Mort - Terry Pratchett

Mort - Terry Pratchett. ~ About the Author ~ Terry Pratchett is one of the best known of Fantasy writers out there. He began writing in 1983, and when I first began reading his books (I read his second novel The Light Fantastic just after publication) no-one really knew who he was! It couldn't be more different today, and this has lead to one bizarre claim to fame - In the UK, he holds the record for the greatest number of books that are shoplifted! Pterry (as many of his fans will refer to him, harking back to a particular novel) does more than just write about a fantasy world. He includes puns, cultural and historical references and ...  Read the complete review

Mort is the fourth novel in the Discworld series. For those that don't know, the Discworld novels concern events on a flat world carried through space on the back of four elephants. These elephants are standing on the turtle, Great A'Tuin. The Discworld is a fantasy world, but a fantasy world ruled by surprisingly mundane laws. Conservation of energy applies to magic, for example, so wizards use their own brains as leverage when levitating objects. Dragons don't exist on the physical plane, as they are magical creatures that couldn't possibly sustain themselves in reality (or even be able to fly). The only dragons are nervous swamp creatures which ...  Read the complete review

As I write this there is a documentary currently showing on BBC1 called A Life of Grime which follows some real-life characters in their day to day jobs. The common thread is that while all their jobs are essential, not many of us would want to do them. Well, does catching rats, collecting rubbish or unblocking sewers appeal to you? These are the jobs that we don't like to think about and instead just assume someone else will do. We put our rubbish out in the morning and by the time we get home from work it's gone, as if by magic. And talking of magic (nice link huh?) the Discworld also has a number of essential jobs and none more so than that performed by ...  Read the complete review

Mort stands silently next to his father, the last remaining boy at the hiring fair. Approaching midnight it appears that no one is willing to take him on as an apprentice. His father told him all that thinking and reading of books put people off and perhaps he was right. Suddenly, a horse appears with a hooded figure aboard. Perhaps things will turn out all right after all… "Mort" is Terry Pratchett's fourth Discworld novel. Sat on a flat, disc shaped planet that floats through space on the back of a giant turtle it is a land were witches, wizards and dwarves mix while Gods look on. In such a world if someone says, "You look like ...  Read the complete review

A giant turtle slowly makes it's way across the vast emptiness that is space, and on it's meteor pocked shell stand four over-sized elephants, on whose backs rests the flat, circular, and highly magical Discworld. Discworld is world of heroes, heroines, witches and wizards, where magic is a very real part of life and DEATH may just come to collect your soul in (non) person, but there again he might just send Mort (his new apprentice) instead….. As this, the fourth of the Discworld series begins, we meet Mortimer, a gangly lad who not only appears to be all elbows and knees, but also thinks about things rather more than is good for him. He's not a bad lad, just ...  Read the complete review