Book:Small Gods

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Small Gods
http://ec1.images-amazon.com/images/P/0575052228.01._AA240_SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg
Co-author(s) {{{coauthors}}}
Illustrator(s) {{{illustrator}}}
Publisher Victor Gollancz
Publication date May 1992
ISBN 0575052228
Pages 288
RRP {{{rrp}}}
Main characters Brutha, Vorbis, Om, Great A'tuin
Series [[:Category:|]]
Annotations View
Notes Book #13
All data relates to the first UK edition.

Blurb

Brutha is the Chosen One.

His god has spoken to him, admittedly while currently in the shape of a tortoise.

Brutha is a simple lad. He can't read. He can't write. He's pretty good at growing melons. And his wants are few.

He wants to overthrow a huge and corrupt church.

He wants to prevent a horrible holy war.

He wants to stop the persecution of a philosopher who has dared to suggest that, contrary to the Church's dogma, the Discworld really does go through space on the back of an enormous turtle (*).

He wants peace and justice and brotherly love. He wants the Inquisition to stop torturing him now, please.

But most of all, what he really wants, more than anything else, is for his god to Choose Someone Else ...

(* which is true, but when has that ever mattered?)

Cover

The cover illustration was drawn by Josh Kirby. It is dominated by two figures: Brutha, who is chained to an altar in the form of a giant turtle and Vorbis with an eagle-like appearance interrogating him. Above both figures a large flying eagle holds a terrified turtle in its claws.

About the book

When reading the Discworld books starting from the first The Colour of Magic to the newest one notices a gradual change in the style of writing. Not only does the text become more picturesque and atmospheric, but the story itself becomes more elaborate. Whereas in The Colour of Magic the story seems to be a mere carrier for a multitude of jokes and anecdotes, newer books seem to be less funny, but make a good read, because of the intriguing story.

Small Gods is the first book in the Discworld series with a noticeably changed style. The main themes of the book are theism, atheism, morality and ethics. One of the more important messages of the book is: do good things, simply because they are good and not just because a god demands it.

This might not sound too funny, but the messages are hidden in a rather humorous story (this is still a Terry Pratchett book) about Brutha, a novice priest of the church of Om. It turns out that Brutha is the only believer who really believes in Om. Everyone else is just believing in rules and rituals. After happily ignoring his believers for ages Om decides to take a look at things. However, since the power of gods on Discworld is proportional to the number of real believers he finds himself changed into a rather powerless tortoise. Om and his only believer Brutha now try to restart the belief in Om.

Small Gods introduces Lu-Tze the history-monk. The book is also the origin of the phrase "The turtle moves" or De Chelonian Mobile.

Characters

Main characters

Minor characters

Cameos/Mentioned

Locations

  • Lost City of Ee (mentioned)
  • Skant, the Cenobiarch goes off to hermitage here when Vorbis (briefly) becomes the 8th prophet

Miscellaneous

  • Most Holy St Bobby, Ossory's ass

Annotations

  • "The other novices make fun of him, sometimes. Call him The Big Dumb Ox." - in Roundworld, this nickname was applied to St Thomas Aquinas
  • "maybe a small army could get a quarter of the way, and leave a cache of water. And do that several times. And another small army could use part of that cache to go further, maybe reach halfway, and leave a cache. And another small army... It had taken months." - a version of the Jeep Problem
  • "Stoics. Cynics. Big drinkers, the Cynics. Epicureans. Stochastics. Anamaxandrites. Epistemologists. Peripatetics. Synoptics." - implies that there are philosophers named Epicurus and Anaximander
  • "could drag Omnia kicking and screaming into the Century of the Fruitbat!" - the implication here is that this book takes place during the Century of the Fruitbat, even though it presumably takes place centuries before Moving Pictures (Lu-tze had to travel back in time to get to Omnia). Of course, there's no solid evidence that the "current" books take place in the Century of the Fruitbat either(?), and Thief of Time shows the Disc's space-time continuum is rather convoluted.
  • "I said to [Prince Lasgere of Tsort] 'There is no royal road to learning'" - parodies Euclid's statement to King Ptolemy: "there is no royal road to geometry" {{{2}}}
  • "Got to have a whole parcel of worshipers to live on Nob Hill." - references Roundworld's Nob Hill, an upscale area of San Francisco.
  • '[Om] plunged his beak through the brown feathers between the talons, and gripped. [...] "Now. You play, uh, ball with me, I'll play . . . ball with you."' - As the APF (http://www.lspace.org/books/apf/small-gods.html#p340244) notes, eagles don't have testicles. Of course, this might be a "balled eagle", but I doubt even Pterry would make such a bad subtle pun.

Notes

  • This book is not a part of a series, although some place it in a "Gods" series together with Pyramids and Hogfather.
  • Originally published in Great Britain by Victor Gollanz Ltd.
    Copyright (c) 1992 by Terry and Lyn Pratchett

External links

Small Gods Annotations - The Annotated Pratchett File


Previous book

Witches Abroad

Discworld Series Next book

Lords and Ladies

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