I love Pratchetts Discworld books, enjoy Serkis as an actor and Small Gods is one of my favourite books of his so I was delighted to hear about this new recording. And while I appreciate this is almost certainly how it happened, Bill Nighy could have tried to read the footnotes with a little more story context than just phoning in a precompiled list from a sound booth. In all cases the characters sound like they've just emerged from a heavy night out at a 1980s northern England working men's club, with energy to match. Similarly, his casting of the voices, with their accents, intonations and inflections, seems ill suited to the character personae: in the early stages of the book Brutha is chaotic and frantic whereas at times in this reading Serkis makes him sound confident and almost colourless. His tendency to dive for the low notes at every opportunity, combined with his vocal growl, makes comprehension difficult and at times uncomfortable to listen to. I'm a die-hard Pratchett and audiobook fan and unfortunately Serkis' reading of this classic puts me right on edge. No real prior knowledge of the Discworld is required if this is the first one you read (and I would suggest reading it, rather than jumping straight into this audiobook), and it certainly demonstrates all the important parts that make Discworld the phenomenon it is today. As a standalone story, albeit one with far-reaching ripples into the wider Discworld narrative, this has always been one of my favourites, so the story will always get top marks there. Hey, Terry Pratchett's signature style was funny footnotes - let's capitalise on that! No - bad Penguin, go to your room and think about what you've done. Why is it necessary for a delay-causing musical cue to pull the listener completely out of the story? Footnotes are meant to be a fun little extra, not a distraction - the story should stand completely on its own without the footnotes at all, and adding music draws attention to something that should be unobtrusive. Not even so much for the somewhat bored-sounding, microphone-wrapped-in-a-duvet performance, but more for the gap between the narration, the musical cue and then the footnote, followed by another musical cue before the return to the action. But I'm joining the chorus of bewilderment over the poor usage of Bill Nighy. ![]() It's his carrying of the story that keeps the performance rating as high as it is. I was a little more thrown by a scouse (?!) god Om - not what I was expecting, but it grew on me. And I have to say Andy Serkis does a sterling job! I slightly disagree with those who don't like his Vorbis voice - it put me in mind of a sub-par Alan Rickman impression, and it gave me just the right level of creeps applicable to the character. But I was prepared to give this new edition a go. In the fullness of time, I expanded my library to include the Stephen Briggs audiobooks and they became my standard (if leaning heavily to the Welsh) voice of the Discworld. I grew up, not on the Nigel Planer audiobooks, but on the Tony Robinson abridged versions, and as much as I adore Mr Robinson, his range of voices was somewhat limited, so my bar for enjoyment is not set at its highest when it comes to Discworld narration. Some elements of the Discworld universe may reflect this. The first book in the Discworld series – The Colour of Magic – was published in 1983. You can listen to the Discworld novels in any order, but Small Gods is a standalone. He wants peace, justice and love - but that's hard to achieve in a world where religion means power, and corruption reigns supreme. Enter Brutha, the Chosen One - or at least the only One available. In such instances, you need an acolyte, and fast. 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. 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. Religion is a competitive business in the Discworld. They might say something different another time.' 'You should do things because they're right. Featuring a new theme tune composed by James Hannigan. 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.
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