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Mort

Mort

High FantasyFantasy
Pages
287
Published
1987
Language
English

Synopsis

Death arrives at a job fair and takes on an apprentice: Mort, an awkward young man with a tendency toward philosophical wondering. As Mort learns the mechanics of mortality and begins to develop feelings for Death's adopted daughter Ysabell, he is given his first solo assignment — and makes a catastrophic mistake that begins to unravel the fabric of reality. The first Discworld novel focused on Death as a character, voted the most popular Pratchett novel in the 2003 BBC Big Read poll.

Prose complexity
4/10

Vibe

FunnyWhimsicalAdventurousSatiricalThought-ProvokingLighthearted
Mentor FigureComing of Age

Genres

High Fantasy Fantasy Humor Comic Fiction Satire Science Fiction

About the author

T
Terry Pratchett

Terry Pratchett (1948–2015) was an English author best known for the Discworld series, a sequence of forty-one comic fantasy novels set on a flat world carried through space on the backs of four elephants standing on a giant turtle. Across four decades, the Discworld grew from a parody of sword-and-sorcery fantasy into one of the most sustained works of social satire in English literature, examining politics, religion, science, gender, race, capitalism, and the nature of stories themselves. Pra...

Characters

MortProtagonist

An awkward young man apprenticed to Death, whose compassion disrupts the natural order.

CutwellSupporting

A young wizard hired by a princess to help avert the consequences of Mort's mistake — cheerful and moderately competent.

Lady DeathSupporting

The anthropomorphic personification of death, who takes Mort on and grows curious about mortal life.

YsabellSupporting

Death's adopted daughter.

Princess KeliSupporting

The princess Mort saves from her appointed death, splitting reality.

All characters in Mort

Frequently asked questions

  • When was Mort first published?

    Published on 12 November 1987 by Victor Gollancz. It is the fourth Discworld novel and the first in the Death sub-series.

  • Why is Mort so often recommended as a starting point for Discworld?

    Mort was voted the most popular Pratchett novel in the 2003 BBC Big Read poll. Pratchett himself frequently recommended starting with Mort or Guards! Guards! as they better represent the series' mature tone than the earlier picaresque novels.

  • What makes Pratchett's Death unique?

    Death on the Discworld has spent millennia collecting human souls and has developed a genuine curiosity about, and quiet affection for, humans. He eats (preferring curry), rides a white horse named Binky, and is secretly fascinated by the life he can never have. He is one of the series' most beloved characters.

  • What mistake does Mort make on his first assignment?
  • Do Mort and Ysabell appear in later books?
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