Please help a newbie out! Small God!?

[shadow9d9]

Well, I started reading seriously about 2 years ago... I found Mort/Guards Guards! to be great books.. so I picked up every discworld book on ebay... I found each book to get better except for a few stumbles (Equal rites and wyrd sisters(I know little about plays)). Then about 3 months ago I was onto the next book in the series after the fantastic witches abroad, Small Gods...

For some reason I just couldn't get into it.. I found it ploddingly slow, characters boring, and not much funny to found... so I kinda left it alone... today I decided to give it another chance and forced myself to read another 75 pages... I very very rarely give up reading books... but at page 250, I just find nothing redeeming about it...

Keep in mind, I hate religion(although I know much about it), so it isn't that I am offended... it is just mind numbingly slow of a plot, the characters(both om and brutha) are awful, and it is very very rarely funny.

So I went online today to see if people agree with me... Yes, there are a few negative scores on amazon, but it seems like a majority of the reviews I have read online seem to be overly glowingly positive, declaring the book to be hilarious!

What do you guys think?

I hope it doesn't turn me off to reading the next book in the series sometime in the near future.

 

[chrispenycate]

Different strokes…, yes, I consider "Small Gods" to be one of his weakest; but every poll you read about "your favoritest Pratchett ever" you'll find quite a few classing it at the top of the list.
But don't worry, the things we consider he got wrong with that book, he didn't duplicate; not that later books don't have other things wrong with them (and no, I'm not going to give you a list of my other non-favorites; there's no reason that our mutual non-apreciation should carry over) but "Small Gods" was a one off.

 

[zorcarepublic]

Well, its an okay book, but its more of a way to find out how Omnianism turned from a religion that put whole countries to the sword to a religion which includes Constable Visit...

I recommend that you read more of the City Watch series. Its much better.

Oh, btw, did you like Pyramids?

 

[Winters_Sorrow]

Personally it's my favourite one!
But it's all taste-based like Chris has said.
If it's not to your taste, not to worry. It does pick up a lot towards the end however.

 

[shadow9d9]

Well, its an okay book, but its more of a way to find out how Omnianism turned from a religion that put whole countries to the sword to a religion which includes Constable Visit...

I recommend that you read more of the City Watch series. Its much better.

Oh, btw, did you like Pyramids?

Pyramids was ok... Here is how I rated each of the discworld books:

A Colour of Magic- 3.1
A Light Fantastic- 3.2
Equal Rites- 2.9
Mort -3.75
Sourcery- 3.8
Wyrd Sisters- 3.4
Pyramids- 3.7
Eric- 3.5
Guards! Guards! -3.95
Moving Pictures- 3.4
Reaper Man- 4.0
Witches abroad- 4.25
Small Gods- 1

 

[zorcarepublic]

I prefer the Watch set of books, followed very closely by books which include Death (and Susan Sto Helit as well). Those two play off each other fantastically...

 

[fifteenjugglers]

When I first read it at about age 16, I didn't like it all that much. I just re-read it, aged 25, and now it's one of my favourites. Between 16 and 25 I've learnt a whole lot more about philosophy and religion, so there's a whole lot of stuff in there that wasn't funny to my 16 year old self but wonderfully funny to my 25 year old self.

 

[Joel007]

As I find the catholic church amusing anyway, Small Gods was hilarious: with its religion without belief; exquisitors who ensure that people claim to believe, and a god who hasn't been around but no one notices because of the religion that gets in their way.

'sup Brutha?

 

[Brian G Turner]

Personally I found Small Gods to be one of my favourites, even though I didn't agree with how Terry handled religion. There just seemed to be some sort of spark about the book - but maybe the earlier comment about "different strokes..." simply describes it best.

 

[Who's Wee Dug]

Small Gods is not one of my favorites either,but still readable.

 

[sanityassassin]

I enjoyed Small Gods but it is a personal taste I found some of the discworld novels to be better than others a lot of people found the Rincewind books brilliant but I think they are his weakest series don't let one book put you off as terry puts different themes in each book and you may not be attracted to a perticular theme

 

[Leandra]

Small Gods is one of my favourites as well. I agree completely with Joel's comment, it's what I liked in the book as well. It's also one of the best examples of what a Discworld god is with (or without) believers.