Book · 1987
Mort
by Terry Pratchett
A gawky teenage boy becomes Death's apprentice and starts taking the job more personally than Death ever did.
What does Reddit think of Mort?
Mort barely exists outside its own series context — every top-upvoted quote treats it as one entry in the Discworld catalogue, not a standalone pitch. r/suggestmeabook carries 134 of its 225 mentions, r/Fantasy 63, r/printSF a mere 28. The recurring recommendation groups it with Small Gods, Guards! Guards!, and Going Postal as a viable Discworld starting point, and it gets credited with the series' signature trick — comedy layered over real subject matter, in this case Death getting an apprentice and slowly working out what mortality means for beings that actually have it (↑77). But the pushback is specific: one commenter calls it a 'by rote narrative' next to the more ambitious Small Gods, adding 'still a great read because Discworld' as a hedge rather than a compliment (↑53). Mentions have thinned from 47 in 2021 to 22 in both 2024 and 2025 — a quiet, steady book, not a trending one.
Community feedback & reader fit
Themes
- · Death as a literal, sympathetic character
- · coming-of-age apprenticeship structure
- · comedy layered over mortality and grief
- · entry point into the wider Discworld series
Common praise
- + Commenters credit it with real emotional weight underneath the jokes — the passage on Death lacking glands, and therefore real anger, gets quoted at length (↑71).
- + It's a repeat answer to 'where do I start with Discworld,' alongside Guards! Guards! and Going Postal.
- + Readers still quote its humor from memory decades after publication, dad-pun reputation and all.
Common criticism
- − One commenter calls it 'much more of a by rote narrative' than Small Gods, only recommending it because it's Discworld (↑53).
- − Mentions have declined steadily since 2021 (47), down to 22 in both 2024 and 2025, the flattest trend line in this set.
- − It rarely gets discussed on its own; nearly every top quote treats it as a data point in a larger Discworld conversation, not a book with its own case to make.
Who it's for
New to Discworld and want the classic entry point? This is one of the three names that comes up — alongside Guards! Guards! and Going Postal — every time someone asks where to start. If you've already read Small Gods and found it sharper, know going in that at least one reader ranks Mort as the more by-the-numbers of the two (↑53). The Death-gets-an-apprentice premise carries more weight than the jokes suggest, particularly the bit about Death lacking glands and therefore real emotion.
Mentions over time
Top subreddits
Which Reddit comments matter for Mort?
Top-upvoted quotes across the subreddits where this book is mentioned. Click through to read the full thread.
“The Discworld series by Terry Pratchett! They have everything! Sci-fi, fantasy, murder, mystery, drama, comedy, parody, deep discussions on morals, ethics, religion, gender and politics, YA, love stories, fables, bad dad puns and so much more! The only thing they don’t really have is spicy sex s…
“A lot of discworld books could fit this. Small Gods, Mort, or Unseen Academicals are ones that I've read that would fit the prompt well.
“My other favorite of his is something along the lines of: "There was light at the end of the tunnel. That of a flamethrower." 🤣I'm dying.. 😂I often say this to myself in f***** up situations where the promise of hope actually makes it worse to lighten up the mood and it always works! Just a reminder…
“Some of Sir Terry Pratchett's books deal with quite serious issues, albeit beneath a thicc layer of humor and reversed normalcy. Thud! brings up the issue of racism quite well, Jingo deals with propaganda and (unsurprisingly) jingoism, Equal Rites takes a jab at equality, Mort is literally about the…
“It's very hard to find the exact text, and I don't have a copy handy. But there's a scene in *Mort* where Death spends half the page discussing how his emotions are pale & stunted compared to a human's, because he has no glands. His conclusion is that he can't really get very angry about anything. …
“You monster! I didn't quite get **Small Gods** when I read it as a teen. Now that I'm older it's one of my favourite Discworld books. **Mort** has much more of a by rote narrative, although is still a great read because Discworld. I'm going to guess you like Small Gods and dislike Mort.
“*Mort* or *The Night Watch* by Terry Pratchett.
“Discworld books by Terry Pratchett. I’d start with Mort, Guards Guards, or Going Postal. Good Omens written with Neil Gaiman is also good. A dirty job or Lamb by Christopher Moore. The hitchhiker’s guide to the galaxy by Douglas Adams. His non-fiction, Last Chance to See, is also good. Biograp…
Convinced? Pick up Mort
Readers also mention
Books that share discussion threads with Mort — counted from the comments, not curated.
Small Gods
Terry Pratchett
A god of thunder gets reduced to a bad-tempered tortoise once his church stops believing, leaving one novice monk as his last true worshipper.
The House in the Cerulean Sea
TJ Klune
A buttoned-up caseworker is sent to inspect an orphanage of six magical children, one of them the literal Antichrist, and has to decide whether the rulebook is wrong.
Guards! Guards!
Terry Pratchett
A drunk watch captain and his misfit City Watch have to stop a summoned dragon nobody in charge takes seriously.
The Once and Future King
T. H. White
A boy called Wart is tutored by a shape-shifting wizard for a throne he doesn't know is coming, and the joke turns tragic by the final book.
The Lord of the Rings
J. R. R. Tolkien
A gardener, a burglar's heir, and seven others walk a piece of jewelry to a volcano because destroying it is the only way to stop a war.
Good Omens
Terry Pratchett
An angel and a demon who've grown fond of Earth team up to stop the apocalypse neither of them actually wants.
Mort — frequently asked
Is Mort a good starting point for Discworld?+
It's one of the three most-cited entry points, alongside Guards! Guards! and Going Postal, per r/suggestmeabook (134 of the book's 225 mentions) and r/Fantasy (63). No one argues it's the wrong place to start; the pushback, when it exists, is about ambition compared to other Discworld books, not accessibility.
Is Mort funnier or more serious than other Discworld books?+
Both, per Reddit — one commenter notes Mort is 'literally about' Death confronting mortality beneath the comedy (↑77), and another quotes at length the bit where Death explains he can't really get angry because he has no glands (↑71). The humor is real, but it's not the whole pitch.
Is Mort worse than Small Gods?+
One direct comparison says so: a commenter calls Mort 'much more of a by rote narrative' next to Small Gods, though they still call it 'a great read because Discworld' (↑53). That's the closest thing to a critical consensus in the data, and it's a single comment, not a pile-on.
Is Mort still worth reading given how few people mention it lately?+
Mentions have dropped from 47 in 2021 to 22 in 2025, but that reads as Discworld's overall recommendation traffic thinning out generally, not Mort specifically falling out of favor — it's still named in the same breath as Guards! Guards! and Going Postal as a starting point.