5.0
out of 5 stars
By
Susana L. Valadéz (Mexico), October 28, 2013
Sir Terence David John Pratchett (born 28 April 1948) is one of the most popular English authors of fantastic novels today. He was knighted for services to literature in 2009. “Terry” Pratchett is the author of the Discworld series of about 40 books. Small Gods, the 13th book of this sequence, was published in 1992. It was adapted as a serial for BBC Radio 4.
The
story starts whit the short tale of the relationship between tortoises and
eagles.
After that, we are taken to the Hub, the center of Discworld, where the history monks live and take care about all the History and they make sure that when something important is happening, there is someone who is watching that really happens. Lu Tze, one of the history monks, is sent to Omnia, because something was just going to happen, a couple of battles and an assassination.
Meanwhile in Omnia, in the year of the Notional Serpent we find novice Brutha. Even he is too old for being a novice, he lives under the supervision of Brother Nhumrod, and he isn’t considered very important, brilliant or smart, but Brutha’s memory is so good that he didn’t know the meaning of the word “forget” or disobedience.
After that, we are taken to the Hub, the center of Discworld, where the history monks live and take care about all the History and they make sure that when something important is happening, there is someone who is watching that really happens. Lu Tze, one of the history monks, is sent to Omnia, because something was just going to happen, a couple of battles and an assassination.
Meanwhile in Omnia, in the year of the Notional Serpent we find novice Brutha. Even he is too old for being a novice, he lives under the supervision of Brother Nhumrod, and he isn’t considered very important, brilliant or smart, but Brutha’s memory is so good that he didn’t know the meaning of the word “forget” or disobedience.
With
Great God Om appearing as a tortoise, problems start to appear into Brutha’s life,
one of the most important when the Exquisitor (not inquisitor, he’s more like a supervisor) Vorbis, who has really
black eyes, asks him to join a group that is going to travel to the city of Ephebe
to defeat the unbelievers, like the Great God Om wants. Because Vorbis think
that if the Great God doesn’t want him to attack the ephebians, he will stop
him. He is proudly in charge of the Quisition, and of everyone who let him be
their superior, including particularly novice Brutha with his eidetic-memory.
Poor
Brutha finds himself in the middle of a war between Omnia and Ephebe because
Vorbis said that Om is the only true God (and everyone who says otherwise is
wrong and should die!), and the inner conflict that knowing the Great God is a tortoise, so he is neither
omnipotent nor the only small god who lives and obtains his powers thanks of
his believers’ faith. And Om faces the true that Brutha is the only one who…
“Small
Gods” is a very interesting and funny novel that makes fun of some aspects of
the religions in general, so people can relax and take it not to serious but as
an important part of their lives. Terry Pratchett has the ability of write this
novel and put some jokes that can distract us from the rest of the text, but he
also know how to take us back to the story. I certainly enjoyed reading this
book, and I feel proud to write that I understood many of the jokes that are
included in the book (even one related to programming!)
I recommend this book to readers up to 15 years, because it is easy to read (even if you are a non-native English speaker), but there are some complicated issues that require more general culture knowledge and even the jokes are sometimes hard to understand. Despite the fact that it could be difficult to read, Terry Pratchett gives us a fictional new and interesting whole world in this book.
I recommend this book to readers up to 15 years, because it is easy to read (even if you are a non-native English speaker), but there are some complicated issues that require more general culture knowledge and even the jokes are sometimes hard to understand. Despite the fact that it could be difficult to read, Terry Pratchett gives us a fictional new and interesting whole world in this book.
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