Review: Small Gods (Discworld #13)

Synopsis: In the beginning was the Word. And the Word was: ‘Hey, you!’ This is the Discworld, after all, and religion is a controversial business. Everyone has their own opinion, and indeed their own gods, of every shape and size, and all elbowing for space at the top. In such a competitive environment, shape and size can be pretty crucial to make one’s presence felt. So it’s certainly not helpful to be reduced to appearing in the form of a tortoise, a manifestation far below god-like status in anyone’s book.

In such instances, you need an acolyte, and fast: for the Great God Om, Brutha the novice is the Chosen One – or at least the only One available. He wants peace and justice and brotherly love. He also wants the Inquisition to stop torturing him now, please…

Title: Small Gods
Author: Terry Pratchet
Pages: 400 pages
Genres/Shelves: Fantasy
Originally Published: May 1992 by Victor Gollancz Ltd
This Edition: January 2010 by Transworld Digital
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Aaaah this one was really funny. And a good standalone/jumping in point if you aren’t reading this series in any order.

The Discworld is a flat disc-shaped world which rests on the backs of four elephants who are standing on the shell of a turtle that is slowly swimming through space (to not even the gods know where).

Here we have the Omniam Church who believes in the Great God Om. Om has manifested himself in the world, much to his chagrin, in the form of a tortoise, and the only one who can hear him is a novice of the citadel, Brutha, because he is the only true believer. The rest of the priesthood only truly believes in the structure of their religion at this point.

The church also believes that the world is round and that the sun revolves around it. Silly, right? Enter some philosophers spewing blasphemy about how the world is in fact flat and on the back of a turtle and you’ve got a tale as old as time but with a much funnier spin on it.

I think this is possibly one of the funnier Discworld novel premises, though it’s only the 13th one I’ve read and there are many more to go.

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