DEATH wants to take a break. So who has to take over the task? A lot of souls out there waiting to be processed, y'know?

Easy. Get an apprentice. Experience not important. Horse, scythe and all the curry you'll ever need.

But dont get too involved with your...eer..'clients'. Thats what Mort did, though. Saved someone who was supposed to die just because he thinks she's cute. But the world doesnt like that. When a person who's supposed to die is still walking around, things begin to turn pear-shaped.

So DEATH (no, Im not shouting) needs to sort things out. But where is he? He joined a conga line and is having a jolly time.

This is where the Discworld books start to become laugh out loud funny. The first three books was okay but 'Mort' is the book where Pratchett finally found his funny bone and infects everyone with the laughing disease.

Those who have yet to start the fun ride through the Discworld and the great city of Ankh Morpork should start their journey here.

Enjoy.

Needing a break from the daily grind, DEATH takes on an apprentice to help him with the field work. He hires the awkward boy Mort (great name!) at a village job fair, and begins teaching him the trade. Mort seems to have found his calling, and as he grows into the job, DEATH leaves him with more responsibility. Until one day Mort breaks the rules, setting chaos in motion, which he must now scramble to set right.

I really liked Mort (the character, that is.) I liked the way he grew from a gangly kid into an imposing figure ("more solid" than everything around him.) And, of course, DEATH a major character in this book. (We get to see his warm and fuzzy side). We also meet the Four Horsemen again, whose dialogue is hilarious (especially the way it is presented), as well as a new inept young wizard (not Rincewind), and DEATH's buxom daughter.

"Mort" is my favorite Discworld book so far (although I still have a long way to go!) I'm reading them in order, but *you don't need to have read the others to get this one*. It stands on its own just fine.

Mort, the 4th Discworld book by Terry Pratchett, is one of the funniest Discworld books out there. It's a hilarious book that's missing some of the social commentary that permeates his books later in the series. You don't miss it, though, as you continue to laugh out loud at some of the shenanigans. Only a weak ending prevents it from being the best book of the bunch.

Death takes on an apprentice. Mort, the unlucky chosen one, has a bit of trouble settling into his role. It's not very fun to be present when people leave the mortal coil. One time, however, he spies a princess (who can actually see him as well, even though people aren't supposed to be able to) and is very attracted to her. Unfortunately for him, this attraction leads him to try and change the course of destiny, and Mort finds that it's a lot harder to do then it looks. The princess finds out that it's quite hard to live when you're supposed to be dead. Death doesn't seem to notice all of this as he's busy trying to experience humanity. But when he finds out, Mort may wish he hadn't.

I really enjoyed this book. Death has always been my favourite character in Pratchett's books, so I decided to start reading the books that are actually about him. Mort is the first, and I can now see why I've always liked the character. Death has a dry wit about him, but he's always matter-of-fact when he's doing his job. He tries to impart that onto Mort, with limited success. I like the fact that he always speaks in capital letters LIKE THIS, thus giving him a real presence when you read him. It's even better when he's out learning about humanity, sitting in a bar and lamenting about the fact that he has no friends. The dissonance between this very human feeling and his powerful voice is really neat.

The other characters in Mort are also wonderful. There's Ysabell, Death's adopted daughter who he's obviously trying to pair Mort with. She's feisty, never slipping into the stereotypical female role. Albert shines as Death's servant, a man who's not all he appears to be. When things finally let loose with Albert, it's both powerful and funny how it happens. There's Keli, the princess that Mort tries to save. She's a petulant child, even more so when people can't seem to remember that she's not supposed to be living. Finally, there's Cutwell, the wizard that Mort enlists to help him learn to walk through walls and Keli employs to make people remember her. All of these characters are complete and well-rounded, with none of them missing a beat. Their interactions are marvelous and the jokes come out of the characters rather than at the expense of the characters. Heck, even Rincewind, the incompetent wizard from the first books, makes an appearance!

There's more to this book than the characters, though. The plot is simple, but very good. While there's not much commentary in this book, it does make a bit of a statement about how powerful an emotion love can be. It also shows what a curse being human can be, as Death loses himself in the experience. He even lowers himself to become a fry cook at one point, just to see what it's like. No insult intended to fry cooks, but when you're the anthropomorphic projection of an aspect of life, then you have lowered yourself when you start working a kitchen. The plot moves quickly, with little padding. There are no unnecessary characters placed in the book just to make a joke, which is a sin Pratchett starts to commit in later books. When somebody appears, you know they're going to have an impact.

The only bad thing about this book is the ending. It's very arbitrary, and seems to go against the rest of the book. It seems to come out of nowhere, just being used as an excuse to end the book. The final conflict is resolved way too quickly and neatly. It's almost like Pratchett knew how he wanted to end the book, but couldn't figure out how to get there. It makes sense, but only if you reach a bit.

Still, it's well worth the time spent getting to the ending. The jokes are great, Death is wonderful and you'll really love reading about him. I can't wait to read the next Death book and see what happens. This book is a wonderful place to start your Discworld experience, being the start of a subset within the Discworld series. You won't regret it.

Whittell's book has only one strength -- that of covering a special region in the world on which there is little information or unfortunately, little international interest. Whittell's book is purely descriptive and an account of the places he visited, how he got there and the people he met. It is sorely lacking in observation and whatever little observations he comes up with are trite and tacky. Whittell seems to have a lack of understanding of the people, or chooses to be so. One gets a feeling that this book will fit right into a larger anthology on Whittell's life rather an attempt to make readers learn more and understand a region and its people. Whittell's account is a mediocre and half-hearted attempt to delve into the deeper issues facing Central Asia -- identity in the period after Soviet occupation. Central Asia has always been an interesting region for me, from the culture, history, to the location and the people. I would love to visit there sometime. The book is good for some information on the vast region, but otherwise less than average.