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Summary: Enter: Terry Pratchett
Review: Before I read this book, I didn't really care for fiction. My friends and I would joke about "That Pratchett ....," but it was all 'in fun.'I picked up this book, and within a couple days, I finished it. Reading over 100 pages a day seems impressive, but when you find a book as entertaining as this, you'll understand. Brutha, a character with an amazing memory, has a chance encounter with his own god; Om, one day while working in the garden(s). In my opinion, they could have cut everyone but Om out of this story, and it still would have been hilarious. Om, and his cursing of others, is awesome. Brutha, although a miniscule part of the church organization, goes with one of the head members of the church, Vorbis, (and Om tucked away in a bag) to Ephebe, and hilarity ensues. ..fighting, too. This is a well-rounded book with a great ending. ...and excellent imagery. Although this review is breif, I do suggest picking this book up. ...it has made me now like fictioin, too. Quite an accomplishment.
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Summary: Interesting Ideas, Poor Presentation
Review: While the ideas that lay the framework for this book are solid, everything else is lacking. The humor is forced, awkward, and on occasion plagarized. A nearly verbatim quote from a Monty Python sketch stands out in my mind. The plot is slow and seldom rivetting. The only thing that kept me turning the pages at some points was my search for the origin of the "REMIND ME AGAIN HOW THE HORSE-SHAPED ONES MOVE" quote. The character development is poor. The main character, Brutha, makes a sudden transition from a bumbling idiot to a sagely leader-of-men and bargainer-with-gods. I wasn't convinced. The ideas, however, are the salvation of this book. Read it if you have a good imagination...you'll need it to make up a new story around the concept Pratchett so poorly utilizes.
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Summary: How Om got his believers back
Review: The Great God Om wakes up in tortoise-form just as an eagle hurls him into a compost pile. If you're the type of person who worries about being struck by lightning while reading the wrong kind of book, stay away from "Small Gods." Terry Pratchett blasphemes against (or maybe I should say 'explains') religion in this book, and most philosophies too. This is one of his more seriously comic Discworld books, although only Pratchett (and Monty Python) would even consider an attempt at a comedy about the Grand Inquisition If Galileo had muttered, "Eppur si muove!" to the Inquisition on Discworld, he no doubt would have been referring to the gigantic turtle that carries the world on its back. He would have burned too, old as he was, if Vorbis the exquisitor had overheard him blaspheming against the perfect sphere of Discworld, which orbits around the Sun "as Man orbits the central truth of Om." Meanwhile Om scrabbles out of the compost heap and discovers Brutha, a young novice who is hoeing melons in the temple garden. Brutha is the only person left on Discworld who truly believes in Om, and really bad things happen to gods who lose all of their believers. However, Brutha almost loses his god. Vorbis the exquisitor discovers the small tortoise hissing at him and doesn't recognize it as his God, Om. He flips it over, inserts a couple of pebbles into its shell so it can't right itself, then sticks Om on the garden wall to broil in the sun. Vorbis is a bad 'un. After this temporary setback (setback, get it?), "Small Gods" carries on with the tale of Om and Brutha and their adventures as Om tries to figure out why he ended up as a tortoise, and Brutha attempts to discover truth in religion. This book is a work of fiction. All the characters and events portrayed in this book are fictional, and any resemblance to real people or incidents is purely coincidental. However if you read very carefully, you may spot coincidental resemblances to Tomás de Torquemada, Jesus, any number of classical Greek philosophers, early Christian saints, Old Testament prophets, and Galileo Galilei.
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Summary: Finally, a let down
Review: I have read most of this series with great delight. However, Pratchett finally let me down. It plods along, in no particular hurry to let the reader move on to better things. The humor -- what little there is of it -- is forced. It has the feel of sophomore philosophy majors sitting 'round the Quad on a Saturday night, dateless and full of mockery. It is kind of sad. Far from one of his best. PYRAMIDS, any of the series having to do with the Watch or the wondrous three witches -- you will enjoy those far more. This one droops as limply as an Ayn Rand novel.
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Summary: Should this be your first Discworld book?
Review:
This was my first Discworld book, and although I don't know what I don't know about the others, this story seemed like a good place to start. That is, it didn't seem to require any prior knowledge of the series to understand. This story is about an apparent simpleton, Brutha, whose simple faith is humorously juxtaposed against the absurdity of religion run amok. The plot itself was a simple construction to allow the author to wax humorous on the concepts of gods, worshippers, and philosophy in order to get across his message about the human condition - that purity of heart can not only triumph over evil, but maybe even redeem it in some cases, and that victory perhaps doesn't require us to impale our enemies on sharp sticks (or hot turtles).
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Summary: Boring plot.
Review: I liked what it was about, the characters and alot of the ideas. What I didn't like was the plot, it just bored me. The only reason I kept reading was to see if it had anymore ideas in it, I love his ideas, especially in books like Mort, Colour of Magic, and Light Fantastic.
Rating: 
Summary: A Tough Book to Review
Review: This is the 13th in Pratchett's Discworld series. Normally, I love anything by him. But, this book's a poser. It's very well written in good Pratchett style. It has a good plot, good theme, and a few nice twists and turns. My problem with the book is that it's not "nice." In fact, the book is about evil. I read Pratchett to lighten my life. This book doesn't do that. In fact, except for the very end, this is a very depressing book. Technically, it's a very good book. I just don't like the subject material.
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Summary: Small Gods: A Novel of Discworld
Review: Pratchett is a great storyteller. This was the first of his books that I read. I've bought two more since. Words that come to mind, reading this are: comic, creative, outrageous, human... This story reminds me a little of Douglas Adams' "Long Dark tea-time of the soul." It is lighthearted and creative. Moreover, "Discworld" allows Pratcett to effectively parody our own, rather like "Gulliver's Travels," though not to the same extent. Bottomline, if you like Adams, I'm betting that you'll like Pratchett.
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Summary: Religious Disc
Review: "Small Gods" is a book set in the Discworld universe. It is a stand-alone book and not part of any other series (i.e. the City Watch, Death, Wyrd Sisters). It's also a very good book, though it's nowhere near my favourite. The back cover calls it a great comedy, but I didn't find it all that funny. It was good, makes very insightful comments on religion and how it is set up. There are some great moments in the book as well. Most of these consist of indirect comments on our world that just pop up and hit you in the face with their accuracy. But again, it's not that funny. It is set in the land of Omnia, a heavily religious land, or at least it seems to the outside. They are very intolerant of other religions, going so far as to torture heretics for their beliefs. In reality, though, there is no real belief there. It has become a power structure instead of a true religion. Om, the god that they worship, has come to visit. Unfortunately, while he intended to come down as something noble (like a swan), he appeared as a tortoise. To make things worse, he traveled the Disc for three years without realizing he was Om. This happened because nobody truly believes in him any more, and gods derive their power from belief. There is one person who does believe in him very deeply, though, and that's Brutha. Because of this, Om has to use him to try and get his followers back. Brutha is a very simple man; he can't read and write, and he enjoys puttering around in the temple garden. He's a very unlikely choice for a chosen one. Unfortunately, he's the only choice Om has. One thing Brutha does have is a fantastic memory. He can remember everything he sees, even if he doesn't know what it means. This ability very often comes in handy, whether it has to do with the library or getting out of a maze. Om finds that a simple man isn't always the most easily controlled, though. The story is a very interesting comment on religious practices. It covers everything from organized religion to the creationism/evolution debate. The people of Omnia don't believe that the world is flat, on the backs of four elephants that are standing on a Great Turtle. No religion is singled out for ridicule, though, as most of the comments are made about religious structure in general. The belief that a god's power is based on how many people believe in him is very interesting. Neil Gaiman uses the same idea in his American Gods book. The characters are all well done. Brutha is an unlikely prophet, but as events happen to him and he grows into the role (no matter how reluctantly), you believe the transition. Vorbis, the exquisitor (as opposed to the inquisitor), is suitably sadistic. He's the one main character that you could say is slightly two dimensional because you don't know why he is what he is. He's not as devout as he seems, and he does enjoy his work, but that's pretty much all we know. Om is a great character, though. He's suitably sarcastic. He uses Brutha for his own ends. He tries to keep Brutha in the dark about how the belief system works, and why he has appeared to Brutha. He's arrogant (shown especially when he visits the other gods). He also has many of the best lines. The main problem with this book, though, is that the comedy just doesn't seem to be there. Sure, after reading the annotations, some of the bits seem funnier. Maybe I just wasn't getting the jokes as much. Some of the exchanges between Brutha and Om are priceless. The philosophers of Ephebe make their return from Pyramids, and they are hilarious. I always enjoy them. But there's not enough of it. Perhaps this one just went over my head. One of the things that is really missing is the funny footnotes. In the previous books I've read, there are footnotes on almost every third or fourth page. They were great! However, this one only has a few of them. I would call this book more "amusing" then "funny." Still, the book is well worth reading, and I would suggest you pick it up for the philosophical insights and the writing. There are some funny moments as well, just not as many. And if you already like Pratchett, this is certainly a good one to continue with.
Rating:
Summary: Just An All Around Good Book
Review: Small Gods was perhaps the best book Terry Pratchett has ever written. It was a bit more serious than most of his other books, which was partly why I liked it. The book was refreshing to read, simply because I had never read anything with so much to say that managed to say is so clearly, while still maintaining a light-hearted attitude.
One thing I enjoyed about Small Gods was that it kept my attention the whole way through. The plot was fantastic with many interesting little twists and turns that made me want to keep reading. It was basically about a god who gets reincarnated as a turtle. He figures out that his believers beleive in his church because they are afraid of it, but nothim. It was very well-written and told the story flawlessly. Quite aside from that, it had me falling out of my chair from laughing on several occasions. Needless to say, I enjoyed it.
The book also had great characters. It was easy to relate to them because they acted like regular people, but without becoming stereotype nonentities who just lead their boring lives. There were all different types of personalities with all their different opinions and emotions, but the narration stayed neutral the whole time. One thing that's important in any story is a good villain and this one had it. His name is Vorbis and he's the head of what I assume is the Discworld parallel of the Inquisition. I hated him throughout the whole book. He was a cynic and a sadist, but Pratchett does us the enormous service of never dehumanizing him the whole time. He had motives for what he did, even though they were twisted, and at the end we pity him more than hate him.
It wasn't just fluff. It's very easy to classify all books with humor in them as fluff, but you can't do that with this one. It had an idea behind it throughout the whole book and even somewhat of a moral. This was that people should never ever be treated as things. Pratchett applies this to every character and not just the villain. One thing that I appreciated was the fact that Pratchett maintained a clear head throughout the whole thing. He tried to be inoffensive, but not too hard. There is a fine line between inoffensive and politically correct, and Pratchett didn't cross it. Overall, I thought it was because it made me think.
In conclusion, I give Small Gods two thumbs up and five stars because it deserved it. I felt better for reading it and highly recommend it to everyone who hasn't.
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