Alles Sense! (1991)

I loved death's storyline, and Windle Poons was ok, but the wizards in general just made the book drag for me -- I found myself incredibly bored during some bits. I would have loved a book just of Death's storyline and more about Mrs. Cake. ( )

Pratchett skemmtilegur sem fyrr. Nú lendir Dauðinn sjálfur í því að verða dauðlegur. Hann tekur því ekki vel og hættir störfum. Byrjar að vinna á bóndabýli og njóta þess að vera "mannlegur". Vandamálið er náttúrulega það að enginn deyr þangað til nýr sláttumaður tekur við störfum gamla Dauðans. Snældufull bók af vitleysum og orðaútúrsnúringum sem fyrr en hliðarsagan um verslunarmiðstöðvarnar virtist meir vera sem uppfyllingarefni. ( )

( )

I finally enjoyed Death! ( )

I did mostly enjoy this book. There was a lot of good in Reaper Man. It was funny, fun, witty, and quotable, with a well-done main story, and at times surprisingly profound. I couldn't rate it four stars for "good," but it's a solid 3.5.

The plot, pacing, and story in Reaper Man are all better than they were in Mort. And while I still found quite a lot of the characters in Reaper Man to be flat and caricatured, a few of the main characters in this one were much more nuanced and believable as people.

Pratchett had also, by the time he wrote Reaper Man, learned to restrain himself from showing off at the expense of the story. The near constant interruptions to the narrative momentum that plagued the prose of Mort do not show up at all in Reaper Man. There are still plenty of witty lines, beautiful descriptions, and sharp, satirical observations, of course - this is Pratchett, after all - but unlike in Mort, in Reaper Man, they serve the story rather than obstruct it, or at least don't get in its way.

The story was funny, and I found myself laughing out loud as I read more than once. And yet there were serious moments, too, which I appreciated - especially the storyline focusing on Death, which I found very effective. Pratchett renders Death both believable, nuanced, and vulnerable, while also inherently other-than-human, which is a very difficult line to tread.

I found the storyline involving the wizards and other assorted characters somewhat less effective, especially near the end, where in my opinion it went off the rails entirely.

I also found myself butting up against Pratchett's ever-present cynicism throughout my reading of Reaper Man, as well as his take on religion, which I found very off-putting. ( )