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Book List 2010
Apr. 17th, 2010 06:22 pm#12. Reaper Man by Terry Pratchett
The followup to Mort, this is the second book of the Discworld series to put Death in as the main character. It provides some interesting ideas about the concept of death and why the Discworld (and perhaps people in general to some extent) need a personification of such a concept. Death's removal from his position as the personification of death leads him to find something else to do, and it makes him aware of the fact that, without his office, he is as much a slave to the passage of time as any other being on the Disc. He is forced to find a way to deal with this mortality and the attachments and emotions that come from having a lifespan, rather than lifelessness.
Pratchett once again mixes humor with a few poignant truths about life and death, all the while stomping mercilessly all over the tropes of drama and fantasy. Death has an almost universal appeal, serving quite nicely as an everyman for the reader. Secondary characters that have to deal with the lack of Death (but not the lack of death) provide interesting perceptions of how the end of life happens (the mayflies and the oaks are interesting examinations of the event and how our perception of time may not be the only view in the Universe). Not my favorite book of the Disc, but a good one nonetheless.
The followup to Mort, this is the second book of the Discworld series to put Death in as the main character. It provides some interesting ideas about the concept of death and why the Discworld (and perhaps people in general to some extent) need a personification of such a concept. Death's removal from his position as the personification of death leads him to find something else to do, and it makes him aware of the fact that, without his office, he is as much a slave to the passage of time as any other being on the Disc. He is forced to find a way to deal with this mortality and the attachments and emotions that come from having a lifespan, rather than lifelessness.
Pratchett once again mixes humor with a few poignant truths about life and death, all the while stomping mercilessly all over the tropes of drama and fantasy. Death has an almost universal appeal, serving quite nicely as an everyman for the reader. Secondary characters that have to deal with the lack of Death (but not the lack of death) provide interesting perceptions of how the end of life happens (the mayflies and the oaks are interesting examinations of the event and how our perception of time may not be the only view in the Universe). Not my favorite book of the Disc, but a good one nonetheless.
