As always, Pratchett's Discworld novels are unfailingly entertaining. In Mort, Pratchett introduces his personification of Death. However, the familiar hooded, skeletal figure with a sickle is getting kind of bored with rushing about from deathbed to murder scene... The solution? To take on an apprentice. Mort is an awkward, clumsy farmer's son, whose inconvenient habit of asking questions has made him more in-the-way than not at home and he's had no luck finding a position elsewhere. So when Death shows up and offers him the job, he thinks it might be interesting. However, when his very first job involves the destined assassination of a beautiful princess, his humanity (and love at first sight) could have disastrous consequences...

Being one of the first and the latest of all the Pratchett reads, I'm really surprised just how much I loved this one. I'm upping the star count to a full five just because I think I liked Mort, the character, even better this time around.DEATH on DISCWORLD. :) Seriously, there's nothing quite like it. Him. The personification. :) He meddles so much with humanity, tries to get drunk, and hires an apprentice. Not all in that order. Death is the mewling cat at the party of life. :)The story is a bit more interesting, I must say, than the ones immediately preceding it, and of all the books, I think it captures the essential spirit of all the ones to come after. High praise, no? I hope so. :)Very funny stuff. :)

Un joven soñador y bastante despistado Mortimer pero más conocido como Mort, pertenece a una familia de agricultores, pero él no tiene ningún talento para ello. Su padre y hermano deciden buscarle un oficio durante la feria de contratación del Cerro de las Ovejas, donde no será hasta el último momento en que su suerte cambie de lado y la figura cadavérica y encapuchada conocida como la Muerte le ofrezca ser su aprendiz. Tras unas cuantas lecciones y unos cuantos errores más, la Muerte termina delegando parte de su trabajo en Mort, dedicándose esta misma a reflexionar y buscar lo que es la diversión, mientras Mort pone en serio riesgo el tejido de la realidad.Cuarta novela de la extensa saga de cuarenta y un volúmenes que conforma Mundodisco, y la primera que inicio la saga de la Muerte. Como toda historia de Terry Pratchett (al menos las tres anteriores que he leído) presenta una trama disparatada, desbordando imaginación por los cuatro costados y con un humor que hacen que sus historias sean de lo más divertidas. Me he encontrado con la hasta ahora mi mejor lectura dentro de esta saga, parece que Pratchett encuentra el equilibrio narrativo y mayor cohesión, no meras escenas o gags como me habían parecido en las tres anteriores. Una historia que me ha resultado frenética e impredecible, con un argumento sencillo pero que trata temas tan interesantes como la justicia, el destino y obviamente la muerte, dejándote citas para recordar y reflexiones de lo más interesantes si uno agudiza sus sentidos con la lectura y recoge esos pensamientos incisivos que deja su comprensión.Si has leído a Pratchett con anterioridad sabrás que tiene un estilo muy fluido, con una prosa bastante cuidada y que no existen capítulos, ni prólogos ni epílogos. Otro de sus señas de identidad son las delirantes notas a pie de página, siendo este el primer volumen donde más he encontrado, y donde por primera vez en mi vida, he visto una nota al pie de página dentro de otra, simplemente fantástico. Otra de las cualidades que hay que destacar en cuanto a la edición del texto, es que la Muerte habla siempre en mayúsculas, lo cual, al menos en mi caso, aporta una voz diferente y profunda durante la lectura a su personaje. Es muy interesante como Pratchett va desarrollando su mundo en cada volumen, aquí aprenderemos cosas como sabe la Muerte el momento en que van a morir las personas, nos explicará el funcionamiento de la velocidad de la luz en el Disco, nos contará alguna particularidad sobre los hechiceros o Dioses, y un ciento de cosas más. Además, tendremos el cameo de un par de personajes de las dos anteriores novelas, que, aunque no supone nada para la trama, siempre te sacan la sonrisilla y ese guiño socarrón pensando que a ese personaje, ya lo conoces.

So I've decided to dip my toes back into the waters of the utterly bonkers but always hilarious Discworld Series by the late, great Terry Pratchett. I've only read odd books here and there, and certainly have never read the books in order. Honestly I don't have that sort of patience. So instead I prefer to flit in and out focusing more on the books featuring my favourite characters. I tend to find the plots, and even the characters at times, just superfluous to the reading experience! For me it's ALL about the humour. Mort is technically the fourth novel in the series but can be considered a starter novel for those stories revolving around Death as a main character. Death has always been my favourite character in the Discworld series. He's one of the fictional characters that I'd like to invite to my 'fantasy dinner party with literary characters of my choosing'... Along with Ford Prefect, maybe Jo March, definitely Dennis the Dragon, Jane Eyre & Mr Rochester (every dinner party needs some awkward marital tension!!) and Mr Darcy Mr Collins Who could resist being complimented on ones boiled potatoes?!?!?Honestly this review is pretty useless and mostly irrelevant regarding the occurrences of the book because I don't know what to say about it!! Yes it's light on plot, light on character development etc...but sometimes that's not everything. So most importantly, I laughed. A lotAt passages like this one:"As the light distilled from silver to gold Mort galloped across a flat, chilly landscape, chequered with cabbage fields from edge to edge. There are many things to be said about cabbages. One may talk at length about their high vitamin content, their vital iron contribution, the valuable roughage and commendable food value. In the mass, however, they lack a certain something; despite their claim to immense nutritional and moral superiority over, say, daffodils, they have never been a sight to inspire the poet's muse. Unless he was hungry, of course."I guess this sort of humour clicks with me. I'm hoping to read all the books in the Death series: Mort (this one), Reaper Man, Soul Music, Hogfather and Thief of Time... But I may just pop in on other character books too. Some people do say that it's best to read the books in order to fully get all the nuances of character and plot etc but I've never found the need to do that. Plus the first two Discworld books are definitely not as good. So when in the mood for one, I simply pick up any of the books to hand and just know I'm going to start laughing. three and a half starsI came across this helpful guide as to how to read the Discworld novels if you don't want to follow publishing order.

Ono kad se smeje i pored dosadne zubobolje. To moe samo Praet.