The ending of the video game The Last Campfire reminded me of Terry Pratchett’s Small Gods. Which made me decide that it was time for me to reread Small Gods.
Which was significant for me because I haven’t been able to bring myself to read Pratchett since he passed away in 2015.
Terry Pratchett has been my favorite author for my adult life. (Daniel Pinkwater was my childhood favorite author) I’ve been reading him long enough that, starting with the third Discworld book, I was reading the books as they came out. (And, no, I have not yet read The Shepherd’s Crown, the last book and published posthumously)
Small Gods was the thirteenth books in the series and, by that point, Pratchett had definitely his stride. (There are plenty of arguments about what book was the watershed point of Pratchett becoming an insightful and compassionate satirist) When I was in college, Small Gods was the book to hand people to get them hooked on Pratchett. Which may say more about who I hung out with in college than the book.
Small Gods is Pratchett’s treatise on religion. Which honestly breaks down to people should be nice and considerate to each other. However, Pratchett also discusses how complex and difficult actually doing that really is.
(I’m not going to go into the actual plot because I want everyone to go out and read Small Gods for themselves)
Small Gods is a good example of how Pratchett didn’t write escapist fantasy or comedy but critically considered discussions about humanity.
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