Small Gods

Discworld, Book 13

By: Terry Pratchett

Narrated by: Andy Serkis, Bill Nighy, Peter Serafinowicz

Length: 11 hrs and 58 mins

Publisher's summary

Brought to you by Penguin.

The audiobook of Small Gods is narrated by the BAFTA award-winning actor and director Andy Serkis (The Lord of the Rings; Planet of the Apes), BAFTA and Golden Globe award-winning actor Bill Nighy (Love Actually; Pirates of the Caribbean; Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows) reads the footnotes, and Peter Serafinowicz (Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace; Shaun of the Dead) stars as the voice of Death. Featuring a new theme tune composed by James Hannigan.

'You should do things because they're right. Not because gods say so. They might say something different another time.'

Religion is a competitive business in the Discworld. Everyone has their own opinion and their own gods, of every shape and size - all fighting for faith, followers, and a place at the top.

So when the great god Om accidentally manifests himself as a lowly tortoise, stripped of all divine power, it's clear he's become less important than he realised.

In such instances, you need an acolyte, and fast. Enter Brutha, the Chosen One - or at least the only One available. He wants peace, justice and love - but that's hard to achieve in a world where religion means power, and corruption reigns supreme....

You can listen to the Discworld novels in any order, but Small Gods is a standalone.

The first book in the Discworld series – The Colour of Magic – was published in 1983. Some elements of the Discworld universe may reflect this.

©1992 Terry and Lyn Pratchet (P)2022 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

"An intriguing satire on institutionalized religion corrupted by power." (Independent)

"Deftly weaves themes of forgiveness, belief and spiritual regeneration." (The Times)

Wonderful telling of one of Pratchett's best

I've loved this book since it came out. It's one of the best Discworld novels. I was very happy to know that it was finally going to get the performance it deserved. The reader absolutely did it justice, with solid voices for all characters. Maybe not always the voice I thought (especially Didactylus) but it absolutely worked. Loved it.

Andy Serkis brings new joy to one of my favorite Pratchett Books

One of my favorite Discworld books. Andy Serkis does a fantastic job of narrating this fantasy classic.

An excellent standalone Discworld novel and a wonderful production

I’m beyond thrilled to have new audiobook recordings of the Discworld novels being released, and I chose to dip into them first with Small Gods. Andy Serkis delivered a solid performance, and while the novel has a bit of a slower start, it’s full of the wry wit, cutting allegory, and incredible world-building that Sir Terry has always been known for. GNU Terry Pratchett.

Stunning performance, difficult subject matter

This was an outstanding performance by some of my favorite artists, however the book wasn’t my favorite of Sir Terry’s. It’s incredibly intelligent, poignant, and highly relevant, but perhaps not what *I* needed in terms of a Terry Pratchett fix. This shouldn’t deter anyone, it’s just a heads up that this novel deals with some serious examples of religious persecution, torture, and warfare that are extra serious to me as a historian because many more atrocities of this nature actually have taken place in the past and, in some places, are taking place today.

That being said, Pratchett wrote beautifully on the subject and brilliantly used his skills to shed light on the nature of religious extremism and persecution. Definitely relevant, definitely intelligent, just darker and more “real” than I perhaps wanted.

perfection

The genius of Pratchett paired with an incredible performance by Andy Serkis. Loved every second.

Great talent

I was amazed at the talent of Andy Serkis, he completely dissolved into every character with a unique voice for each

Pratchett is a master storyteller!

Love this author! He has a unique and fun way to unfurl a tale. The voice acting was superb as well!

Almost perfect

I did find the pause and music at the start and end of the footnotes distracting and it honestly got pretty annoying. Other than that bit of nitpicking, I did love this version. Small Gods is my favorite book, not just my favorite Discworld book, and I must've listened to the former version 15 times. I like Om's voice so much better here. Death sounds fantastic. I highly record this version!

Satire of Biblical proportions

A bit of a slow start, but once it gets going about an hour or so in and it picks up and doesn’t stop and will have you enthralled till the end.

Great but not quite perfect

Overall enjoyable, but some of the voicing choices are strange. Vorbis and the philosophers sound odd, like the narrator was running out of unique voices and dipped into cartoonish stuff. Urn, for instance, sounded like a surfer dude. Still a fun listen :)