sign in| help
Search advanced search
 
Books
Search:
x dismiss this message

Did you know you can edit this page?

Mort
  • Rated 0 stars
Read Mort
Discworld: Book 4

Mort (1987) (edit title/settings)

by Terry Pratchett (Author) (edit contributors)

Share this book on:
see page history

Description edit see section history

Terry Pratchett's profoundly irreverent novels are consistent number one bestseller in England, where they have catapulted him into the highest echelons of parody next to Mark Twain, Kurt Vonnegut, Douglas Adams, and Carl Hiaasen. In this Discworld installment, Death comes to Mort with an... read more

Summary edit see section history

As a teenager, Mort had a personality and temperament that made him rather unsuited to the family farming business. Mort's father, named Lezek, felt that Mort thought too much, which prevented him from achieving anything practical. Thus, Lezek took him to a local hiring fair, hoping that Mort... read more (warning: may contain spoilers)

As a teenager, Mort had a personality and temperament that made him rather unsuited to the family farming business. Mort's father, named Lezek, felt that Mort thought too much, which prevented him from achieving anything practical. Thus, Lezek took him to a local hiring fair, hoping that Mort would land an apprenticeship with some tradesman; not only would this provide a job for his son, but it would also make his son's propensity towards thinking someone else's problem.
At the job fair, Mort at first has no luck attracting the interest of an employer. Then, just before the stroke of midnight, a man concealed in a black cloak arrives on a white horse. He says he is looking for a young man to assist him in his work and selects Mort for the job. The man turns out to be Death, and Mort is given an apprenticeship in ushering souls into the next world (though his father thinks he's been apprenticed to an undertaker).
When it is a princess' time to die (according to a preconceived reality), Mort, instead of ushering her soul, saves her from death, dramatically altering a part of the Discworld's reality. However, the princess, for whom Mort has a developing infatuation, does not have long to live, and he must try to save her, once again, from a seemingly unstoppable death. Both the princess and Mort end up consulting the local wizard, Igneous Cutwell, for various methods of assistance with the crisis.
As Mort begins to do most of Death's "Duty", he loses some of his former character traits, and essentially starts to become more like Death himself. Death, in turn, yearns to relish what being human is truly like and travels to Ankh-Morpork to indulge in new experiences and attempt to feel real human emotion. Conclusively, Mort must duel Death for Mort's freedom. Though Death wins the duel, he spares Mort's life and sends him back to the Disc.
The princess is saved from a second death when the alternate reality Mort created is reduced to a pearl-like state. This pearl is given to Mort for safe-keeping. At the end of the novel, Mort marries Ysabell, Death's adopted daughter.

Characters/People edit see section history

  • Mort: An awkward boy who becomes Death's apprentice
  • Death: Hooded Skeleton with bright blue eyes. Wears black. Comes for all in their time.
  • Ysabell: Death's adoptive daughter.
  • Princess Keli: Princess of Sto Lat.
  • Igneous Cutwell: An inept wizard in Sto Lat and Royal Recognizer
  • Alberto Malich: Death's cook who used to be a magician.
  • Binky: Death's Horse
  • Lezek: Mort's father
Popular Covers

Loading covers…

Choose your book’s cover

Quotes edit see section history

  • “Logic would have said all that, if only Logic hadn't taken the night off too.”
  • “He'd been wrong, there was a light at the end of the tunnel, and it was a flamethrower.”
  • “Best to get it off his chest. Own up like a man. Take his medicine. Cards on the Table. Beating about the bush, none of. Mercy, throw himself on.”
  • “He looked back like a nocturnal rabbit trying to out stare the headlights of a sixteen-wheeled artic whose driver is a twelve-hour caffeine freak outrunning the tachometer of hell.”
  • “"You're dead," he said. Keli waited. She couldn't think of any suitable reply "I'm, not" lacked a certain style, while "Is it serious?" seemed somehow too frivolous.”
  • “- YOU SHOULD HAVE WORKED OUT BY NOW THAT EVERYONE GETS WHAT THEY THINK IS COMING TO THEM. IT'S SO MUCH NEATER THAT WAY. 'I know, sir. But that means bad people who think they're going to get some sort of paradise actually do get there. And good people who fear they're going to some kind of horrible place really suffer. It doesn't seem like justice.'”
  • “Poets have tried to describe Ankh-Morpork. They have failed. Perhaps it's the sheer zestful vitality of the place, or maybe it's just that a city with a million inhabitants and no sewers is rather robust for poets, who prefer daffodils and no wonder.”
  • “He seemed to act as though the house really belonged to him and its owner was just a passing guest, something to be tolerated like peeling paintwork or spiders in the lavatory.”
  • “Mort sniffed. There was a certain something about the air in the city. You got the feeling that it was air that had seen life. You couldn't help noting with every breath that thousands of other people were very close to you and nearly all of them had armpits.”
  • “Ankh-Morpork had dallied with many forms of government and had ended up with that form of democracy known as One Man, One Vote. The Patrician was the Man; he had the Vote.”
  • Popular Highlights from Kindle Customers
  • ‘It would seem that you have no useful skill or talent whatsoever,’ he said. ‘Have you thought of going into teaching?’
    Highlighted by 44 Kindle customers
  • Scientists have calculated that the chance of anything so patently absurd actually existing are millions to one. But magicians have calculated that million-to-one chances crop up nine times out of ten.
    Highlighted by 41 Kindle customers
  • The Creator had a lot of remarkably good ideas when he put the world together, but making it understandable hadn’t been one of them.
    Highlighted by 24 Kindle customers
  • He’d been wrong, there was a light at the end of the tunnel, and it was a flamethrower.
    Highlighted by 23 Kindle customers
  • the awesome splendour of the universe is much easier to deal with if you think of it as a series of small chunks.
    Highlighted by 23 Kindle customers
  • So let’s just say that Ankh-Morpork is as full of life as an old cheese on a hot day, as loud as a curse in a cathedral, as bright as an oil slick, as colourful as a bruise and as full of activity, industry, bustle and sheer exuberant busyness as a dead dog on a termite mound.
    Highlighted by 23 Kindle customers
  • There seemed to be rather a lot of friendly young ladies who couldn’t afford many clothes.
    Highlighted by 20 Kindle customers
  • ‘Well, – – – – me,’ he said. ‘A – – – – ing wizard. I hate – – – – ing wizards!’ ‘You shouldn’t – – – – them, then,’ muttered one of his henchmen, effortlessly pronouncing a row of dashes.
    Highlighted by 20 Kindle customers
  • A few courtiers glanced in their direction, their eyes instantly unfocusing as common sense overruled the other five.
    Highlighted by 17 Kindle customers
  • There should be a word for the microscopic spark of hope that you dare not entertain in case the mere act of acknowledging it will cause it to vanish, like trying to look at a photon. You can only sidle up to it, looking past it, walking past it, waiting for it to get big enough to face the world.
    Highlighted by 13 Kindle customers
Show all 20 quotes from this book

Setting & Locations edit see section history

Discworld
  • Ankh-Morpork: The twin cities of Ankh and Morpork on the Sto Plains. Ruled by Lord Vetinari.
  • Death's Domain: Place outside time, designed by Death (resulting in everything being in dull black colors)
  • Sto Lat

Organizations edit see section history

First Sentence edit see section history

This is the bright candlelit room where the life-timers are stored-shelf upon shelf of them, squat hourglasses, one for every living person, pouring their fine sand from the future into the past.

Series & Lists edit see section history

This is book 4 of 53 in Discworld. (standard series)

Preceded by Equal Rites, and followed by Sourcery.

This is book 65 of 196 in BBC 'Big Read' Top 200 Novels, 2003. (authoritative list)

Preceded by The Thorn Birds, and followed by Guards! Guards!.

This is book 65 of 1 in BBC 'Big Read' Top 100 Novels, 2003. (standard series)
This is book 1 of 5 in Death of the Discworld. (standard series)

Followed by Reaper Man.

Authors & Contributors edit see section history

  1. Terry Pratchett (Author)

Other Contributors:

  1. Graham Higgins (Illustrator)

First Edition edit see section history

Original Language: English
Publisher: Victor Gollancz
Country: Great Brittain
Publication Date: 1987
ISBN: 0575041714
Page Count: 224

Awards edit see section history

Classification edit see section history

More Books Like This edit see section history

   
  • The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Books with Additional Background Information edit see section history

   
  • The Folklore of Discworld

We’re hiding the errata, movie connections, books that influenced this book, books influenced by this book, books that cite this book and books cited by this book sections. If you would like to add content to them, you must first make them visible.

© 2006-2012 Shelfari | Terms & Conditions | Privacy Policy | Copyright Policy

Close