While I have committed to reading the Discworld books in release order, I now understand why so many fans recommend Mort as a great entry point. Terry Pratchett’s portrayal of death as an anthropomorphic personification is a wonderful contribution to fantasy literature. At once funny, philosophical, spooky, and endearing, Death is a true icon. In Mort, Pratchett puts Death front and center and explores what Death would do and learn if he hired an apprentice and took a day off. From Death’s point of view, we see an age-old being experience existence for the first time with a curiosity for understanding human concepts such as fun, happiness, and friendship.
But Mort also explores the apprenticeship of the titular character, a teenage boy who wants to learn a trade and finds himself apprenticed to Death himself. As Death’s apprentice, Mort learns to harvest souls when their fated time comes, but unlike his master, his human impulses drive him to intervene on behalf of a young princess who’s assassination he views as unjust. As Death explores his humanity and Mort breaks the fated timeline, Pratchett explores deep philosophical themes of life and death, reincarnation, free will, and fate, all with a signature Discworld tone of irreverence.
The comedy in this book is by far the best so far. There’s a scene where the Princess encounters a doorknob who refuses to unlock and quite enjoys being rattled and tugged. Death excels at black comedy, and the world building footnotes about Discworld mythology are hilarious.
While Mort is considered part of the Death sub-series within Discworld, I was pleasantly surprised by the significant role the wizards of Unseen University play in this book. Albert’s grand return from Death’s domain and Rincewind’s cameo were standouts.
While this is easily the best of the four Discworld books I have read so far, it still had some flaws that kept it from being a stand-out read. I didn’t care very much for the romantic subplots between Mort, the Princess, and Ysabell, and the main plot wrapped up a bit too quickly. I’m starting to notice a trend with these books where the epic climax/conflict is the least compelling part of the reading experience.
Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed Mort, and if I meet Discworld’s Death when my time comes, I’d be pretty satisfied.
The Once and Future Lit 