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They say there are only two things you can count on ... But that was before DEATH started pondering the existential. Of course, the last thing anyone needs is a squeamish Grim Reaper and soon his Discworld bosses have sent him off with best wishes and a well-earned gold watch. Now DEATH is... read more

Summary edit see section history

On Discworld, Death has started pondering the existential. His superiors decide that it's a good time for him to retire, so they send him off with a nice gold watch. Unfortunately, they don't have a replacement hired yet, which poses a bit of a problem for those who die in the meantime.

Characters/People edit see section history

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Quotes edit see section history

  • “The post of Senior Wrangler was an unusual one, as was the name itself. In some centers of learning, the Senior Wrangler is a leading philosopher; in others, he's merely someone who looks after horses. The Senior Wrangler at Unseen University was a philosopher who looked like a horse, thus neatly encapsulating all definitions.”
  • “"You? We can't take you," said the Dean, glaring at the Librarian. "You don't know a thing about guerrilla warfare."”
    The Dean
  • “Wizards don't believe in gods in the same way that most people don't find it necessary to believe in, say, tables. They know they're there, they know they're there for a purpose, they'd probably agree that they have a place in a well-organized universe, but they wouldn't see the point of believing, of going around saying, "O great table, without whom we are naught." Anyway, either the gods are there whether you believe or not, or exist only as a function of the belief, so either way you might as well ignore the whole business and, as it were, eat off your knees.”
  • “I AM NOT SURE THERE IS SUCH A THING AS RIGHT. OR WRONG. JUST PLACES TO STAND.”
    DEATH
  • Popular Highlights from Kindle Customers
  • no-one is finally dead until the ripples they cause in the world die away – until the clock he wound up winds down, until the wine she made has finished its ferment, until the crop they planted is harvested. The span of someone’s life, they say, is only the core of their actual existence.
    Highlighted by 17 Kindle customers
  • Light thinks it travels faster than anything but it is wrong. No matter how fast light travels it finds the darkness has always got there first, and is waiting for it.
    Highlighted by 10 Kindle customers
  • IF PEOPLE KNEW WHEN THEY WERE GOING TO DIE, I THINK THEY PROBABLY WOULDN’T LIVE AT ALL.
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  • Anyway, either the gods are there whether you believe or not, or exist only as a function of the belief, so either way you might as well ignore the whole business and, as it were, eat off your knees.
    Highlighted by 8 Kindle customers
  • there’s nothing like millions of years of really frustrating trial and error to give a species moral fibre and, in some cases, backbone.
    Highlighted by 8 Kindle customers
  • LORD, WHAT CAN THE HARVEST HOPE FOR, IF NOT FOR THE CARE OF THE REAPER MAN?
    Highlighted by 7 Kindle customers
  • It’s seconds, endlessly turning the maybe into the was.
    Highlighted by 6 Kindle customers
  • Windle shook his head sadly. Five exclamation marks, the sure sign of an insane mind.
    Highlighted by 5 Kindle customers
  • The ability of skinny old ladies to carry huge loads is phenomenal. Studies have shown that an ant can carry one hundred times its own weight, but there is no known limit to the lifting power of the average tiny eighty-year-old Spanish peasant grandmother.
    Highlighted by 4 Kindle customers
  • Belief is one of the most powerful organic forces in the multiverse. It may not be able to move mountains, exactly. But it can create someone who can.
    Highlighted by 4 Kindle customers
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Setting & Locations edit see section history

Discworld.

Organizations edit see section history

  • Fresh Start: a mainly undead and casual monsters support society

First Sentence edit see section history

The Morris dance is common to all inhabited worlds in the multiverse.

Series & Lists edit see section history

This is book 11 of 53 in Discworld. (standard series)

Preceded by Moving Pictures, and followed by Witches Abroad.

This is book 2 of 5 in Death of the Discworld. (standard series)

Preceded by Mort, and followed by Soul Music.

This is book 126 of 196 in BBC 'Big Read' Top 200 Novels, 2003. (authoritative list)

Preceded by The Poisonwood Bible, and followed by Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging.

Authors & Contributors edit see section history

  1. Terry Pratchett (Author)

Other Contributors:

  1. Andreas Brandhorst (Translator) - German

First Edition edit see section history

Original Language: English
Publisher: Victor Gollancz Ltd.
Country: Great Britain
Publication Date: 1991
ISBN: 3442415519
Page Count: 287

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Classification edit see section history


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