This week, I thought I’d dust off one of my all-time top reads; my friends were all discussing which Pratchett book was their favorite, and while most people go with the Witches or the Guards series, this one is still by best pick.
For that small percentage of fantasy fans who haven’t read Terry Pratchett’s Discworld Series, here’s a quick recap:
The Discworld is a flat, pancake shaped world with a giant mountain at its center, which sits atop the backs of four elephants, which in stand on the back of the great space turtle A’Tuin as it swims through the universe. The Discworld is inhabited by a variety of different races, cultures and religions, most of whom parallel the ridiculous optimism (or depressing authoritarianism) of our own world.
Small Gods is something of a prequel to the other Discworld books, taking place centuries before the more popular storylines set in the fantasy city of Ankh-Morpork. The story follows the pilgrimage of Brutha, a Novice Priest in the church of the Great God Om. Brutha becomes the unlikely prophet of Om, as the Great God found that no-one really believes in him anymore when he attempted to manifest and was incarnated as a one-eye tortoise. Brutha and Om journey through oceans, labyrinths and the terrible desert as they try and understand what happened to Om’s believers and uncover a plot by the terrible Deacon Vorbis of the Quisition.
Pratchett was inspired to write this novel after watching an interview with an extremist Jihadi, who declared that the greatest thing was to die for your god. Pratchett’s answer in Small Gods was that the greatest thing you could do would be to live a long and useful life for the people you care about.
I always have a soft spot for poor Brutha, whose clumsy, thoughtful ways and nickname of “dumb ox” was inspired by St Thomas Aquinas. As an extra little bit of nerdishness, Small Gods also marks the first appearance of Lu-Tze and the History Monks, who appear in a number of other storylines in the Discworld Series.
I loved how this book dealt with questions of faith, of living and dying, and how cultures can collide. I’m hard pressed to think of any other author who can write genuinely funny books about religion without coming across as snarky or condescending.
What did this book teach me about writing?
I’d have to say that this book taught me that small plots centered on the main character (in this case Brutha and Om trying to figure out why the Great God was a tortoise) can impact on grand narratives that involve clashes between entire cultures. It also taught me that a character’s development is more about their growth in understanding and emotional maturity than it is about strength or ability.
Since I want to keep the conversation going, please post your favourite Pratchett book below, and I might bring the winner further up my reading list. Please also link this page and post to your timelines if you’d like to see more!
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