BrokenTune

Death was standing behind a lectern, poring over a map.

He looked at Mort as if he wasn’t entirely there.

YOU HAVEN’T HEARD OF THE BAY OF MANTE, HAVE YOU? he said.

‘No, sir,’ said Mort.

FAMOUS SHIPWRECK THERE.

‘Was there?’

THERE WILL BE, said Death, IF I CAN FIND THE DAMN PLACE.

Ok, this made me laugh, as did many of the scenes where we get to know DEATH a little bit. And I did feel for him when he was on his pouring his heart out to the barman after his 47th drink, feeling sorry for himself and being sad that no one ever invited him to hang out.

In many ways Mort was the typical fun and charming and complex story that I have come to expect from Pratchett, but this was still an early book, too. 

So, characters weren't as fleshed out as they would be in the later books, and there were elements of the plot that were just a little bit too ... conventional ... for me. Like the ending, ... which I won't go into detail of. 

However, when Pratchett tackles complex and philosophical conundrums, I - having read some of his later books - expect more than a black-and-white template solution. 

I also needed more in the way of the way of description of what motivated Mort. 

As it was, I thought he was a bit of an arse in this. So was Albert - he did not come across as the same Albert I met in Hogfather.

I already look forward to the next book in this subseries.