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Small Gods
368 pages, Paperback
Published July 8, 2025
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About the author
Terry Pratchett
684 books46.2k followersSir Terence David John Pratchett was an English author, humorist, and satirist, best known for the Discworld series of 41 comic fantasy novels published between 1983–2015, and for the apocalyptic comedy novel Good Omens (1990), which he co-wrote with Neil Gaiman.
Pratchett's first novel, The Carpet People, was published in 1971. The first Discworld novel, The Colour of Magic, was published in 1983, after which Pratchett wrote an average of two books a year. The final Discworld novel, The Shepherd's Crown, was published in August 2015, five months after his death.
With more than 100 million books sold worldwide in 43 languages, Pratchett was the UK's best-selling author of the 1990s. He was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 1998 and was knighted for services to literature in the 2009 New Year Honours. In 2001 he won the annual Carnegie Medal for The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents, the first Discworld book marketed for children. He received the World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement in 2010.
In December 2007 Pratchett announced that he had been diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer's disease. He later made a substantial public donation to the Alzheimer's Research Trust (now Alzheimer's Research UK, ARUK), filmed three television programmes chronicling his experiences with the condition for the BBC, and became a patron of ARUK. Pratchett died on 12 March 2015, at the age of 66.
Pratchett's first novel, The Carpet People, was published in 1971. The first Discworld novel, The Colour of Magic, was published in 1983, after which Pratchett wrote an average of two books a year. The final Discworld novel, The Shepherd's Crown, was published in August 2015, five months after his death.
With more than 100 million books sold worldwide in 43 languages, Pratchett was the UK's best-selling author of the 1990s. He was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 1998 and was knighted for services to literature in the 2009 New Year Honours. In 2001 he won the annual Carnegie Medal for The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents, the first Discworld book marketed for children. He received the World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement in 2010.
In December 2007 Pratchett announced that he had been diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer's disease. He later made a substantial public donation to the Alzheimer's Research Trust (now Alzheimer's Research UK, ARUK), filmed three television programmes chronicling his experiences with the condition for the BBC, and became a patron of ARUK. Pratchett died on 12 March 2015, at the age of 66.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
September 28, 2025
Help me out with Terry Pratchett. I've never read him despite Michael Dirda praising him to the skies and despite his having sold over 100,000,000 (!!!!!) copies of books and having 50 (!) bestsellers. So, I started with "Small Gods", which is a stand-alone in Discworld, but "an excellent place to start" says the blurb.
I read 55 pages and put it down. What a disappointment. I'm 100% with him on the whole gods thing, the ridiculousness of them, the billions of them. That's not my problem. The problem is the writing. I see now how he wrote 50 books--he reads as the sort of writer who once the moving finger writes, moves on, and NEVER looks back, never edits. And this book suffered so much for that. It's not fair coming at Pratchett after having been immersed in Wilde, Calvino, and Stella Gibbons's "Cold Comfort Farm"--which show such polishing to a brilliant, light, shining point.
"Small Gods" just meanders, circles back, repeats, and never progresses. And the story is trite and cliched. And then it seems a poor-man's "Gormenghast", with the huge Citadel standing in for the Castle. But my largest complaint is the man/writer himself--his stance is just rank Flippancy. On everything it seems, except his bad plots and writing. Everything is an aside or clever note. I don't get it.
I have to laugh at A.S. Byatt's famous dismissal of Pratchett as writing "for people whose imaginative lives are confined to TV cartoons." But then you call to mind that Pratchett sold more than 100 Million more copies of books than she did.
I've been told that I chose the wrong book, that "Small Gods" was in his middle period where he admits to writing too much. If I take another stab at him, I'll do "Going Postal".
I read 55 pages and put it down. What a disappointment. I'm 100% with him on the whole gods thing, the ridiculousness of them, the billions of them. That's not my problem. The problem is the writing. I see now how he wrote 50 books--he reads as the sort of writer who once the moving finger writes, moves on, and NEVER looks back, never edits. And this book suffered so much for that. It's not fair coming at Pratchett after having been immersed in Wilde, Calvino, and Stella Gibbons's "Cold Comfort Farm"--which show such polishing to a brilliant, light, shining point.
"Small Gods" just meanders, circles back, repeats, and never progresses. And the story is trite and cliched. And then it seems a poor-man's "Gormenghast", with the huge Citadel standing in for the Castle. But my largest complaint is the man/writer himself--his stance is just rank Flippancy. On everything it seems, except his bad plots and writing. Everything is an aside or clever note. I don't get it.
I have to laugh at A.S. Byatt's famous dismissal of Pratchett as writing "for people whose imaginative lives are confined to TV cartoons." But then you call to mind that Pratchett sold more than 100 Million more copies of books than she did.
I've been told that I chose the wrong book, that "Small Gods" was in his middle period where he admits to writing too much. If I take another stab at him, I'll do "Going Postal".
Displaying 1 of 1 review