Review: Daemonslayer (III) - William King

Title Daemonslayer
Author William King
Pages 285
Year 1999
Publisher Black Library
Reading time 12 days (August 2007)
Rating 10 / 10

After reading Skavenslayer I waited for a couple of months to read Daemonslayer. Well I read it and love it. It was as good as the previous novel. This was the first book as a all novel thingy... I enjoyed it and ended up so good as Skavenslayer.

In this book the duo is travelling north to Karag Dum one of the mightiest dwarf cities. It was lost over two centuries ago in the last incursion to chaos. Since there is no news from them and now due to a new machine they can reached without going insane or mad or die by the Chaos Wastes.

Our heroes travel to a Tower where they join other dwarves and by Borek Forkbeard (the one leading the expediction). Some of them will be recurring characters such as Snorri Nosebiter and the Mad Inventor Malakai Makaisson. There they travell by a zepellin to the mightiest of the northern citadels.

In this book Thanquol and his lackey Lurk Snitchtongue appear yet again with Snitchtongue travelling north inside the machine.

William King can really make us flop each page full of battles, strategies and traveling. If the last book we learn about Skaven Society here we learn about the Dwarven Society.

So what's they after? Well besides trying to figure out about the lost dwarves they want to find as well the Hammer of Fate and the Runemaster's Axe.

In this book Gotrek fights a Bloodthirster of Khorne (Greater Daemon of immense power). In the end Gotrek established as quasi-invicible. What in the name of Sigmar is more powerful that a Greater Daemon? Well at least he loses and eye on this novel.

Here you find more about Felix developning as a character. He is becoming a different person from the first novels and there is also love involved on this book. Also Felix is starting to becoming more and more akin to Gotrek....

Review: Skavenslayer (II) - William King

Title Skavenslayer
Author William King
Pages 310
Year 1999
Publisher Black Library
Reading time 15 days (Mars/April 2007)
Rating 10 / 10

This was the second book depicting the adventures of the Dwarf Gotrek and his human sidekick Felix. Of all the seven books William King penned this was my favourite. Well I loved them all too much but this one was the better because it introduced Thanquol, one of my favourite character along Gilead's (Gilead's Blood). William King could really write good books... It was a shame that he stop doing it.

Well as the previous this was a compilation of short stories but all tied-in together. They were all in Nuln and depict Skavens. Interesting or not each "adventure" or short story was a battle against one clan of skavens. It was in the end a great place to read about skavens. I learned a lot about the society and the way they think.

C L Werner penned a book with Thanquol as the main character and I think he understood how William King did it. I have failed to read any of the Nathan Long books by Gotrek but I really hope that he has done a great job as C L Werner did. Well he already wrote 4 books so I think someone liked it.

Well within this book we get to learn a bit more about Gotrek and Felix. One thing that is common in all 6 books I read is that William King starts in the first couple of chapters tell the story so far. We learn how come Felix is hanging with Gotrek and we still don't know why Gotrek is looking for a glourious death.

Each book he fights a different kind... We have already Trollslayer, Skavenslayer, Daemonslayer, Dragonslayer (Well that was Felix doing but okay), Vampireslayer, Beastslayer and Giantslayer. Then with Nathan Long's Gotrek goes around with Orcslayer, Manslayer (Which he had killed before), Elfslayer, Shamanslayer and now the next book coming out Zombieslayer. How many species more can they kill? It leaves us what? Mummieslayer, Dwarfslayer (well Chaos Dwarves), Goblinslayer, Lizardslayers? What else? No matter what I would read it...

Now coming again to the book...

Well now for the stories themselves...

Skaven's Claw - They are working in the sewers of Nuln hunting goblins and we find out more about Felix family (which will feature in later novels)

Gutter Runners - They are attacked by skaven assassins of clan Eshin as they work as bouncers at the Blind Pig.

Night Raid - In this story Thanquol helps our two heroes as he warns them about an attack at the college of Engineering (doing so also helps himself). Here we find more about Thanquol character. Good story.

Plague Monnks of Pestilens - Again Thanquol warns our duo that the Clan Pestilens are trying to spread a disease with the Caldron of a Thousand Poxes.

Beasts of Moulder - The Clan Moulder has another tactic. Starve the human city by releasing rat-like monsters into the city eating the food supplies within days. As they are arriving at the port our duo is helped yet again by the mysterious stranger.

The Battle for Nuln - This was the last story and it has a great ending. Thanquol finnally reveals himself and tries to take over a ball held by the Elector Countess. As the leaders of the other skaven who had their plans stoped, learn that Thanquol was the one to blame, they make their own plans...

Don't know why but I feel that Thanquol and Boneripper are based on a cartoon I watched a couple years back about a mouse who wanted to take over the world... Can't remember the name of the rat but... Oh well...

In the end I was pretty darn interested on these novel and these short stories worked out perfectly. They didn't felt like short stories but as chapters... I would hope that William King would return but I bet he isn't going to come back.

Review: Brothers of the snake - Dan Abnett

Title Brothers of the Snake
Author Dan Abnett
Pages 315 (Hardcover) 416 (MassPaperback)
Year 2007
Publisher Black Library
Reading time 15 days (June 2007)
Rating 8 / 10

I always have loved how Dan Abnett creates his stories. Having loved First and Only, Riders of the Dead, Gilead's Blood (one of my favourite books ever), I tried immediately after receiving it on pre-order.

This book is a collection of short stories but all of them tied together depicting the adventures of an Iron Snake Space Marine called Priad. For those who don't know he (Dan Abnett) created them.

Starting in the his first missions as a full battle brother to his defining as a Veteran Sergeant. As White Scars are based on Mongol Warriors or Thousand Sons as Egyptians the Iron Snakes are based on Greek, Spartan to be precise.

So much they are based on Greek History that the last story is based on the Battle of Thermopylae. I remember that the movie 300 had been released a couple of months before and so I made a connection... All the stories had something greek in it. The fighting the Wyrm is another thing that ties them.

One thing I liked, well loved, is the inclusion of Dark Eldars on this tales. I always thought that the Dark Eldars don't appear much on these stories and fortunally the Dark Eldars are the main enemy of the Ithaka saviours.

Another thing I liked was the humanity that Abnett created into his Space Marines. I have read some other books depicting Space Marines and they are apart from Humans... I don't think that's wrong, you see? I think that when you are a superhuman and have the weight of the safety of the universe on your shoulders you must have some distance from the rest of humanity. After all you are a superior being. But I liked to see these space marines more humane...

There are some flaws of course. The way he bcomes a sergeant (too quick). The disrespect with the gear (the helmet falling down (after all the revere every piece of equipament and they would not let the helmet fall down after the victory). The forgetting when fighting of a place (they have photographic memory).

Well in the I was happy to the reading and this book is a good book to start reading warhammer 40k. After three years there is no books in sight depicting more Iron Snakes or Dark Eldars... Shame.

Book Review: The Collection - Bentley Little

Title The Collection
Author Bentley Little
Pages 449
Year 2002
Publisher Signet
Reading time 4 days (February/March 2009)
Rating 8 / 10

Having read The Association I started reading this book. Then I read The Walking and then The Resort. All of them I made reviews and strangely or not I gave the first book 8,5 then 8, then 7.5 and finnally 5. You can read them here. It's falling down. I have more three books by him and I really hope this doesn't mean anything because I like the novels but something doesn't feel right in them.

Now this one...

This is a collection of short stories. Some are good some are not and some are so so... There are historical stories, horror stories, satirical stories, religious etc... I thing Bentley Little grabs everyday things and turns into something... else? It's quite good. Look at his books... Who had thought of things like The Policy? The Association? A good writer he is...

The most famous story is the Washightonians in which a man finds a letter where it says George Washinghton was a cannibal (eating children) and there are still people following that cult. It became so famous that an episode in Masters of Horror was made. (It was a little different than the story but good nevertheless). Colony is the other "historical" novel where things are not what they seem. USA is still a British Colony but nobody knows with the exception of a few key people. Then there is another war for indepedence.

Confessions of a Corporate Man is about the disagreements of several departaments in a company. But involves murder and betrayal. It's quite good.

The Sanctuary is a religous story that deals with Cal and his family. His mother sometimes enters a stage called "The Rage". It's quite good and ends beautifully.

Then we've got some other excelents stories like the The Phonebook Man (Paranoia just goes another level), Comes the Bad Time, The idol, Pillow Talk (What does it "thinks"?) and The Show (This one has a good twist in the end). Another good story and one of my favourite is Life with Father. Recylcing just goes another level. And not a particular good one.

There are in all 32 stories. Must of them are pretty good if you want to read bizarre stories. Not all of them are of Horror. Some just make you shake your head and laugh a little...

I enjoyed them. They are the reason I don't give up on Bentley Little even if the last two books were not of my liking.

Review: Assault on Black Reach - Nick Kyme

Title Assault on Black Reach
Author Nick Kyme
Pages 127
Year 2008
Publisher Black Library
Reading time 6 days (February 2009)
Rating 7,5 / 10

This was one of the 7 books I read in Februray. It was a good month and should be every month, well it shouldn't because I was in the hospital a week thats why I read so much...

Apart from this book I read Second Game by Charles de Vet and Katherine McLean (a review to come), Lady of Poison by Bruce Cordell, Ten Little Niggers by Agatha Christie, Smoke and Mirrors by Neil Gaiman, Mistress of the Night by Dave Gross and Don Bassingthwaite, The Association by Bentley Little.

Well this book (novella) is a companion for the new Box Set of the Miniature Range of Games Workshop. The Story is a simple one. Orks Invasion on a planet called Black Reach and the fighting of the Ultramarines 2nd company. The story centers on Scipio a brother sergeant of the 2nd company. Nick is able to build good characters focusing on 4 marines. He surely can create good characters and I would hope to see him write more stories with ultramarines but I don't think that will happen since Graham McNeill is the "father" of them. The only thing I didnd't enjoy was the end... The book was fast paced but the ending was a sprinting and there we go... I think a couple more pages could have made this a novella to anyone trying to enter into Warhammer 40k setting.

Well nevertheless I have a book sitting near me that I am dying to read (but strangely I keep picking others instead) for some time... Oathbreaker. An Dwarf novel. I love dwarves and will read the book in the near future. I really hope he created as good characters as this novel.

Keep them coming Nyck Kyme.

Review: The Corrupted - Robert Earl

Title The Corrupted
Author Robert Earl
Pages 256
Year 2006
Publisher Black Library
Reading time 5 days (Jan 2009)
Rating 8 / 10

Last January I read four books apart from this one. The others being The Joan-Arc Replay by Pierre Barbet, Only Forward by Michael Marshall Smith (didn't finished it), On a Pale Horse by Piers Anthony and Poirot Investigates by Agatha Christie.

I try to read a book by Black Library per month. Since I have them all and they release 2 or 3 books per month you can see how this is going to be a problem... but well, I will work it out.

Before reading this novel I've only had read a short story by Robert Earl in one of the annual anthologies. I enjoyed it and since then I wanted to read some book by him. I had on my desk for some time the Burning Shore but never got it to read. It still is. I think is the book I have on my pile to read next for more time. That and Titanicus by Dan Abnett. Maybe this will be their month!

Well now for the book...

This book was a little different from the others I've read before by Black Library. It felt like a quest (maybe that's because in the cover it says Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay the table game of Warhammer.

One thing I liked to say it's that this book need more pages. Maybe the standart 416 pages. But in the end it was good. There is no hole plots and the book starts and ends in it.

The story involves a rogue wizard fleeing the Empire and a bunch of fanatical team of witch hunters on pursuit. They are led to the Northern Wastes and then the plot really begins.

There are many plots and counter plots and the end is unpredictable and makes you wonder what happening next. Obvious it's not going to be a sequel but that's fine. It makes you wonder and that's what I want from this books... They make my imagination work and think for myself.

I enjoyed the novel and problably it could have had more pages...

There were many characters I think he could have delve more deeply in some of them. Titus was my favourite character on this novel. Greatly conceived and nicely portraited.

My problem is that the book was from 2007 and some parts I don't remember... Which is a shame. Maybe I should read the book once again in two or three years...

Review: Joan-Of-Arc Replay by Pierre Barbet

Title Joan-Of-Arc Replay
Author Pierre Barbet
Pages 189
Year 1973
Publisher Daw (287)
Reading time 8 days
Rating 7,5 / 10

I've been trying to review every book I read but it's kind of hard and I am a bit of lazy I must say. But if I don't do it when I forget about this book I will have to read it again. So I want to try to make reviews about every book I read so I can remember later. And mayhaps then I will read it again. Since I am at home for the next month due to my surgery I will try to review some books...

This was the first book I read last year. It was not great but it was entertaining. There are two aliens (who are historians) who are seeing one event in one planet. One event that resembles our Joan-the-Arc eveent. So one of them says that history repeats itself no matter what and the other does not believe it. They came to the world to live the all experience and see what happens. But then one of them starts making little changes that ends up messing all up.

This book was entertaining as I said before... It flows nicely and we come to care about the characters. It is a small book but the characters are well portraited and if you like History then this will be a good book to read. The main concerns is well history... why do history or the events history portraits happen the way they do? What happens if something change in the equation? And so on... It's like reading an alternate history novel like those Harry Turtledove is so famous about.

I have more books by Pierre Barbet and I am sure going to read them... sometime...

Review: I am Scrooge - Adam Roberts

Title I am Scrooge: A Zombie story for Christmans
Author Adam Roberts
Pages 160
Year 2009
Publisher Gollancz
Reading time 3 days
Rating 7,5 / 10

What to think of this book?

I had read only one book by Adam Roberts called The Splinter which I didn't enjoyed. I stop reading after a hundred pages. It is still there to be read but after reading this book I still say I won't come back so soon.

One thing that it was better on this book was the writing style. Well and it had zombies. And it was of Scrooge. So I think it would not go wrong. Interesting or not, a movie with Jim Carrey also featuring Mr Scrooge was released around this time so I think this novel came at the perfect time.

This novel came out at a time that several books featuring other mythical novels are being converted into Horror. Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters or Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, and many other books being published with zombies.

Well, in the end I enjoyed the book even if I only gave 7.5. There is good parts and weak parts.

The writing was an improving on the previous novel that I read as I said before. I think on this book the writer tried to maintain the writing style that the original book had be written. It work out but there was something in the style that held me back...

There are many in-jokes, parodies, puns intended and so on. He wanted us to laugh and we laugh. (I didn't enjoy the all Ali-G as the Ghost of Christmans Future.

The plot is what you might ask? Well... The surviving Ebenezeer Scrooge must survive the all zombie apocalypse with the help (or no) of the ghosts. H G Wells and Dickens make cameo appareaence. The ambience of the victorian london is a must read because it was done perfectly. All good things said the book could be better and I thing from the appearance of the Ghost of Christmans Future the book came down the hill and it seemed all rushed in.

The drawings were very good.

I would advice this book to anyone who likes zombies tales...

One thing for sure... well, two. Christmans Carol will never be the same and neither will be the puddings.

Review: Grey Seer - C L Werner

Title Grey Seer (Thanquol and Boneripper I)

Author C L Werner

Pages 416

Year 2009

Publisher Black Library

Reading time 15 days (something like that)

Rating 9 / 10

I start reading this book last year in July when I received it as pre-order (as I always do with all black library books). Being a C L Werner title I had to read it immediately as I did with his previous novels (Palace of a Plague Lord and Blood for the Blood God) but this novel had something even bigger. It was a Thanquol novel. Having read the Slayer novels by William King and considered that the main arch-rival of Gotrek and Felix (which was the one of the best portrayed characters on all warhammer world) was getting a series I had to read it...

As I said I started on July but only finished on the fifth of January.

I really don't know why I didn't read it alltogether and from the beggining to the end since I remembered that I was loving it. Well, as I stayed for five days in the hospital I made myself promise that I would end all those books I started and didn't finish. This was done and I am very pleased with myself.

C L Werner is to me one of the greatest writers in Black Library. That is true.

Thanquol is one of the coolest character in the Warhammer World. That is also true.

Books with skaven are never to many. True as well.

So nothing could go wrong.

Thanquol was done perfectly by Werner. As I was reading the book I didn't thought that Werner was very different than William King. I think Thanquol was the only one who gained with this change of writing style and writers.

The other characters were given their own time and Werner builds them nicely even if they are out of light compared with Thanquol.

We are given great insights about the Horned Rat religion and society. I think that this was done perfectly and it did felt like an alien society something that other writers would fail to distance them with us.

Now the plot... The Council of Thirteen (the rulling leaders of the skaven society) force Thanquol to reocver a rock called Wormstone (a toxic version of Warpstone plagued by the Horned Rat). We are given several informations about the skaven society and how they rule with their politics. At the same time a band of smugglers (humans) stumble and recover Wormstone to make a profit from it.

The narration switches between the skaven and human characters. Myself, I didn't care about the human part. They were inconsequential. Strange or not so strange human and skaven societies are not different. We are given in-fights between several skaven characters and human alike.

Another good thing that I liked was the band of unlikely heroes that protect the human city from the skavens since nobody believes that they exist. They are like myths.... The human leaders perpetuate this notion or else something worse could happen to them...

The only thing I didn't enjoyed that much was the human characters (in the beginning of the book I didn't care about the smugglers and that's why I only give 9 out of 10). I know Werner can make excelent human characters. Bruner and Mathias come to mind. But this ones were weak. (But this doesn't change a thing about my love with this book).

If you enjoyed this book read Skavenslayer which was the first book we were intoduced to Thanquol (and the biggest until then participation) or wait for the second book on this series... Temple of the Serpent coming in a few months.

Personnally I am a fan from C L Werner and I also have bought one anthology that he made a short story about a ronin. I didn't get the chance to read it so far but I will read it to understand how he writes other fiction besides warhammer. I and Werner have being talking from some time and he sent it Runefang (another novel in warhammer world) with a dedictatory. It was great of him. I will try to read it in the following months and review it.

A word of praise for him and I hope he continues to write novels to Black Library since he does it so well. I read in the black libray blog that he is going to write a novel with Wulfrik the Wanderer. How delightful. This is him... (no, not Werner, the character).

Wulfrik the Wanderer is the ultimate seafaring warrior. A hairy giant of a man adorned with the trophies of his many kills, Wulfrik travels the four corners of the world and beyond. He seeks out and challenges the champions of every race and creed, for as punishment for his hubris, Wulfrik is bound to a lifetime of constant duelling and violent death.

I hope the next one would be I Sigvald the Magnificent...

I think he should clone himself so he could write more novels...

A note of beware with all those graphic images and details that Werner give us. It make our skin crawl... Oh yeah...

Review: Vampire Hunter D - Hideyuki Kikuchi

Book Vampire Hunter D
Author Hideyuki Kikuchi
Pages 238
Year 1983
Publisher Dark Horse
Reading time 5 days
Rating 9 / 10

I expected much from this book. I've being buying these books since the first time they were published and not reading... Sometimes I am afraid to ruin a book by reading. I idealize something on my mind and I am afraid by reading it I will destroy it. But the time was up and I promised my girlfriend that it would be the first book of the year... It was. I start reading on new year's eve and finish while staying, again, at the hospital. It was a good read and I enjoyed throughouly. It was very interesting to read about the character that I had seen a couple years back on a manga movie. I am anxious to read another book...

The plot is identical to the movie but the book is better I guess... The mysticism of the character is superbly done. Who is he? The only thing that I was a little apprehensive is the all un-defeated character he creates. How can this man, sorry dhampir dies? How can he be defeated? How is this going to affect the other books? What can he bring more interesting in the second to twentieth book? It's something we shall find out.

The plot is simple... Some girl was bitten by a Noble (Vampire) and now someone has to kill or else she will become one of them. She enlists the aid of D, an usually vampire hunter, with unique characteristics. There are many adversaries and many twists. Humans ploting against humans and vampires and vampires plotting against humans and vampires. Family betrayal, Mutants monsters with interesting techniques and so on.

Another good thing is the all background thing that he creates... Why are the vampires in power (or were), why the humans can't defeated them, what the humans are doing and so on...

The setting could be better, the all landscapes... I read somewhere he was inspires by all those 50/60 horror movies... I have some of them... I really want to enter the mood... Maybe I have to watch them as well...

Well, let us hope for a review of the second book...

The cover below is the Manga adaptation of the first book. It's all there. If you don't want to read the book see the manga. Even if it's not that good... The only good thing is the big breasted girl to be rescued but besides that I really would advice the book. Oh and another thing... The manga is not Amano. It's not even remotely similar to it. Being a fan of Amano you would expect that they would find someone to capture it's mood... Well it does not.

J K Rowling - I am Sorry

I guess it's time to apologise to Her. I always said that the harry potter books were weak and they were only for the selling. And this last part I wasn't wrong but I was wrong about the weak part. Last couple of months have been hard to me to concentrate in a book that I would say "darn this is good book let me read more, let it never end". I feel that with Harry potter. I am on the fourth book and I beginning to feel the journey is ending... It's not a good feeling. I hope I can get inside another book like I did on this one...


Well I am sorry and I do hope you continue to write some more enterntaining books with or without Harry Potter.

Review of 2009 and What's Coming in 2010

This was an different year for me. I start working on an hard scheduled and that messed up my mind for some months. My physical conditions did hampered my reading as well... In the end it was not a lost year but it could have been better.

I've read only 73 books. And 11 of them I didn't finish. That's a new for me. As I said I wasn't good on my mind and some books didn't grab me.

But I will read them eventually...

My Top of the List books were

Gunheads by Steve Parker

On a Pale Horse by Piers Anthony

The Death of Grass by John Christopher

No Boundaries by Henry Kuttner and C. L. Moore

Harry Potter the first three books

The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie

Cadian Blood by Aaron Dembski-Bowden

My Least Favourite or dissapointed of the year were

Only Forward - Michael Marshall Smith

Blood County - Curl Selby

Icebound - Dean Koontz

November's Mourns - Tom Piccirilli

Out of the Ashes - William W Johnstone

The Execution Channel - Ken Macleod

Shadow of the Xel'Naga - Grabiel Mesta

The Return of the Time Machine - Egon Friedell

Well let us see what this new year will bring. I will try to read more books than this year. 100 books is my goal.

Some of the books/authors that I will try to read...

Rick Riordan (The first three books)

Harry Potter (the other four)

Out by Natsuo Kirino

Two books by José Rodrigues dos Santos (our own Dan Brown)

Carlos Ruiz Zafon

The first book of Dune (finaly)

Some Vampire Hunter D books (finally as well)

Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell

Under the Dome - Stephen King

Flash Forward - Rober J Saywer

K J Parker

The Sad Tale of the Brothers Grossbart

Dean Koontz

Ice Station by Matthew Reilly

Ramsey Campbell

Mel Odom

Brent Wekks

R Scott Baker

John Scalzi

The City and the City

Of Course many books of Black Library (I've got them all), Abaddon (I've got them all as well), Solaris (I've got plenty of them) and AngryRobots (I've got several of them) and Forgottem Realms

Well...

This is my want to read list... There are several I forgot to mention and several will come up with time. I will try to make more revies this year... Maybe a little smaller...

Good day to you all...

Review: Mort – Terry Pratchett

Book Mort
Author Terry Pratchett
Pages 272
Year 1987
Publisher Corgi
Reading time 26 days (I was reading several books at the same time.)
Rating 8.5 / 10

Mort is an unpromising, gangling teenager who becomes as apprentice toDeath, but proves less than gifted at his new task of ushering souls out of the world. In fact, when it comes to the rather attractive Princess Keli (due to be assassinated) Mort fluffs it completely. He kills the assassin instead, thus interfering with the implacable workings of Fate. But reality isn’t changed so easily; history as it should have been begins to take shape around Keli’s city-state of Sto Lat. Can Mort save Keli before she is squeezed out of existence?

Death, having delegated much of his work to Mort, is displaying disturbingly human characteristics: drinking, dice-playing and becoming curious about the nature of fun. Mort, meanwhile, is becoming much less cheery and showing a worrying tendency to

SPEAK IN HOLLOW CAPITALS…

Everyone knows Terry Pratchett. Before of this book I’ve only read a book by him. It was Good Omens written by him and Neil Gaiman. I started several years ago another book but I didn’t enjoyed and didn’t finish.. Carpet People. Several years and several hundreds book later I tried again. I was… suprised. Before reading this book I watch Hogfather on my PC and it featured DEATH so I gave it a tried. In the beginning was hard to get into the world because of the nosenses but after reading several pages I was enjoying his writing style and all the comic and references to our universe. The plot itselfs it’s simple (or isn’t?). DEATH wants to train someone to cover for him. He want’s to learn what makes humans human. In the beginning we see him training young Mort and it resembles the first movies of Karate Kid. There are two other residents (well three if you count the horse); Albert the buttler and DEATH’s daughter (not real one) Ysabell. After teaching him the arts he entrusts Mort with several responsabilities while he take humans small pleasentries like drinking, fishing, dancing, gambling etc… Mort starts doing DEATH job and one of them doesn’t go as plan and he saves accidently a princess. But the problem is that reality doesn’t know that and so everyone (with the exception of mages) think that she is dead or simply ignore it.

The pace of the book is fast and the plot advances nicely. There are several secondary plots like Albert part on all, DEATH’s expriences, the princess way of coping of being (un)alive and several others… We get several (to be expected) cultural references and jokes that I enjoyed. The characters are funny and their talk is typic british. Next book I will read by Pratchett will be the first… Colour of Magic