Small Gods by Terry Pratchett

I cannot believe it’s taken me this long to start reading Terry Pratchett. He’s someone I’ve always thought I would enjoy reading, but never actually got round to it. In addition to this, I refuse to buy a book for its full price when I could get a second-hand copy for less than £3. Unfortunately, despite finding practically every other Terry Pratchett book under the sun, I was unable to find the first Discworld novel, The Colour of Magic. Eventually, I picked a book at random from the huge stack that continues to defy the laws of gravity in a second-hand bookshop that smells of books (lovely).

The plot of Small Gods is a very difficult one to explain. Basically, it tells the story of the followers of a religion called “Omnianism”, where they worship the god Om, who is currently in Omnia (the city where the Omnians live) in the form of a tortoise. Yes, a tortoise, primarily because he couldn’t manage anything better. There’s plenty corrupt in Omnia, but a young man named Brutha seems to be the one to fix it, since Om is talking to him, making him the next prophet. Brutha isn’t exactly the brightest – at the start of the book, anyway – so no one around him would ever have believed that he would be the Chosen One. Even Om himself tells him, “You’re not exactly the chosen one I would have chosen.” There is, of course, a whole lot of other characters and plot twists thrown into the mix, but those are just the basics.

All in all, it completely engrossed me. It amazed me how cleverly Discworld was linked to our world, and I liked that in Discworld, people believe the world is a sphere, when it is in fact flat, whereas in our world we used to believe the opposite. Small Gods has some very dryly funny bits, but it remains much more meaningful than I had expected, raising to my mind the issue of corruptcy in religions and governments alike.

This book has made me eager to read more of the Discworld novels, to find out if they are all so original, funny and meaningful. I think that Terry Pratchett has done what many writers are afraid to do, and written something so weird that it stands out amongst other books. It’s quite inspiring, really, since it shows that it’s alright to be a bit different every once in a while.

I recommend this to anyone looking for something refreshingly different to read, or anyone interested in theories about gods, religion or politics. And if you are going to read it, I also recommend getting it in a second-hand bookshop that smells pleasantly of old paper.