Wonderful. Terry Pratchett's barely veiled smirk at organized religion, where the icons and rituals become so important the actual god is forgotten, leaving the poor thing to wither away. Gods survive on their believer's faith, you see, like Tinkerbell needs applause. And poor Om the god is down to one believer, a simple but sage novice monk.

There is nothing like a Terry Pratchett to cheer you up. However, Small Gods is more than just humorous. I read four or five Discworld books and this one was the most interesting one by far (even though I really enjoyed Mort). Small Gods is an hilarious satire of any society based on belief or religion. I found it so smart, as it draws inspirations from very different experiences in human history, from the Catholic Inquisition to the Ancient Greeks of Athens.
The plot is also very exciting, the main character Brutha is really likeable and his development is quite fascinating, as well as the meeting of different cultures of Discworld during the story.

This is my recommended starting point for Discworld novels. It's standalone, so you don't need to know the backstory of a dozen characters, but it's far enough in that the original books' parody of high fantasy has evolved into satire and biting social commentary.

A beautifully written, very funny, and very insightful novel from a great literary voice.

Brutha, a calm, and simple man, weeding the gardens in the Citadel, was shocked when a demon spoke to him. Even more so, when it claimed to be his God, the great God Om. And he became even more suspicious, when he saw that it appeared to be a small, one-eyed tortoise.

Brutha, the last true believer in the great Omnian empire, has awoken the great God Om from his slumber. The more believers a God has, the more powerful it is. When the great God Om decided to manifest as a swan or bull, he simply appeared as a little tortoise, and slowly forgot he was a God. He wandered away from his last true believer in search of food. Only now, does he realize his life is in danger. To make things worse, his last believer is an idiot. However, Brutha does have one advantage; a photographic memory. When this is discovered, they are forced to journey to foreign lands, by the church Quisition, to aid in the start of a great holy war. Brutha doesn't want that. Om doesn't want that. Neither do the soldiers. Only the deacon of the Quisition, Vorbis, really wants the massacre.

I thought this book was insightful, unique. It manages to review the flaws of organized religions from the past, without putting down all the people in the church. It discredits people who try to use religion as a tool, for their personal gain, but not the rest of the people,who were forced to to along with it.

This was a great book. It's part of the Discworld series, but is okay to be read first, even though chronologically, it isn't first. The series is organised into several subseries, but this is a standalone novel. If you like this book, it's also a good introduction to the rest of the series. It has great humor, and references to world history, popular British phrases, as is expected of the Discworld. It is arguably one of the best Terry Pratchett books.

Small gods is reverently irreverent. The gods are held with the greatest respect, people's belief gives them power, and they are powerful, but the things that are part of the religions of the Discworld make such a good target for parody. The church of the great god Om is mixture of many religions elements.Om is a god, a great and powerful god....he is a tortoise. His eighth prophet is Brutha, a simple novice, or a novice who is a simpleton. He truly believes though. The notion of faith is difficult for most people to handle, proof is needed by most (a common problem for the modern world), but in this world, belief is everything, and Brutha's true belief gives Om strength. Many of the other characters do not truly believe, they are cowed into saying the words, or do it as a manner of rote; this is what has caused Om's predicament. The funny thing is, it is the god Om that makes Brutha begin to question the Omnian religion, although this does not affect acknowledgement of the god's existence. The story is therefore about Brutha's journey to become a prophet, a knowledgeable guide for his people. The humour of small gods is more intellectual than other books in the series, although it does has its moments of farce, like playing soccer using a tortoise/god. Either way it is less driven by randomness. For the very reasons that some may find this a critical, and thoughtful, discourse on religion, others may see it as disrespectful to their own beliefs, so it should be mentioned that it is the authors intent to reflect on our religions in an amusing way, not to be insulting.

As funny as it was to read about the God Om stuck as a tortoise, which apparently is good eatin', I had trouble connecting with the human characters in the book.

laugh out loud kind of book

Best Author EVER!! You have to read one of Terry Pratchett's books.