jan 12, 2012 Христо Блажев rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Смърт изфирясва и животът зомбясва в “Жътварят” на Тери Пратчет
http://www.knigolandia.info/2012/01/b...

Има различни видове активизми, а покрай лесната слава на социалните мрежи се пръкват още и още. Църковните твари са едни от претендиращите да имат думата по следсмъртните въпроси (невярно), но само активистът за правата на мъртъвците Рег Шу се бори за правата на мъртвите-които-още-имат-вземане-даване-с-живите. А в един останал без Смърт свят ще има доста такива. Пъстрата групичка около Шу ще се...more

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Jul 02, 2011 Gavin rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites, fantasy

Compelling, Heartbreaking, Thought-provoking and made to look effortless.

Death has started to exhibit a Personality, and that which is must surely end. He is shortly retired and chooses to work for an old lady on a farm for the remainder of his days under the pseudonym of (Good Old) Bill Door. Meanwhile the oldest wizard in the world dies and finds that (during this regrettable interim transition) there's nowhere for him to go, becoming the world's least willing zombie. I can't really review thi...more

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Jun 27, 2011 Sarah rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The powers that be have decided DEATH has too much of a personality and made him mortal – retired him. He now has his own little timer that lets him know how much time he has left and a job on a farm working for a slightly insane woman. Unfortunately, the PTB forgot that while they were looking for a suitable replacement for DEATH, people and animals and etc kept dying. And since no one was available to usher their souls onward, they simply returned to their bodies and continued on. Primary amon...more

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Apr 22, 2010 Loren rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

From ISawLightningFall.com

I never really read funny fiction while growing up. Perhaps it was due to a generally introspective temperament. Maybe it was because those kinds of stories don't typically garner mainstream accolades. I even might owe it to teachers and librarians simply failing to put the right sort of book in my impressionable hands. Whatever the reason, the extent of my foray into humorous storytelling was pretty much limited to James and Deborah Howe's Bunnicula, which features a v...more From ISawLightningFall.com

I never really read funny fiction while growing up. Perhaps it was due to a generally introspective temperament. Maybe it was because those kinds of stories don't typically garner mainstream accolades. I even might owe it to teachers and librarians simply failing to put the right sort of book in my impressionable hands. Whatever the reason, the extent of my foray into humorous storytelling was pretty much limited to James and Deborah Howe's Bunnicula, which features a vampire rabbit that drains vegetables dry. Cute, but I soon moved on to Very Serious Books, the sort that may break your heart or raise your righteous ire, but won't ever make you laugh. Now having read Terry Pratchett's Reaper Man many years and volumes later, I'm beginning to think restricting myself to those highfalutin titles left a large gap in my literary education.

Death has a problem. The tripartite emptinesses called the Auditors of Reality have convinced the galaxy-swallowing entity named Azrael that Death doesn't know what he's doing. Why? Well, the problem's right in front of you -- that word "he." Death shouldn't be a "he," the Auditors argue. "He" implies personality, and personality only causes problems. It's time for a replacement. So much to his chagrin, Death learns that he's soon going to, well, die. An awkward situation, but Death decides to make the best of it. He certainly isn't going to spend his remaining time drudging away at his day job. No, he's going to live it to the full, which causes some problems for 130-year-old wizard Windle Poons. Poor Windle really ought to have shuffled off the proverbial mortal coil by now, but try as he might he can't seem to perish. It's up to him and a motley crew of undead to try and restore the natural order of things.

Though I hadn't encountered any of the massive Discworld series prior to Reaper Man, I knew Pratchett's oeuvre was almost uniformly funny. What I didn't know was how many sorts of humor he could squeeze into a single book. You might compare the approach to painting a room with dynamite. Pratchett wraps subtle ironies, outright absurdities, corny one-liners and cheesy puns around a hexogen core, then splatters every page with them. You run into crotchety mayflies, nostalgic pine trees, suicidal zombies, existentially challenged embodiments of destruction, gastronomically obsessed wizards, peddlers who sell what that don't (in the strictest sense) actually own -- and that's only in the first fifty pages. You have to read on to get to the amorous weremen, bashful bogeymen, carnivorous piles of compost, predatory shopping malls and orangutan librarians. Sure, the approach can feel a little scattershot at times, but that doesn't make it any less delightful. Who knew Death could be hilarious?(less)

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Feb 07, 2013 Al rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

They say there are only two things you can count on ...

But that was before DEATH started pondering the existential. Of course, the last thing anyone needs is a squeamish Grim Reaper and soon his Discworld bosses have sent him off with best wishes and a well-earned gold watch. Now DEATH is having the time of his life, finding greener pastures where he can put his scythe to a whole new use.

But like every cutback in an important public service, DEATH's demise soon leads to chaos and unrest — lit

...more

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Mar 11, 2011 holy_fire rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 1991, fantasy, pratchett-terry

DEATH gets a life.....

short plot description: when DEATH gets retired (they let him keep the horse for his good service) he is going to discover about the high cost of living (apologies to Neil Gaiman) and soon learns that life is a habit awfully hard to break.
Meanwhile elsewhere on Discworld nothing is dying until a new Death arises but the wizard Windle Poons (130 years old and looking forward to the afterlife) has no intention to take the situation lying down....

my thoughts: one of my favouri...more

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Sep 03, 2011 Andrés rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I was spoiled by "Small Gods." Period. Not to say I didn't like "Reaper Man," but it was hard put to top the god Om. "Reaper Man" is funny borderline hilarious on several occasions, particularly those involving the wizards. Yo! Pratchett is surprisingly adept at pulling pranks with words and phrasing.

The narrative is split between the stories of Windle Poons and DEATH who find themselves out of a life (and death) and out of a job respectively.

The Windle Poons storyline sagged a bit, to my mind,...more

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Feb 20, 2008 Jamie Armour rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Anyone

What did I learn from this book?

I learned that I loved Death!!!!

No, I'm serious. The character of Death in Terry Pratchett's discworld novels is fantastic, simply one of the most hilarious fictitious forces of nature ever committed to paper.

The book made me wonder what would happen if one (or more) of the Universe's elemental forces was given the sack, as you would expect, hilarity and chaos ensued, and I loved reading every little bit of it.

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Jun 09, 2012 Lucy Furr rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: discworld, fantasy, favorites

What happens when Death is presented with the proverbial gold watch of achievement and forced into early retirement? If you said 'chaos ensues' you'd be correct. Suddenly the (un)dead want equal rights, snow globes arrive out of nowhere and shopping trolleys amass in central Ankh-Morpork to create a mall one might not ever be able to leave. And all the while, Death learns what it's like to have time ticking against Him, to know that one day, He will die.

This has always been my favorite Discworld...more

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Nov 27, 2012 Meghan rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

For some reason this just wasn't my favorite.

I love the characterization of Death here. Every part of his story was a joy.

But I just am not that enamored with the wizards, and found their portion of the story much less interesting. And that was a substantial bit. I also can't conclusively say that I know how their portion relates to the death portion (although.. I think maybe? But not definitively.)

There weren't nearly as many hilarious one-liners, either, and that was a bit disappointing. I sti...more

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Mar 17, 2013 Luna rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Mi sono tenuta ferma le ultime 5 pagg 3 giorni perch� non volevo finirlo. Tornavo indietro a leggere, come se si potesse ritardare il momento, riavvolgerlo, fermarlo. NON SI PUO' - direbbe Morte - IL MOMENTO ARRIVA COMUNQUE. Eggi�. Ma dopo aver imparato ad amare questo personaggio splendido (leggete prima Morty L'Apprendista, a mio parere � indispensabile), che viene sollevato dall'incarico perch� ha acquistato una personalit� (forse), o meglio, perch� cerca di capire quello che � fuori da lui,...more

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Mar 04, 2013 Chris rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: discworld, fantasy, fiction, humor, philosophy

Wow. This is, by far, the best of the Discworld books I've read so far. Death has rapidly become one of my favorite characters. He has a very Data-from-Star-Trek: TNG thing going on, trying to figure out human ways, but purely out of curiosity, rather than a particular desire to be human. He is never embarrassed, never afraid to try something. He just thinks differently from humans, which is wonderful; it's hard to write a anthropomorphic character like Death without giving it primarily human em...more

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Jul 21, 2009 Molly Watson rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, humorous

All throughout high school, my friends raved about the awesomeness that is Terry Prachett. I tried several times to get into the Discworld series, but ultimately gave up and pronounced myself NOT a Terry Prachett fan.

This experience teaches me one vitally important pearl of wisdom: I was an idiot in high school.

I may still be an idiot (fiercely debated by both sides), but at least now I'm an idiot who enjoys well-written fiction. I haven't the foggiest idea what Terry Prachett mind-block I was i...more

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Nov 17, 2012 Seth rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: discworld

Synopsis: The Auditors of Reality give Death his walking papers. Death is surprised, but not entirely displeased. Now that he has been freed of his responsibility, his free to try and have a life. Mean while, Windle Poons is looking forward to the end of his own. However, when he wakes up feeling more alive than he ever did during his lifetime, he is quite upset. He starts trying to find ways to end his immortality, and the wizards of Unseen University are determined to help him with it even if...more Synopsis: The Auditors of Reality give Death his walking papers. Death is surprised, but not entirely displeased. Now that he has been freed of his responsibility, his free to try and have a life. Mean while, Windle Poons is looking forward to the end of his own. However, when he wakes up feeling more alive than he ever did during his lifetime, he is quite upset. He starts trying to find ways to end his immortality, and the wizards of Unseen University are determined to help him with it even if it kills them. During all of this, Death takes up a job on a farm harvesting wheat and corn. He experiences what it means to be alive, and to fear for one's life. Realizing that your life is ticking away is quite the shock for someone that had expected to be immortal. With the absence of Death, life force is building up, particularly around Ankh-Morpork, and it is up to Windle Poons to figure out why. All of the living wizards are to busy trying to kill him. Soon Windle has to confront the predator of cities while Death has to take on the New Death.

The Good: Another hilarious tale, but also a very philosophical one. Pratchett explores the essence of mortality and how our lives tick away. Death is a great inhuman character to explore humanity. He makes me think of Data from Star Track: The Next Generation. Emotion is foreign to him and he lacks the perspective of having been born and lived a life as everyone else. At the same time he is actively trying to be more human. He certainly does, after a fashion. His alter ego, Bill Door, takes on a life of his own. To me, this is one of the best metaphors of the book.

The character Windle Poons provides another great perspective. Given a second chance, even if unwillingly, at life lets him reflect on what he has done with his existence. He has the opportunity to realize things about life and himself that he did not before he died.

The Bad: It has a bit of a slow start and it seemed like some part of the ending took a while to wrap up. I had also expected to see more of Death. The other stories were all good, but he is who I was reading this for.

Overall: A great read and very entertaining. It certainly gave me a lot to think about.(less)

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About Terry Pratchett

Sir Terry Pratchett sold his first story when he was thirteen, which earned him enough money to buy a second-hand typewriter. His first novel, a humorous fantasy entitled The Carpet People, appeared in 1971 from the publisher Colin Smythe. Terry worked for many years as a journalist and press officer, writing in his spare time and publishing a number of novels, including his first Discworld novel,...more

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