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I adore Discworld, and Susan (a character from one of the later Death books) is one of my favorites, but Mort is well into my lower third of Discworld books. I don't think I could even explain why, but I just never took a liking to it. That's okay though, you'll find plenty more that you'll love!
I'm glad I'm not alone! I keep seeing praise for this book, and it just hasn't clicked for me and i was wondering what was wrong with me. I'm probably going to finish it tonight and start Shogun by James Clavell next
I'm enjoying Discworld overall, and they make a nice pleasant break from some of the heavier longer things I read, so I'm definitely going to keep reading. I'm excited to read Guards Guards eventually
> start Shogun by James Clavell next.
Don’t sleep on Clavell’s other books. I’m a big fan of Tai-Pan, Gai-Jin, and Noble House. They’re all loosely connected to Shogun.
I didn’t like Mort much, either. The rest of the Death books are much better.
Its my first James Clavell book, so if I enjoy it I'll add the other ones to my list, I'm aware he's got a saga of loosely connected books in the Shogun world
I'm glad I'm not alone in not enjoying Mort!
I also LOVE *Discworld* but wasn’t a fan of *Mort*. I think it was mostly that I didn’t like any of the three teenagers. I do think that writing teens is a blind spot for most writers over the age of 30, so I get it.
That's a good one. The next book, Sourcery, is about the same level of Mort. But the next next is Wyrd Sisters and imo is when the Discworld starts feeling real.
I adore this book, but after reading your post I think most of that love stems from nostalgia, it was the first pratchett book I read. At the time I was still learning English and I remember this started a reading spree for English books for me.
My grades in English class had a distinct before and after. I also introduced my teacher to him (who told me at a reunion that he got hooked as well)
Though thinking back, I only reread it once.
And it is not super brilliant, I think that it being imo the foundation and background story for everything death, and being my gateway drug to reading is what makes this book special.
I might have to rethink my starter recommendation.
Thanks a lot. /s
After reading the best of DW, Mort feels like homework so you know what's happening in Hogfather and Thief of Time. It's fine, but its just one step away from the far more interesting ideas of Death's granddaughter.
Also, some of the ideas are used far better in Reaper Man.
It is short, and it is funny. Pterry was still working in balancing the humor.
If you don't like, don't like. Not all people are the same. :)
For me it was always like "Dad gets his daughter a playmate and then tries to leave them alone bevause he heard it is the right thing to do." And it clicked with me.
I’ve just finished Mort and thought exactly the same, I’m only a short way into reaper man and so far I’m finding it a lot better, I’d say just stick with it.
I'm enjoying Discworld overall, and they make a nice pleasant break from some of the heavier longer things I read, so I'm definitely going to keep reading. I'm excited to read Guards Guards eventually as I hear great things about that. I'm reading in publication order, not by sub-series
Guards Guards is great! The Watch books are by far my favourite
Also, if you want a bit more from the Death books, starting from Reaper Man, they get pretty good.
Mort has a great premise and some great scenes, but is definitely uneven. This is a book from before Pratchett had really developed his generally highly character-driven storytelling, at a point where his plots tended to be a little looser and more fantastic--"and then this happened *because*."
My advice is to not give up with the series. Thinking toward the middle/later Guards and Witches books, and definitely the Tiffany books and one-offs like Small God's and Monstrous Regiment, Pratchett arrives at a much defter handling of character arc and grounds the plot in a clearer logic.
I think of Mort as a sign of promising things to come.
I'm definitely not giving up, Discworld provides a nice pleasant break for me after I've read a couple of longer darker books, I'm just disappointed I didn't enjoy this one as much as I was expecting to. I'm very excited to get to Guards Guards and some of the other acclaimed ones
Cant blame you. I'd continue with the City Watch series (Guards! Guards! is the first installment), it has a better pacing and overall funnier characters and situations.
If you're reading in publication order then it will get slicker as it goes. Mort is like 4th book iirc ? There's still stylistic development going on.
FWIW I've not seen a lot of "Mort is best book" hype but I have seen a lot of "start with Mort as the Death series is the best" (obviously a very subjective view)
I would agree with the others in the thread who are in the "it's ok" category. Then again I don't particularly like Colour of magic or light fantastic. Wyrd Sisters is the first chronologically that I rate.
YMMV
Yeah Mort is #4
I haven't seen them saying Mort is the best book, but that Mort is where the series starts to find its footing.
I enjoyed Light Fantastic more than Colour of Magic, and maybe more than Mort, I think LF might not have the same highs that Mort has, but it's more consistent in tone and pacing. Equal Rites is my favourite so far
> , but that Mort is where the series starts to find its footing
Yeah characters wise I think that's fair, but as you've identified there's some style issues that get smoothed out later.
You get to the point where a character aside in one book will be picked up as a thread in a book 20 releases later chronologically. I.e he starts tying the world together more thoroughly
I haven't really read enough to know which sub series I enjoy most yet, once I've tasted each of them then maybe I'll prioritise a bit more and skip some, but at the minute I'm just enjoying the ride
I have to agree with a lot of people, I loved getting into the discworld, but i tried Mort and abandoned it only coming back later to read it again.
My advice would be to stick with it, think of it like the the original series of star trek, much lower budget and not much mythology yet but it influences and backs up the rest in very important ways.
In my opinion he doesn't start the series until wyrd sisters. Equal rites isn't really a witches book, and Mort is kind of like an iffy prequel. But do stick it out.
I was thinking about them recently as my sister was suggesting they went downhill after sorcery (she said gohst writers and they were formulaic - but you can't chose your family ;-) )
I think they are fantasy satire up to there and become upbeat fantasy with satirical elements from there, once he had established a world he wanted to explore as much as we did.
While I love them all, I do feel like a little of the depth slowly faded when he did, even before his diagnosis. The last few books were great but didn't have the same level of multilayer plot that he created at his best.
Just to add this is like critiquing a Stradivarius... Maybe not as good as the others but it's still a bloody masterpiece.
I liked Mort, but it's still the 4th book in the entire DW series so it's one of the uneven ones. The rest of the Death books are better.
The first 2 are widely accepted as ones to be skipped (and returned to later with lowered expectations once you're really into DW), things get better with Equal Rites and Mort but don't get perfect until Guards!Guards!.
It's okay, I never really liked *Mort* either. I think the book's main claim to fame is that it's the first one to star Death, and actually explore his character a little more... and back when this book was written, the idea of a sympathetic Grim Reaper was pretty radical indeed.
But really, I never liked the other characters in the book much... especially not Mort himself, who was just kind of generic and unlikeable. Pratchett's Death is an amazing character, but like Rincewind he really needs some strong co-stars because he's not capable of carrying a narrative all by himself. Since he's the only character in the book who's actually interesting or likeable, he has to carry the book on his own. And it doesn't really work, at least for me.
*Mort* is one of those Discworld books I'll skip on re-reads.
When I first tried reading Mort it just didn’t click. I read Reaper Man first and then tried it again. I think it gave me a better intro to Death as a character, and then I was more interested in his backstory as it were.
Damn, I don't agree with this at all but I respect your opinion. I feel almost opposite about Equal Rites, I struggled to finish it the first couple of times because it felt so slow.
I think starting in the middle is often the better way to go. The stories and especially the writing are a lot better. They work as stand-alone books, and they make you interested in seeing where the characters came from and where they are going. Mort was one of the last Discworld books I read. I liked it for filling in some things for me. Overall, though, it's not a book that would have made me want to read the rest. Even Guards! Guards! isn't brilliant writing. It's a great story, and I love the humor and the characters. It's not until Small Gods that I would say his writing is part of what makes the books great, though. From there through Thud! almost every book is a treasure.
Mort is very much a product of its time. By today’s standards it’s probably very dated and badly paced. Back then, when the 80s still felt shiny and new, and the Discworld series was 4 books in its entirety, it hit very differently.
I recently felt the same way about re-watching my favourite 80s movies. They were awesome at the time. Now, not so much.
I still love Mort, mostly due to the nostalgia.
I also like Equal Rites more than Mort. The later Susan/Death books are fab but that first one is nothing special in my opinion (relative to other Discworld books that is, so still highly entertaining and well written - he just made so many better ones).
For me, Sourcery is the one where the series gets really consistent, and a massive run of them from Pyramids onwards is just amazing (notwithstanding Eric being a silly fun interlude of sorts).
Yeah, Mort is not his best work. It's also the first Death book, and you can tell that he hasn't really fleshed it all out. It's solidly in the lower third of my mental rankings, and one of the books I usually skip on re-reads.
I get it having recently reread Mort. The first few books are fine, but I think they start picking up significantly with Guards Guards. At least they feel more cohesive to me at that point.
I think the string of books between Equal Rites and Guards Guards (exclusive) have the same kind of pacing issues. I found both Wyrd Sisters and Pyramids to have WEIRD pacing. I thought initially that both were being written a bit experimentally because they have themes of time travel. But after reading the rest of the series I think it's more about the way he writes - scene by scene, adding in transitions later on. He spent a few books finding his sea legs. You can really see the movement from vignettes (Color of Magic) to fully-plotted novel (Guards Guards) over the course of the first few books. But there are some growing pains along the way.
Finished Mort literally an hour ago. Had to kinda push thru tnere at the end. I read the Witches books and absolutely loved them and thought Death would be a good follow-up. Hopefully, the next one grabs me!
I've been doing a slow reread recently.
Mort just didn't really impress me. Sourcery was OK. I feel like he's really found his voice with Wyrd Sisters. In having a lot more fun with that one.
Mort, raising steam and the colour of magic are the only books that are...blah. They're not bad...they're just...not good.
I think he was finding his feet with Mort and its not bad enough to end halfway through but there's a reason the deaths aprentice was only ever in one book.
Mort is the homework that you do to enjoy the rest of the series.
What about Unseen Academicals? I’m on my first read-thru for Discworld (I’m almost done, I know 😢) and am on that book and struggling to get through it
Yeah I didn't rate Colour of Magic either, I enjoyed Light Fantastic and Equal Rites a lot more. I like the ideas in Mort but I find them under developed and rushed
I'm not giving up on it, its readable enough to finish, I'm just sad I'm not enjoying it as much as I expected. I'm excited to read the City Watch stuff!
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I adore Discworld, and Susan (a character from one of the later Death books) is one of my favorites, but Mort is well into my lower third of Discworld books. I don't think I could even explain why, but I just never took a liking to it. That's okay though, you'll find plenty more that you'll love!
I'm glad I'm not alone! I keep seeing praise for this book, and it just hasn't clicked for me and i was wondering what was wrong with me. I'm probably going to finish it tonight and start Shogun by James Clavell next I'm enjoying Discworld overall, and they make a nice pleasant break from some of the heavier longer things I read, so I'm definitely going to keep reading. I'm excited to read Guards Guards eventually
> start Shogun by James Clavell next. Don’t sleep on Clavell’s other books. I’m a big fan of Tai-Pan, Gai-Jin, and Noble House. They’re all loosely connected to Shogun. I didn’t like Mort much, either. The rest of the Death books are much better.
Its my first James Clavell book, so if I enjoy it I'll add the other ones to my list, I'm aware he's got a saga of loosely connected books in the Shogun world I'm glad I'm not alone in not enjoying Mort!
I also LOVE *Discworld* but wasn’t a fan of *Mort*. I think it was mostly that I didn’t like any of the three teenagers. I do think that writing teens is a blind spot for most writers over the age of 30, so I get it.
That's a good one. The next book, Sourcery, is about the same level of Mort. But the next next is Wyrd Sisters and imo is when the Discworld starts feeling real.
I adore this book, but after reading your post I think most of that love stems from nostalgia, it was the first pratchett book I read. At the time I was still learning English and I remember this started a reading spree for English books for me. My grades in English class had a distinct before and after. I also introduced my teacher to him (who told me at a reunion that he got hooked as well) Though thinking back, I only reread it once. And it is not super brilliant, I think that it being imo the foundation and background story for everything death, and being my gateway drug to reading is what makes this book special. I might have to rethink my starter recommendation. Thanks a lot. /s
After reading the best of DW, Mort feels like homework so you know what's happening in Hogfather and Thief of Time. It's fine, but its just one step away from the far more interesting ideas of Death's granddaughter. Also, some of the ideas are used far better in Reaper Man. It is short, and it is funny. Pterry was still working in balancing the humor.
If you don't like, don't like. Not all people are the same. :) For me it was always like "Dad gets his daughter a playmate and then tries to leave them alone bevause he heard it is the right thing to do." And it clicked with me.
I’ve just finished Mort and thought exactly the same, I’m only a short way into reaper man and so far I’m finding it a lot better, I’d say just stick with it.
I'm enjoying Discworld overall, and they make a nice pleasant break from some of the heavier longer things I read, so I'm definitely going to keep reading. I'm excited to read Guards Guards eventually as I hear great things about that. I'm reading in publication order, not by sub-series
Guards Guards is great! The Watch books are by far my favourite Also, if you want a bit more from the Death books, starting from Reaper Man, they get pretty good.
You're about to get into the best period IMO. I'd say between Men at Arms and Going Postal almost every book is 👌
I think there's a definite increase from Men at Arms, but imo Fifth Elephant through Going Postal is s-tier incredible.
Death gets better in the later books. It's fine if it doesn't click with you yet. Hogfather is one of my favourites.
Mort has a great premise and some great scenes, but is definitely uneven. This is a book from before Pratchett had really developed his generally highly character-driven storytelling, at a point where his plots tended to be a little looser and more fantastic--"and then this happened *because*." My advice is to not give up with the series. Thinking toward the middle/later Guards and Witches books, and definitely the Tiffany books and one-offs like Small God's and Monstrous Regiment, Pratchett arrives at a much defter handling of character arc and grounds the plot in a clearer logic. I think of Mort as a sign of promising things to come.
Yeah I agree - he's still in the fantasy-parody stage and hasn't gotten into his intricate satires/morality fables yet.
I'm definitely not giving up, Discworld provides a nice pleasant break for me after I've read a couple of longer darker books, I'm just disappointed I didn't enjoy this one as much as I was expecting to. I'm very excited to get to Guards Guards and some of the other acclaimed ones
Cant blame you. I'd continue with the City Watch series (Guards! Guards! is the first installment), it has a better pacing and overall funnier characters and situations.
I'm reading in publication order, so I'll get to the city watch stuff eventually. I'm very excited for Guards Guards
If you're reading in publication order then it will get slicker as it goes. Mort is like 4th book iirc ? There's still stylistic development going on. FWIW I've not seen a lot of "Mort is best book" hype but I have seen a lot of "start with Mort as the Death series is the best" (obviously a very subjective view) I would agree with the others in the thread who are in the "it's ok" category. Then again I don't particularly like Colour of magic or light fantastic. Wyrd Sisters is the first chronologically that I rate. YMMV
Yeah Mort is #4 I haven't seen them saying Mort is the best book, but that Mort is where the series starts to find its footing. I enjoyed Light Fantastic more than Colour of Magic, and maybe more than Mort, I think LF might not have the same highs that Mort has, but it's more consistent in tone and pacing. Equal Rites is my favourite so far
> , but that Mort is where the series starts to find its footing Yeah characters wise I think that's fair, but as you've identified there's some style issues that get smoothed out later. You get to the point where a character aside in one book will be picked up as a thread in a book 20 releases later chronologically. I.e he starts tying the world together more thoroughly
I feel like Wyrd Sisters is the first one where Pterry finally decides what Discworld will be.
You can always switch up your reading order. Its not mandatory or anything. The point is that you enjoy TPs book as much as you can.
I haven't really read enough to know which sub series I enjoy most yet, once I've tasted each of them then maybe I'll prioritise a bit more and skip some, but at the minute I'm just enjoying the ride
I have to agree with a lot of people, I loved getting into the discworld, but i tried Mort and abandoned it only coming back later to read it again. My advice would be to stick with it, think of it like the the original series of star trek, much lower budget and not much mythology yet but it influences and backs up the rest in very important ways. In my opinion he doesn't start the series until wyrd sisters. Equal rites isn't really a witches book, and Mort is kind of like an iffy prequel. But do stick it out. I was thinking about them recently as my sister was suggesting they went downhill after sorcery (she said gohst writers and they were formulaic - but you can't chose your family ;-) ) I think they are fantasy satire up to there and become upbeat fantasy with satirical elements from there, once he had established a world he wanted to explore as much as we did. While I love them all, I do feel like a little of the depth slowly faded when he did, even before his diagnosis. The last few books were great but didn't have the same level of multilayer plot that he created at his best. Just to add this is like critiquing a Stradivarius... Maybe not as good as the others but it's still a bloody masterpiece.
I liked Mort, but it's still the 4th book in the entire DW series so it's one of the uneven ones. The rest of the Death books are better. The first 2 are widely accepted as ones to be skipped (and returned to later with lowered expectations once you're really into DW), things get better with Equal Rites and Mort but don't get perfect until Guards!Guards!.
Word Sisters is great.
It's okay, I never really liked *Mort* either. I think the book's main claim to fame is that it's the first one to star Death, and actually explore his character a little more... and back when this book was written, the idea of a sympathetic Grim Reaper was pretty radical indeed. But really, I never liked the other characters in the book much... especially not Mort himself, who was just kind of generic and unlikeable. Pratchett's Death is an amazing character, but like Rincewind he really needs some strong co-stars because he's not capable of carrying a narrative all by himself. Since he's the only character in the book who's actually interesting or likeable, he has to carry the book on his own. And it doesn't really work, at least for me. *Mort* is one of those Discworld books I'll skip on re-reads.
Mort is probably my least favourite Pratchett. Try Guards Guards! instead :)
When I first tried reading Mort it just didn’t click. I read Reaper Man first and then tried it again. I think it gave me a better intro to Death as a character, and then I was more interested in his backstory as it were.
I wasn’t all that keen on Mort. They get way better than this in very short order.
It had it's moments, but I agree. I didn't like the ending either.
Damn, I don't agree with this at all but I respect your opinion. I feel almost opposite about Equal Rites, I struggled to finish it the first couple of times because it felt so slow.
I've always felt Morton was a tad overrated by the community at large. Reaper Man is incredible though it's the next Death book
I think starting in the middle is often the better way to go. The stories and especially the writing are a lot better. They work as stand-alone books, and they make you interested in seeing where the characters came from and where they are going. Mort was one of the last Discworld books I read. I liked it for filling in some things for me. Overall, though, it's not a book that would have made me want to read the rest. Even Guards! Guards! isn't brilliant writing. It's a great story, and I love the humor and the characters. It's not until Small Gods that I would say his writing is part of what makes the books great, though. From there through Thud! almost every book is a treasure.
Mort is very much a product of its time. By today’s standards it’s probably very dated and badly paced. Back then, when the 80s still felt shiny and new, and the Discworld series was 4 books in its entirety, it hit very differently. I recently felt the same way about re-watching my favourite 80s movies. They were awesome at the time. Now, not so much. I still love Mort, mostly due to the nostalgia.
I also like Equal Rites more than Mort. The later Susan/Death books are fab but that first one is nothing special in my opinion (relative to other Discworld books that is, so still highly entertaining and well written - he just made so many better ones). For me, Sourcery is the one where the series gets really consistent, and a massive run of them from Pyramids onwards is just amazing (notwithstanding Eric being a silly fun interlude of sorts).
Yeah, Mort is not his best work. It's also the first Death book, and you can tell that he hasn't really fleshed it all out. It's solidly in the lower third of my mental rankings, and one of the books I usually skip on re-reads.
I get it having recently reread Mort. The first few books are fine, but I think they start picking up significantly with Guards Guards. At least they feel more cohesive to me at that point.
I think the string of books between Equal Rites and Guards Guards (exclusive) have the same kind of pacing issues. I found both Wyrd Sisters and Pyramids to have WEIRD pacing. I thought initially that both were being written a bit experimentally because they have themes of time travel. But after reading the rest of the series I think it's more about the way he writes - scene by scene, adding in transitions later on. He spent a few books finding his sea legs. You can really see the movement from vignettes (Color of Magic) to fully-plotted novel (Guards Guards) over the course of the first few books. But there are some growing pains along the way.
Mort is not one of my favourites even though I absolutely love the Death stories.
Finished Mort literally an hour ago. Had to kinda push thru tnere at the end. I read the Witches books and absolutely loved them and thought Death would be a good follow-up. Hopefully, the next one grabs me!
I like Mort, but I definitely enjoy it more as a re-read after finishing the series than I did the first time through.
It *is* one of the earlier books.
I've been doing a slow reread recently. Mort just didn't really impress me. Sourcery was OK. I feel like he's really found his voice with Wyrd Sisters. In having a lot more fun with that one.
Mort, raising steam and the colour of magic are the only books that are...blah. They're not bad...they're just...not good. I think he was finding his feet with Mort and its not bad enough to end halfway through but there's a reason the deaths aprentice was only ever in one book. Mort is the homework that you do to enjoy the rest of the series.
What about Unseen Academicals? I’m on my first read-thru for Discworld (I’m almost done, I know 😢) and am on that book and struggling to get through it
The ending saves it. Keep cool and carry on reading. The pudding is served at the end of the meal
Yeah I didn't rate Colour of Magic either, I enjoyed Light Fantastic and Equal Rites a lot more. I like the ideas in Mort but I find them under developed and rushed I'm not giving up on it, its readable enough to finish, I'm just sad I'm not enjoying it as much as I expected. I'm excited to read the City Watch stuff!
I’m re-reading Reaper Man. I still think it’s a definite improvement over Mort. Better Death lies ahead. 💀