“A god can die if he runs out of believers. He can also die if he dies.”

Imagine a falling tortoise. Imagine what’d be like to be a falling tortoise. Imagine being a powerless god stuck in the form of a powerless tortoise. You now know how the Great God Om feels in the Terry Pratchett fiction, Small Gods. Om is a god with one true believer left: A tall, flabby lad named Burtha. Burtha was a melon farmer for the Omnian monks. He cannot read, nor can he write, but he can remember. He knows everything the church has taught by heart. When he and the Great God meet, Om had fallen onto a pile of manure next to Burtha, confused by the idea that the seven prophets of the religion claim to have spoken to him long ago. The boy tried to get the higher ranking monks to believe him that the Great God Om was speaking to him, something he didn’t quite believe, he was disregarded as crazy and sent back to work. But the deacon Vorbis, a generally creepy man, asks Burtha to accompany him to the heretic land of Ephebe, a land with a few too many gods. Vorbis is going there to lead events like the crusades of medieval times. The Great God makes Burtha bring him along, hoping for new followers. Will Om get his powers back? Will Vorbis wipe out the other gods? Will Burtha ever get his old life back? And will Om get the fresh veggies he loves?

I enjoyed this book, as I do many Pratchett stories. The writing is hilarious, with subtle hints to the real world and the rest of the Discworld series mixed in. The majority of the characters are sarcastic and interact well together. It adds a sense of realism, some I really adore. I recommend this book to children from the age of twelve and above because of the political commentary, theological ideas, and overall use of large, elaborate words.