It's a rare book that can explore the fear of death (and undeath), yet ultimately leave the reader comforted. ( )

Terry Pratchett is everything good in the world. That's my own, very non-biased opinion. He's funny and insightful, and every time I read one of his books I think alternately, "I can't believe he said that! That's hilarious!" and "At last, somebody gets it!" ( )

Death goes missing and those who die start coming back without anywhere to go. Newly-dead Windle Poons, a wizard, wakes up in his coffin as a corpse while far away, a tall, dark farm hand is becoming really good with a scythe.

Paper or Plastic?: Imagine, for a second, this reviewer's bookshelves. Let your eye wander; there's the hardcovers, the Vonnegut collection, Asimov heaped carelessly near the top, next to a carelessly tossed collection of old batteries. And there's the Pratchett collection, book after book dealing with the delightfully organic and weird universe of the Discworld. All of the paperbacks are worn from use, but two stand out: Small Gods, which is waterlogged from being dropped in water, stained from coffee, and so helplessly battered that the front cover has fallen off, and Reaper Man, which isn't much better.

Reaper Man is obviously one of my favorite books in the Discworld trilogy. It was also the first: I randomly picked it up around the age of fifteen or so at an airport, because the cover intrigued me. (I possess what looks like th English version, with various characters parading across the cover on and around Death's horse: the black hardcover shown on Amazon looks nice, but the new bland paperbacks being issued now of this one are awful.) Suffice to say, I was immediately hooked, and what a book to start off with when it comes to an introduction to this series. It's held up well.

When we get down to the facts, this is a DEATH novel. In the Discworld, the reaper man has slowly become a full-fledged character, and because he's no longer just an abstract concept, he suddenly decides he doesn't want to do it anymore. (Existential psychosis: the bane of all thinking creatures.) Suffice to say, the powers that be are not happy, and they set out to make things right. Along the way, a recently deceased wizard who gets a second shot at life has to figure out, along with some very entertaining friends, on what exactly is happening with all this 'unreaped' life around...

This is primarily a book about redemption, the second chance, and what it means to be human. If you read this book and want to learn more about the character of death, here is his serial arc in terms of book titles, although, honestly, it's OK to start with Reaper Man:

ERIC , REAPER MAN , SOUL MUSIC , HOGFATHER

He also, of course, shows up quite regularly in other books as a special sort of cameo. Happy reading, I hope this review was helpful to you.

The next book in the Death series after 'Mort'. I really enjoyed this one. I love the Unseen University wizards anyway but I thought they were particularly funny in this one, and I loved Death as Bill Door! I found the trolleys really funny as well. A really good story, with lots of clever wit and laughter in it too. ( )