book the third: Reaper Man

After the wacky Victorian time-travel hijinks, I went back to something familiar and revisited Pratchett Land. Reaper Man is earlier in the Discworld chronology than Jingo, but it's every bit as enjoyable, if not more so.

The Auditors of Reality, in one of their earlier efforts to make the universe a nice, orderly place without all these pesky life forms mucking everything up, fire Death, intending to replace him with someone who'll do a little less thinking about the job. Death goes off on his own, takes up a job, and decides to Do Something About This re: the Auditors. Meanwhile, nothing is dying like it ought to, and the excess life force causes problems; these problems range from the hilarious (the words of wizards have power, as do swear words; put the two together and hijinks ensue!) to the downright creepy (you'll want to keep an eye on those odd little snowglobes...).

Among other reasons to love this book: It's the first one with Reg Shoe. He gets more awesome once you know more of his backstory, but Reg the Zombie Activist is just as awesome as Reg the Watchman, or Reg the Living Activist.