Rating: 
Summary: Excellent, it almost makes sense. Perfect English humor.
Review: Every Disccworld novel is about the introduction of something that is a powerful modern element in *our * lives. And how it gets dangerously out of control, and dies. This is about philosophy and is an excellent view on both the Peloponesian Wars and the Inquisition. To show you the error of strict religion and free-thinking at the same time, while telling you slavery isn't altogther a bad thing, Mr. Pratchett has written this book, so do him the honor of reading it
Rating:
Summary: Very humorous and highly fascinating
Review: Terry Prachett never ceases to please his readers.
"Small gods" is no exception to that and is in fact
among his better books. The humor is darker than usual
but is also sensitive and moving. I reccomend this book
highly and praise Terry Pratchett once again.
Rating:
Summary: There's good reading in of of these, you know?
Review: This is the kind of book that makes you give up on trying to be a writer. It's that good.
A particularly stupid and clumsy boy starts hearing
a voice inside his head, which claims to be that of
his god. He explains that he has lost his powers because
nobody believes in him any more; they're too busy going
to the temples and organizing religious cerimonies to
really BELIEVE. So the best he can manage is turn up as
a small, one-eyed tortoise that everybody keeps trying
to eat.
After convincing the boy that what he says is true, the
god sets out to win his worshippers back. And also to
find some lettuce.
This is definitely the best book I've ever read and
probably one of the best books ever written. If you can
imagine a book that is at the same time deep, extremely
well constructed and tremendously funny... then you
have a better imagination than I do. If you can't, the
good news is you don't need to: It exists.
"Sell you grandmother, but GET THIS BOOK!"
Rating:
Summary: Serious Humor, or Frivolous Theology?
Review: Terry Pratchett may have accomplished the miracle of going
from the ridiculous to the sublime, and back again. In fact,
he may be the best philosopher writing today. Anyone familiar with Mr. Pratchett's other works knows he's
funny. _Small Gods_ is certainly funny. In a nutshell, it's
the story of a boy and his god. The problem
is, the Great God Om has become a small tortoise due to
the lack of faith of his worshipers. Instead of making divine
pronouncements and throwing fireballs, he's reduced to throwing
sparks and speaking in the mind of his only true believer,
a simple young man named Brutha. During their adventures, we get
to meet some of the best and worst denizens of the discworld,
and Pratchett airs some really thought-provoking theories of
the origins of the divine, the nature of belief, and the power
people have to shape the conditions in the world around them.
Of course, you don't have to buy into these crazy ideas. After
all, it's only a "light fantasy comedy" book. Right? RIGHT?
Seriously (or foolishly as the case may be) check this one out.
It's a rare book that makes you think while you're laughing
and laugh while you're thinking.
Rating:
Summary: A great read, funny, comical and critical all at once!
Review: Small Gods is yet another great book by Terry Pratchett.
Once again we are taken to meet a new set of character on
Diskworld, a world that hurtles through space on the back of
a giant turtle. Small Gods pokes fun at the buracracy of
the religion, and points out what this religious stuff is all
about. The characters are well done, and memorable. The laughs keep going. A great read all in all.
Rating:
Summary: An excellent, hilarious look at fantasy and religion.
Review: Quite simply, Terry Pratchett is the funniest man alive. However, his early books are somewhat coarse, and the later books may confused a newcomer.
Small Gods is an excellent starting point for anyone. The book has new characters, a new plot, and nothing is expected of the reader. Its a wonderful book that will explain everything for someone who's never ventured into the Discworld before. Its also one of the funniest texts around.
Small Gods is also a great books in its seriousness. The book takes a witty look at the perils of making religion too organized - in worshipping the Church rather than the God. It is a book you can read, then mull over for hours - if you didn't break up laughing every two minutes.
Rating:
Summary: An excellent, hilarious look at fantasy and religion.
Review: Quite simply, Terry Pratchett is the funniest man alive. However, his early books are somewhat coarse, and the later books may confused a newcomer.Small Gods is an excellent starting point for anyone. The book has new characters, a new plot, and nothing is expected of the reader. Its a wonderful book that will explain everything for someone who's never ventured into the Discworld before. Its also one of the funniest texts around. Small Gods is also a great books in its seriousness. The book takes a witty look at the perils of making religion too organized - in worshipping the Church rather than the God. It is a book you can read, then mull over for hours - if you didn't break up laughing every two minutes.
Rating:
Summary: One of the best books I have read
Review: Terry Pratchett is an awesome writer and "Small Gods" is a fantastic book. Pratchett has singlehandedly created his own genre and has garnered himself a huge following -- and it's easy to see why. "Small Gods" has to be one of the wittiest books ever written, with incredibly sharp one-liners, in-jokes and pratfalls. Great names and clever words hide subtle parodies and satire, which are a bonus as the plot is entertaining enough on its own. I tried to read this book in contracts class when it first came out and kept on getting busted for laughing out loud, no matter how much I tried to hide it. The only other author able to do this for me is PJ O'Rourke. If you read it on public transport, people will look at you and think you're kinda strange, unless they too know who Pratchett is, in which case they will envy you reading and try to catch furtive glimpses of the text over your shoulder. This is one of my favourite books of all time -- read it and love it too. If I could award it 6 stars, I would.
Rating:
Summary: Perhaps the Best of the BEST?
Review: Having just finished "SMALL GODS", I am somewhat embarrassed. Having been a fan of Mr Pratchett, it's somewhat emabarrassing to be writing a review of one of his books. I mean, even thinking I'm going to tell a reader something they don't already know is like thinking about the smell of the color purple! Either you know it, or you don't! SMALL GODS is the sort of inside joke rich people share at cocktail parties, sniggering at those who don't get it. They are also the sort of people Vorbis could have made use of. Pratchett makes use of Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, a dash of Catholicism, and a pinch of heresy in this incredibly brilliant novel. Even more, while making you enjoy a long, loud belly-laugh, he makes you think. Agnostics and athiests will enjoy this tale of God come to earth in the guise of a tortise <"There's good eating in one of those">, and God's subsequent adventures on earth--Oops, I meant DiscWorld--trying to get belief back in him-oops-Himself reinstated. Because, you see, a god can't exist without the belief of his believers. . .it gets rather complicated. . . It gets by turns, hilarious, hysterical, funny, howlingly funny, scary, funny, howlingly funny, howlingly hysterical, hysterically scary, terrifying, and above all, imminently readable. And oddly enough, whatever your religious persuasion, or antithesis thereof, ultimately thought provoking. READ THIS BOOK. IF NOT, I'LL ASK YOU WHY YOU DIDN'T. (Oh dear, all caps. . . Read this book, children. It will keep HIM who speaks only in all CAPS away. You'll enjoy it. You might as well, because sooner or later HE is going to find you anyway, so have a good laugh before hand.) ARE YOU DONE NOW? Er, yes. I think so. YOU DIDN'T MENTION ME IN YOUR REVIEW. Right. . . Must go, that slip could cost me my life. But if not, read SMALL GODS, and do yourself a favor.
Rating:
Summary: And they're all small --
Review: -- sooner or later.
Pratchett has done the unthinkable - kept a series (and a humor series at that) alive and fresh well into its second dozen. This book started that second dozen.
It's about Brutha, a minor novitiate even among novitiates who are all minor. He's doing what he does best, hoeing the beans, when his god arises before him in physical manifestation:
A turtle. Slow. Partial to lettuce. Not fond of being turned over or dropped. Not much for conversation when it gets cold out. And, as near as Om can tell, the god of Brutha only. No one else seems to be paying much attention when the god calls down plagues, or at least some really nasty rashes.
In Prathcett's hands, this small start yields a very worthy bit of amusement. No, there's really no point to what Pratchett writes (well, that's what he wants you to think). Brutha crosses his world, overturns empires as easily as he overturns weeds in the bean-patch, and dies happy. Everyone dies, and Brutha has seen lots of the other ways - this really is a happy ending.
For all of its shallow jests, this book has rewards for the serious reader. Brutha wins in the end by be slow, thick, and mind-bogglingly even-handed. Om finally comes out of his shell and really makes his entry, even among the more exclusive clubs of the gods. Everyone gets what they deserve in the end, no matter what you thought they deserved. By the way: observe Om, the lowly turtle, and the place of the turtle in Discworld cosmology.
Pratchett fans: watch Vorbis. Yes, the character dies, but that doesn't mean much in Discworld. He may reincarnate as Vetinari, or maybe as Vetinari's evil identical twin. Death is there, all caps, but really quite a congenial chap - says "Thank you" when you pass him the bottle, sort of thing. The librarian is there, working hard in librarian heroics. Lu Tze is there, makin sure that history turns out the way it's supposed to, not that he has a lot to work with.
Every series has its ups and downs. This is a serious up for Discworld. Enjoy!
//wiredweird
|
