★★★★☆ Meet Death

Mort

Terry Pratchett

Mort is, in my opinion, the best of the first four books in Terry Pratchett's Discworld series. It is book four in the series, which means it is the best Discworld book I have listened to so far.

Mort is not the first Discworld appearance of Death. (Note: "Death" with a capital D refers to the Discworld character; with a small d to the phenomenon. If it's at the beginning of a sentence, you're on your own.) Death appears in the Rincewind books to complain about Rincewind's failure to keep his appointments. Mort is, however, our first extended view of Death.

Death is not quite what you expect. He does indeed ride a pale horse -- the horse's name is "Binky" -- and carry a scythe with which he reaps souls. But as his daughter Ysabell says, ‘He’s quite nice if you get to know him.’ And he is! He is not a killer-- he recoils at the suggestion.

‘But you’re Death,’ said Mort. ‘You go around killing people!’
I? KILL? said Death, obviously offended. CERTAINLY NOT. PEOPLE GET KILLED, BUT THAT’S THEIR BUSINESS. I JUST TAKE OVER FROM THEN ON. AFTER ALL, IT’D BE A BLOODY STUPID WORLD IF PEOPLE GOT KILLED WITHOUT DYING, WOULDN’T IT?
‘Well, yes—’ said Mort, doubtfully.

He does not live entirely alone. Well, to be accurate, he does not live at all. What I mean is, he shares his residence with a small group of people, his (adopted) daughter Ysabell, his retainer Albert, and, soon, his apprentice Mort. We meet Mortimer before he is apprenticed to Death. Pratchett describes him thus

It was also acutely embarrassing to Mort’s family that the youngest son was not at all serious and had about the same talent for horticulture that you would find in a dead starfish. It wasn’t that he was unhelpful, but he had the kind of vague, cheerful helpfulness that serious men soon learn to dread. There was something infectious, possibly even fatal, about it. He was tall, red-haired and freckled, with the sort of body that seems to be only marginally under its owner’s control; it appeared to have been built out of knees.

You've probably known someone like that or else, perhaps, you have been or are now someone like that.

As for the plot, it's a pretty typical magical apprentice story. But Pratchett's verve and humor make it something special. The audiobook is narrated by Sian Clifford, Peter Serafinowicz, and Bill Nighy. You will have noticed that Death's speech is rendered in capital letters. Clifford is the main narrator, but Death's dialog is in a very deep voice, Serafinowicz or Nighy, I imagine. In fact, this becomes a plot point.

Mort is a lot of fun. And it has the rare virtue, for a Discworld novel, of being fairly self-contained.

Mort on Amazon

Goodreads review

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