"By people believing in them," said Brutha. "Millions of people believe in you."
Om hesitated. All right, all right. We are here and it is now. Sooner or later he'll find out for himself...
"They don't believe," said Om. "But—"
"It's happened before," said the tortoise. "Dozens of times. D'you know Abraxas found the lost city of Ee? Very strange carvings, he says. Belief, he says. Belief shifts. People start out believing in the god and end up believing in the structure."
Discworld's thirteenth book is widely considered to be one of the best of an already spectacular series, and a good starting point for new readers due to its subject matter and standalone nature. It's highly amusing as always for Sir Terry but also touches upon the serious subjects of religion and belief, both on the Disc and our roundworld as well. It takes many of the ideas of Pyramids and then expands upon them.
Small Gods is another one of Sir Terry's satirical works that makes us laugh while also tackling a serious subject. How does belief work? How does it go about creating gods? What happens when a god ends up with just one true believer, while the rest of the flock believes in the system of their religion rather than their actual deity?
"Brutha" is not only a take on the word "brother," but is the oldest novice of the Omnian church. The church rules Omnia with an iron fist. The nation is of course named after their great god Om. The problem is that he's also the only true believer left. The vast majority of their country have vested their faith not in their deity, but in the church and its power over their lives. Brutha is an odd young man who cannot read, isn't considered to be very bright, and not the most physically coordinated individual out there, but he's also loyal, honest, hardworking, genuinely good, has a photographic memory of almost mystical proportions, and his faith for Om is 100% genuine. This faith is how Om, who begins the book stuck in the body of a humble tortoise, is able to communicate with our protagonist. No other humans can hear Om's attempts at communication, but Brutha can since he genuinely believes in his god.
The other character that we spend a lot of time with and is also the main villain of this story is Deacon Vorbis. Vorbis is in charge of the quisition of the church of the great god Om, so he is in charge of the inquisition and the exquisition, and some of the worst aspects of their faith. He is also one of the most terrifying antagonists I've ever seen or read about. Any man that can take a tortoise, flip it on its back, and then also place stones under its shell so it cannot possibly right itself while only showing cold fascination, is not someone I'd ever want to meet. His decisions and fate drive much of the book. Most of Sir Terry's characters have a lot of nuance; good guys and bad guys alike have virtues and flaws, making them more believable, more human, but Vorbis is genuinely loathsome in his own calculating way. The things he does and more often, forces others to do so he doesn't have to, and how he makes those who oppose him stoop to his level to do so, are truly chilling.
For secondary characters, we get to meet Omnia's version of CMOT Dibbler, Cut-Me-Own-Hand-Off-Dhblah, who of course is always trying to sell things that most people don't really want to buy. Brother Nhumrod is in charge of the novices, so is Brutha's direct superior. He's fairly basic as side characters go, he's not awful, he's basically decent enough, and is amusing in his interactions with the rest of the characters. The librarian from UU even shows up very briefly thanks to L-Space, the space that connects all libraries, to save some books that were in danger. Death makes a few small but poignant cameos during the course of the novel as well. We also have Lu-Tze, a history monk who despite his unassuming nature, alters the course of things in very subtle and powerful ways.
We also meet a lot of philosophers when the Omnian delegation travels to Ephebe. I especially enjoy the reference to Pyramids where PTeppic and Ptraci met philosophers there as well, and they were trying to prove that you can't hit a tortoise with an arrow, and with Om being in a tortoise here, it comes full circle. Didactylos the philosopher and his nephew/assistant Urn are the two we spend the most time with. Didactylos is a kind of amalgam of several classical philosophers rolled into one and is the originator of the term used often in the book by those that oppose the Omnian church, "The turtle moves." Urn is more practical in his approach to things, but he has a lot to reckon with as he's pulled into the events that set up the climax of this novel.
Brutha's journey through this book is one that I found genuinely moving. He starts off as an indoctrinated, god-fearing novice, but he goes through a lot of self-reflection and questions things that he once "knew" to be true and becomes far more than his humble origins and unassuming nature would initially suggest. The state of Omnia at the beginning of this book is truly frightening. Blind obedience to the religion of a god, even when it should be obvious that these "truths" are wrong, is a terrifying concept that goes far beyond Discworld. The contrast between Brutha and Vorbis throughout the book makes me like Brutha and dislike Vorbis in ever-increasing amounts. The ending and their fates feel justified, and Brutha once again shows how much of a kind soul he truly is as the curtain falls.
Even Om grows over the course of the book, and the gods of the Disc are not shown in a flattering light most of the time. His time as a mortal tortoise and him having to deal with his only believer being someone like Brutha has a profound and humanizing effect on the god. I can't think of many books where gods have real character development like this, and I love it. Om is also mystified and annoyed by all the edicts and commandments of his church that he never said or gave orders for, which makes one think about such instructions in our own lives, which is exactly the kind of thing that Pratchett wanted us to do.
I enjoy the idea that Sir Terry presents to us: that gods don't create people, it's the other way around. On the Disc especially, faith can create gods and when enough people believe, a god can become strong. When faith in a deity wanes, that once divine being can fade away and become weaker or even disappear completely. Gods need faith to exist, and that faith invests them with the powers that their believers think they should have. This has some interesting real-world implications and is one reason that this book is so beloved even more than the well thought of series as a whole. Sir Terrry makes us laugh, but below those laughs are much deeper meanings in many of his books. This novel addresses a very deep and controversial subject even more than usual for Sir Terry, and that near-perfect combo of pathos and humor combine to give it a top rating.
4 tortoises that are actually gods out of 4.
Some fun quotes:
"I nearly committed a terrible sin," said Brutha. "I nearly ate fruit on a fruitless day."
"That's a terrible thing, a terrible thing," said Om. "Now cut the melon."
What have I always believed? That on the whole, and by and large, if a man lived properly, not according to what any priests said, but according to what seemed decent and honest inside, then it would, at the end, more or less, turn out all right.
Fear is a strange soil. It grows obedience like corn, which grow in straight lines to make weeding easier. But sometimes it grows the potatoes of defiance, which flourish underground.
Morella is a Gen Xer who likes strange things a bit too much.
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