Paperback, 272 pages

English language

Published Oct. 12, 1988 by Corgi.

ISBN:
978-0-552-13106-3
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4 stars (32 reviews)

Death takes on an apprentice who's an individual thinker.

41 editions

Enjoyable and poignant

4 stars

Enjoyable read. Not my favourite of the first five, but had plenty of good moments.

Story revolves around Death taking on a (human) apprentice.

Of course, humans feel compassion and love and so on - so are not especially well-suited to the job of Death. Which is where the drama for the story comes.

But Sir Terry does a good job of 'humanising' Death - yes, he does not really experience life, and he seems to be trying to learn by copying what he sees - but he comes across as a very lonely creature indeed who cares greatly for those entrusted into his care, and it is quite poignant to read this after he took Sir Terry in the end.

#GNUTerryPratchett

Surprisingly unnecessary ending

3 stars

The ending of this book really doesn't make justice for the whole setup and build-up.

One of the Pratchett books that certainly gets worse on the re-read. I will dare to say that both Colour and Light were significantly better as a whole than this one.

Subjects

  • Science Fiction - General
  • Fiction
  • Fantasy fiction
  • Humorous
  • Discworld (Imaginary place)
  • Fantastic fiction
  • English Science Fiction And Fantasy
  • Fiction - Fantasy
  • Fantasy - General