Discworld Read-Along #4: Mort
It’s hard to believe, but we’ve already read our first book from the Death collection in our ongoing Discworld Read-Along. If you aren’t aware of what this is, I am currently doing a complete Chronological Read-Along in which we read a Discworld novel every month. These books are quick and easy to read, usually only taking about 6-8 hours for new readers, so even if you haven’t started yet, there’s still loads of time for you to hop in! Plus, there are over forty books in this series, so there is more than enough opportunity to catch up and join the read-along.
Today, we’re discussing the fourth Discworld book—hey, we’re about ten percent of the way there already—entitled Mort, in which the titular character is taken on as an apprentice of Death himself. Yes, the same Death we came to love and appreciate during cameos in the prior books. There’s so much to discuss here, so let’s get into it! As a note, if you have not yet read Mort, there will be spoilers in this post, so tread with caution.
What is Terry Pratchett’s Mort About?
The first book in the Death collection from Discworld, Mort, follows a young boy who is purportedly not good at much of anything. He was too busy filling his head with books to be a useful apprentice to just about anyone. He spends all day at what is essentially a soul-sucking job fair (a bit redundant, but you get the picture) before the soul-sucker himself, Death, comes by. Mort is the last person at the job fair, having not been chosen, when Death comes by and selects him, taking the boy from his father to learn how to be… well, Death.
And so, Mort goes on to learn all about being Death. He even shadows Death at work, watching him claim the souls of folk whose time has come. During one such evening of shadowing, Death comes for a king. Mort sees the princess and tries to warn her, hoping to stop the assassination of the girl’s father, but of course, he does not succeed in this. Death cautions Mort, telling him that while it is natural and human to want to save the girl’s father, he can’t and he shouldn’t. Fate is already written, and the king’s death is not stoppable. To change it would change the course of history and potentially wreak havoc, making the world a far worse place than it otherwise would have been.
Mort doesn’t learn his lesson, though—one evening, when he’s out being Death all on his lonesome, Mort finds that one of the people whose soul he is to claim is, in fact, that very princess he’d tried to warn—a princess whom he has developed a bit of crush on. Mort can’t bring himself to let her die and instead kills her assassin, but this causes a massive kerfuffle.
Okay, it’s a lot bigger than a kerfuffle, but I really like the word kerfuffle.
It causes a reality-altering event. The princess was supposed to die, and so people carry on as if she’s already dead, though they don’t really know why. Her life is ruined and she won’t really be in power anyway, so she seeks out the aid of a wizard. She stumbles upon a young bloke named Cutwell and enlists him as the Royal Recognizer—basically, just someone who points out that she does, in fact, exist.
As all of reality is falling apart and a great dome threatens to rewrite existence, Death himself is on holiday. He’s out dancing, partying, and drinking. Mort, being the current Death, slowly begins to take on the actual Death’s mannerisms and even his attributes, like piercing blue eyes. While in this state and with the real Death nowhere to be found, Mort, Cutwell, and Princess Keli try to find a plan to set things right. Mort wants to stop the dome, Keli wants to have a noble death as a monarch, which doesn’t sit well with Mort.
Mort enlists the aid of Albert, Death’s Ward, whom he recognizes as the Great Magus he has heard about, by enlisting the aid of Death’s daughter Ysabell. They persuade Albert to perform a spell that will bring Death back to them, hopefully to stop the dome. The spell works with the aid of the wizards of Unseen University—some of whom you may recognize from previous works, like Rincewind—but first calls Mort to them due to his Death-like nature. With a second attempt, they finally get in touch with the real Death, who has found happiness working as a… short-order cook.
Death, aware that the universe is in danger, is unable to set things right ordinarily. Keli’s goal of being crowned queen before her death is interrupted by a stampeding sacrificial elephant, indicating that the dome suffocating their reality is too constricted for them to stop it. So, Mort goes for Plan C: teleporting Princess Keli to Death’s domain. There, he finds an angry Death who fights him in an incredible, intense duel for the fates of Mort’s allies. While Mort does seem to lose, Death ultimately bargains with the gods, earning forgiveness for Mort’s disobedience to fate.
Mort goes on to marry not Princess Keli—or Queen Keli then—but Death’s daughter, Ysabelle. He becomes a duke, as well as Death’s son-in-law, and it’s unclear which one is better, though personally, I’d prefer to be Death’s son-in-law. The ending is remarkably happy and pleasant, evening bringing a tear to my eye with how beautifully the whole story was wrapped up as we see Death go back to his ordinary duties, knowing that he isn’t as happy as he was preparing food.
My Thoughts on Mort
Of the four Discworld novels we have read thus far, Mort is undoubtedly my favorite. This novel takes all the elements that made the first three novels good and amplifies them a thousandfold, resulting in a witty, emotional adventure that is well-written and concise without feeling rushed. One of my big complaints with Equal Rites is that it kind of pulled its climax out of nowhere, with the final act of the story seeming very abrupt compared to the rest of the story. With Mort, we’re introduced to the main conflict quite quickly, as well as all the major characters who play a crucial role as the story unfold!
We’re shown right away that Mort is a softy, probably not cut out to be Death’s apprentice. He doesn’t like seeing people go. We know right away that when he is tasked with killing the princess, he is absolutely not going to do it. This is set up so well, yet we’re all extremely tense because we were recently told by Terry Pratchett through the character of Death that if a person who is supposed to die does NOT, terrible things are going to happen—far worse things than would be expected.
Everything in this book is absolutely perfect. The humor, the wit, the emotion, the philosophy, the story—it is absolutely outstanding. It’s definitely my favorite I’ve read so far, but not only that, it may actually be my new favorite Discworld book. I knew that this reread was going to very likely change my favorite of the series, which is typically Reaper Man, another novel from the Death Collection, but now I’m thinking that Mort may be my favorite.
It’s far too early to tell, of course—we’ve only read four books from this massive collection. Mort was just significantly better than I remembered. It’s my favorite so far, but let’s wait ‘til we get to Reaper Man in a few months before I say anything too crazy.
So, as you can probably guess, I’m going to give Mort five stars Absolutely stupendous work. Simply perfect. A marvel of literature. Seriously, I can’t believe I forgot how amazing these early Discworld novels can be. I really thought things didn’t pick up until Guards Guards! or some novel around there—I guess this is the price I pay for never reading in chronological order before!
Your Thoughts on Mort
But those are my thoughts on Mort. Let’s get to yours because this wouldn’t be a read-along if I weren’t reading along with other folks like you! So here are your thoughts on Terry Pratchett’s Mort.
First of all, I put out my usual poll asking for a star rating. I got mostly five stars, but there were some four stars and… my word… there was a three star rating? Why? You didn’t even take a minute to explain yourself! This is madness; madness, I say! Please, if you would rate Mort three stars or less, explain your rating to me in the comments because I’m flabbergasted by this kerfuffle.
The average rating, absent mine, is still about 4.5 stars from the community, so I think we’re in pretty good shape. But, truly, I want to hear from you if you did not enjoy this book or if you thought it was just kinda “meh”. What did or didn’t you enjoy about it? What worked and what didn’t?
I also received a comment from Delwyn Klassen on the YouTubepost, who did a really good job explaining one of the key reasons why Mort was enjoyable. Delwyn says:
I enjoyed the first few books a great deal as introductory: new world, new characters, new rules - like comic books or a TV show or a DnD campaign. The expansion in Mort of the story-world thread of an initially amusing side character in Death was fascinating to me. Then it carried on into more books and carried more importance as the world grew and aged.
The best part, though, was noticing Sir Terry’s writing style really falling into place, especially with nailing character descriptions in one sentence or two that let you imagine them completely without actually describing much at all (eg. “… [Mort] appeared to have built out of knees.”). It was a stark contrast to other authors I was reading at the time (Asimov!) who would spend a page and a half in chapter two detailing their protagonist from head to toe, literally.
Really, really well said, Delwyn! Seriously, I am so grateful to get insights like this from folks. I absolutely agree. Expanding Death from being a side character who pops up now and then to being one of the focal characters was a key move for Discworld that I think helped to popularize the series as much as it has been!
The comments on Pratchett’s writing style are outstanding, too—Sir Terry really did come into his own with this work. The writing in this one is miles better than the writing in the previous three books (not to say that the writing was bad—it was excellent, but now it’s significantly better). Mort only gives you the information that you need—there’s no fluff, and there’s no excess. Every word and sentence is placed deliberately, and it makes the overall reading experience smooth and enjoyable. There isn’t a single page of this book that seemed like a slog.
And yeah, comparing Pratchett to Asimov is… woof.
What’s Next?
So, now we get to talk about what’s next for the Read-Along! Honestly, I’m feeling a little exhausted after the video I just made last week regarding resurrection, so it was good to take some time to sit down and write a post that’s significantly more casual and didn’t take much time. I’m really enjoying this read-along and even if I get burned out on my other video styles, I know I’ll be able to keep doing this at a minimum.
So, we’re going to keep chugging along with this Discworld Read-Along! Our next book is… Sourcery by Terry Pratchett! In this fifth book, we’re going to head right back to Unseen University, where we’ll revisit a familiar face: Rincewind! Luggage is also there for the journey, if I recall, but don’t hold me to that—it’s been a long time!
We will be discussing Sourcery on my YouTube and Twitter accounts on March 15th, so make sure you have the book read by then if you want to vote and add your voice to the mix! The discussion video itself is due to be released on March 22nd.
If you don’t already have a copy of Sourcery, you can get one using my links below if you’re so inclined. I get a few cents from the purchase when you do this, and every penny counts with the amount of time and money investment that these videos require, so I’d be very grateful if you do choose to support me in this way.
Another way you can support me—again, if you’re so inclined—is to check out the video versions of my posts. I’m extremely proud of last week’s video on resurrection, and I hope it both entertains and provokes thoughts from other folks out there, so please go give that a watch if you haven’t already.
Conclusion
I greatly appreciate you not only taking the time to check out this post but taking the time to be part of this read-along. Every person I get to interact with makes my day! This is my favorite series, and it’s by my favorite author, so the opportunity to chat with other folks who are both new to and familiar with Discworld is amazing. If you’re part of this read-along, please consider looping other folks in on it so we can reach more people and get more folks talking about this incredible fantasy series.