Pratchett, Terry: (13) Small Gods (radio play)

Small Gods is one of my favorite books in Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series. It’s a humanist examination of religion (I don’t think that’s necessarily a contradiction in terms), set in a theocracy where the Great God Om woke up one day to find himself a tortoise with only one believer, an innocent novice named Brutha. (He’d intended to be a bull.) It’s been recorded as an unabridged audiobook, but I didn’t like the way the narrator, Nigel Planer, voiced Brutha; it was a bit too “Duh” for my tastes. I was therefore very pleased to find a recent radio adaptation with an excellent Brutha (voiced by Carl Prekopp).

The radio adaptation is streamlined pretty heavily, removing at least three subplots that I can think of off the top of my head (the History Monks, the lion, and Urn’s last device). I didn’t object to that. However, in spots I did feel that it suffered in comparison to the book, by ever-so-slightly rushing the events that were kept. Probably this wouldn’t bother someone who doesn’t know the book as well as I do, and the excellent voice actors mostly made up for it. I recommend this adaptation, though I recommend the book more.

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