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eb00kie's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
I imagine it was groundbreaking for its time but then and now it struck me as a beginner — a precursor to Vimes’ aggressive decency themes. The idea is there, the parallels are there, but it’s less cohesive and too light for the implied torture and deaths it’s peppered with. A bit disjointed and blunt.
Having said that, Brutha is a character with a very well-written arc. Through him, the story of human failings and weaknesses is much easier to empathise than the biblical prophet stories it’s mirroring. The character of Om also underwent an arc, which is even rarer, because it’s less of a shift in personality, which might have felt forced, as a shift in perspective.
The book covers a lot of themes: religion, multi-religion systems, philosophy, layrinths, engineering, the Inquisition, democracies vs. theocracies, gods and free will.
Moderate: Torture and Murder
machenn's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
Moderate: Death and Torture
erikwmj's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Moderate: Torture and Death
Minor: Xenophobia, Religious bigotry, and Slavery
woweewhoa's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Moderate: Xenophobia, Alcohol, Death of parent, Animal cruelty, Religious bigotry, Torture, War, and Violence
Minor: Racism
shadereads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Moderate: Death, Torture, and Religious bigotry
viktorreads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Religious bigotry, Murder, Torture, and Death
bluejayreads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? No
3.25
- The big, multi-tiered church structure with one old guy at the top who’s at least 75% figurehead
- A bunch of prescribed prayers, Important Days for feasts or fasts, and rituals that have lost any connection with the reason they are done (if they had any reason to start with)
- An all-powerful, all-knowing deity who speaks only through appointed prophets
- Scriptures, written by said prophets directly from the mouth of god (supposedly), which form the backbone of all doctrine; knowledge and memorization of these is essential to religion
- A Quisition that tortures confessions (true or not) out of heretics, complete with believing that suspicion = crime because Om wouldn’t let them have a suspicion if it wasn’t true
- And the strong conviction that their religion is the only true religion, their god is the only one that exists (which is demonstrably false in the Discworld), and the best way to deal with disbelievers is to conquer them and force Omnianism upon them
So it’s not exactly a subtle analog of organized religion and Catholicism/Christianity in particular. The disappointing thing was it didn’t really make a commentary on any of it. The Omnian church was an obvious caracature of the Catholic church, but that’s as far as it went. The idea seemed to be, “What if god, in a lowly form, came down to a caricature of the Catholic church, and also he was an asshole?”
Personally, I found it interesting enough. I think that’s mainly because I am interested in deities and religion in general, though. Brutha may not have been a spectacular character and the plot might have been weak, but there were plenty of interesting bits about Omnianism and some new tidbits about how the small gods of the Discworld work, and that was enough to keep me reading. Someone with less of an interest in religions, though, would probably find this one of the less enjoyable entries in the Discworld canon.
Graphic: Death, Religious bigotry, and Torture
Moderate: Colonisation, War, Xenophobia, and Violence
Minor: Alcohol, Misogyny, Blood, and Animal cruelty
analyticali's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
The first few pages make absolutely no sense at the beginning but they’re worth rereading part way through.
The most important thing to know that I happened upon while looking at the end material before starting is that death ALWAYS SPEAKS IN CAPITAL LETTERS.
Moderate: Torture and Toxic relationship
Minor: Gore and War
jodean's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Moderate: Slavery, Death, Murder, Torture, and War
Minor: Blood and Animal death
rachc's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Religious bigotry
Moderate: Colonisation and Forced institutionalization
Minor: Torture, Death, Animal cruelty, Xenophobia, and War