Small Gods

Small Gods by Terry Pratchett (1992 Gollancz Hardcover 339pp)

 

Small Gods is the thirteenth novel in Terry Pratchett’s long-running and extremely popular Discworld series. It’s a pretty-much stand-alone story with only minimal cameos from some series regulars. Published in 1992 it reflects the author seemingly still on an upward curve in writing ability and popularity.

Once again, I have to state I have read very few of the Discworld books themselves, probably four or five at this stage. I seem to have spent half my life reading about how great the author and his books are but I’ve still not caught the obsessive bug that many Discworld fans display. So maybe it’s just me…

This book was basically sold to me by the reviews and comments that stated this was ‘one the greatest scathing take-downs of organised religion in print’ and so on. I was expecting greatness but ended up feeling it was pretty ordinary, alas.

Brutha is a novice priest in the religious order that runs the State? /Nation? /Empire? of Omnia as a theocracy. Laws enforced by the ‘Quisition’ demand total obedience to religious doctrine and the words of the seven prophets who have spoken the will of the god Om. Brutha himself is very naive and obeys without question. He also has a photographic memory and total recall which will come in very handy later in the plot.

One day a tortoise literally falls out of the sky (after a hungry eagle drops it) into the Citadel where Brutha is tending the garden. However, this is no ordinary tortoise, it happens to be an incarnation of Om himself who has lost most of his godly powers. The frustrated Om finds he can communicate only with Brutha and thus they become the driving comedic odd couple of the story.

The main antagonist is Vorbis the sadistic head of the Quisition who strives to ruthlessly stamp out all opposition to the church. Omnia has fought many wars against its neighbours and Vorbis plans a final push to take over nearby Ephebe, which resembles ancient Greece with its multiple gods and philosophers. Brutha becomes part of the plan and soon the misadventures begin – will Om regain his powers? Will events cause a moral awakening for Brutha? Who will become the promised eighth Prophet?

Along the way there’s time for plenty of gags and satire at institutions. Some of the repeated call-back gags ceased to be funny early on.

I could see what Pratchett was trying to do in this book but I constantly felt he was holding himself back so he could retain a certain tone or maybe a typical Discworld style. Yes, he has a lot to say about how organised religion has lost its way and people follow the doctrine rather than the original teachings but I felt this was put across in a very mild pedestrian way. If you find the satire in this book ‘scathing’ I think you may have been living under a very sheltering rock for much of your life. Of course, the other possibility is that I’m just more cynical and jaded than the average Discworld reader, hmm.

Having said all that, there’s a lot of pleasure in reading Pratchett’s words for entertainment. You could tell he was overflowing with ideas and liked his world-building. His descriptions of the titular small gods as feral wild things fighting over potential believers are fascinating as are his thoughts on class and the absurdities of everyday life. Likewise, the scenes where Discworld regular DEATH appears to the recently departed seem a cut above the rest of the text for some reason.

Enjoyable stuff but I don’t think it will change your opinion on any of the issues it tries to tackle – if you’re reading Pratchett, you’ll probably already agree with him anyway.