Friday Reviews 4: September 23rd- 29th

Friday Reviews Week 4: September 23rd- 29th 

💀 Book 1: Mort by Terry Pratchett ⏳

Read September 23rd- 25th

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This is the fourth book in Terry Pratchett's Discworld series and the first in the Death subseries. If you have not read this series before or my other review on the books, here is a link to it on my blog: http://whattoreadwithcag.blogspot.com/2017/09/friday-reviews-1-september-1st-8th-2017.html

🍂 A short plot synopsis: 🍂

Mort is a book that can stand on its own. This is about a young man named Mort, whose father brings him to a job fair so he can get an apprenticeship with someone there. While there no one seems to be interested in taking on Mort. Around midnight, a man dressed in a black cloak comes and decides to have Mort as his apprentice. This man is Death, Mort's father thinks that Death is an undertaker, not really seeing what Death truly is. Mort, on the other hand, can see him very well. 

Death takes Mort to his domain, where he has his elderly servant Albert and his adopted daughter Ysabell. Mort accompanies Death when he goes to collect the soul of a king, where Mort tries to stop the assassination from happening. Death makes a point of telling him that deaths are predetermined and that it is his job to collect the souls, not to care about the taking of the life. After Death lets Mort go off on his own to collect souls, so Death can try and find another job, Mort goes against the warning and messes up everything.

🍂 The Character of Death in the Discworld Series: 🍂

Death has a great love for cats and curry.

This would not be a review of this book without talking about one of the most famous characters on the Discworld, Death. First, I'll give you a little bit of information about him as a character.

"I? KILL? said Death obviously offended. CERTAINLY NOT. PEOPLE GET KILLED BUT THAT'S THEIR BUSINESS. I JUST TAKE OVER FROM THEN ON. AFTER ALL, IT'D BE A BLOODY STUPID WORLD IF PEOPLE GOT KILLED WITHOUT DYING, WOULDN'T IT?" - Terry Pratchett, Mort (this would actually be in small caps)

Death is a parody of the many different incarnations of death especially the Grimm Reaper. Like many of them, he is a black-cloaked skeleton that usually carries a scythe (that's for the common folk though, the kings get a sword). His peculiar voice is represented in the books in small caps without quotations, which is meant to signify his speech from others. 

Another interesting aspect about him is that people cannot always see him. This is not because he is invisible, but because they just don't want to. They do see him if he wants them to though. Those who can do magic (witches and wizards), children, and cats can see him. 

A lot of his motivation in the novel is because of one key fact about his character: he is utterly fascinated with humans. Throughout the course of the story, he is trying to understand many human emotions which he does not comprehend. This is something that he is trying to understand throughout many of his scenes in the other books too. So there are many scenes where he is doing things that humans do just to see what it's like. 

One of the best scenes in this novel is when he tries to get drunk and somewhat lets himself for a while. Also, him getting a job other than being Death is something you have to read. 

My favorite part of this novel is the character of Death, another new favorite character of mine. He is in almost every single one of the Discworld novels because he comes when someone dies. Every scene he's in is made so much better just because of him. His blunt way of talking drips with humor and I cannot help but laugh out loud with everything he says. The other books in his subseries are the ones that I look forward to the most. 

🍂 Other Important Elements: 🍂

Another interesting part of this book is Death's home, Death's Domain. This is a place that Death has made through imitations of what he has seen before. Death, as his daughter mentions throughout, cannot create anything himself. For instance, the color of the whole place is black but different shades of black. The descriptions help show how this world is merely made in imitations and I really found the whole concept of it to be interesting. 

One last point to talk about is the book's namesake, Mort. I will say at first I was not really as interested in Mort as a character as I was with Death, hence the rest of this review. Especially since I already loved Death in the previous three books. Mort did grow on me throughout the course of the novel. It was interesting seeing him take on the role of Death, a job that Death had for so long. I will not spoil what happens with Mort, but it was entertaining to see what happened to his character as the novel progressed. 

🍂 My Overall Feelings: 🍂

I really love this series as a whole so far, I mean I'm only through four of the books, but still, I love this world. Really one of the most interesting aspects of it is that these books, for the most part, can stand on their own. Yes, I did get some in-jokes, like the librarian because I read the first two books, but that does not mean I would have not enjoyed this book. This is a genius series that can seem intimidating at first but is totally worth your time as a whole. I'm excited to continue on next month and to see what comes next. 

🐖 Book 2: The Pigman by Paul Zindel 🐖
Read September 28th -29th
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The first time I read this book was back in eighth grade. We had to read it for my English class and for some reason I just fell in love with it. That year I remember reading the book three or four times and then I went on to read the second and third book. I don't remember those so much, but this one left an impact. 

This is the story of two high school students, John and Lorraine who at first play a prank on an older man named Mr. Pignati. It is the story of their strange friendship with this man, that really impacts their lives. 

From the beginning of this book, you learn what happens with Mr. Pignati. I will not spoil that for you if you have not read this book, but it's quite heartbreaking to read. 

Both John and Lorraine introduce themselves at the beginning and you really learn about their home lives throughout. They both have pretty horrible lives at home. 

This time around reading this book was interesting because I remembered bits and pieces of the plot. It has been almost ten years since I read this book. I loved this book back then and I still enjoyed it. John and Lorraine switch back and forth telling their tale throughout the novel. John tells the odd chapters and Lorraine the even. They are trying to write an epic as John says. 

It was a great book that I enjoyed reading again, but it very sad.