Reaper Man by Terry Pratchett is the eleventh Discworld novel and the second installment in the Death series. Reaper Man follows Death as he is forced into retirement by the Auditors of Reality and Azrael for growing a personality. He becomes mortal and starts working on a farm, where he goes by Bill Door. Bill Door/Death continues to learn and understand living and what it means to the living/mortal to have a limited time left. Windle Poons, a 130-year-old wizard at the Unseen University, was supposed to have died but was late, and Death’s retirement puts a tragic stop to that. Windle Poons, robbed of the Death and reincarnation he’s been waiting for, teams up with the Fresh Start Club- a support group for the undead and underemployed. They work to stop the build-up of life before it destroys everything.
What I liked or felt were positives about it. Even rereading it, I find the beginning more hilarious than Mort. The characters were by far the best part of the story. The wizard’s trying to cure/kill Windle’s undeadness was perfect because he returned as an undead. The Fresh Start Club members had a great friendship with Windle and were a fun addition. Mrs. Cake and her striking fear into all the priests was humorou
s and enjoyable. The introduction and creation of the Death of Rats is in this book. Bill Door/Death’s friendship with Miss Flitworth was adorable. While Death goes through themes and storylines similar to those that he has in Mort, it manages not to feel repetitive. Instead, it felt like it was a continuation of his journey. There are a lot of references to the real world and the Discworld. And, of course, the author’s notes were great.
What I didn’t like, felt people might not like, and were negative about it. My biggest complaint is that it needed more Death in it. Death’s one of the best Discworld characters; this is his book series, but he’s hardly in this. The passing ranged from okay to bad. The shopping carts felt out of place and kinda took me out of the story. Modo’s compost and the wizard’s subplot goes on for too long and aren’t necessary. I wouldn’t recommend going into this without reading other Discworld novels. The world-building is a bit messy, not exactly coherent, and a bit confusing at times. It wasn’t a massive issue for me, but it is noticeable. I found it lost a lot of humor towards the halfway mark, which continued to the end; while I didn’t find this a problem, I know others will.
I give this 3.5 stars; it’s a bit disappointing. I liked the book, but there were too many negatives to give it a higher rating. There are four other books in the Death series titled Mort, Soul Music, Hogfather, and Thief of Time. A fragment was adapted into an animated movie called Welcome to the Discworld.
