All things must die, but what about Death itself?
In Reaper Man we find out, as Death is given an expiration date and sods off to get a bit of living in. Finding work on the farm of Miss Flitsworth, Death becomes Bill Door and finds that, like many more before him, when his time comes he really doesn’t want to go.
Unfortunately for the residents of Ankh-Morpork and in particular one Windle Poons, recently deceased wizard, Death’s absence has left too much life-force knocking about with some strange consequences, including the popping into existence of little snow-globes. Not such a bad problem on the face of it, but wait until they hatch…
Continuing the Discworld trend of books starring Death being better than the others (save for the City Watch – and bumping into Sergeant Colon guarding a bridge from theft made me miss those guys) there were quite a few little treats in this entry, including Mrs Cake the medium (but more of a small), a shy banshee who can’t face wailing at people so instead slips notes under their doors, the Death of Rats, and a little shout-out to the Scott Expedition’s Lawrence Oates (“I’m just going outside and may be some time”) that made my lip unexpectedly wobble...
...Reaper Man now ranks fairly highly amongst my favourite Discworld books to date.
More Death, please!
More Death, please!
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