Reaper Man

Reaper Man Terry Pratchett Date: 30 July, 2002   —   $6.75   —   Book product page Rating:

Fiction, Fantasy/Satire

The Death of the Discworld is an accomodating sort, who likes cats and curry and who takes an interest in human affairs. Too much of an interest, in the eyes of the Auditors, beings who regulate the universe (and who think of humanity, and life in general, as impossibly messy.) They appeal and cause Death to be cast out, whereupon he becomes mortal.

Until a new Death evolves, then, there is all sorts of life force sloshing around, and people stop living without, you know, dying. Zombies start walking around Anhk-Morpork, not hungry for anything but mostly annoyed that they're not getting the good rest they were promised; little individual deaths start evolving by species; Death learns about farming; and a strange new thing starts appearing in souvenir shops around the city in the most Stephen-King-esque bit I've ever seen from Pratchett.

This book tells of what it means to be alive, and how an taking an interest can be better than engendering fear. We learn a lot about Death in this book.