Four years ago, Terry Pratchett's Small
Gods introduced me to the wonderful realm of Discworld and
I instantly fell in love with it. I love Discworld's humor and
its fantastical settings, and I also revere the philosophy and the
moral messages in these stories. Most importantly, these books are
fun to read and they tell good tales.
Over the years Discworld became
a part of my life, once in every season I would read nothing but
Discworld books for a month. During this time, a big
transformation also occurred in my life - I left my Christian faith
and become an agnostic atheist.
If you have ever had an exodus from
your religious faith, then you will understand what that meant to me;
it felt like I was tearing down every fabric in my worldview and then
rebuilding it back up, brick by brick. The aftermath for my exodus was
a journey both exciting yet unsettling, like setting sail into the
vast ocean.
In this journey, Terry Pratchett's
Discworld novels became my sail.
Through the lens of Discworld
stories and their eccentric, colorful characters, I gradually
discovered for myself that one does not need to subscribe to
religious doctrines to be inspired and be an upright human being. As
I read more and more Discworld books and thinking about them,
I also learned more and more about myself and the people around me.
Four years later, I reached the final installment in Discworld.
This book, titled, The Shepherd's Crown, was the last book
that Terry Pratchett wrote before he passed away in 2015.
The Shepherd's Crown continues
the story of Tiffany Aching, now a fully-fledged witch of Chalk. I am
not providing a synopsis in this review lest I spoil the story.
Instead, let me just say the length of this book is slightly shorter
than other Discworld books, and some areas in this book felt
like unexplored subplots. In this book's afterword, Terry Pratchett's
good friend explained, that in Terry Pratchett's writing process, he
usually tweaked and added bits and pieces to the book and the
publisher had to pry the manuscripts from him. For The Shepherd's Crown, however, Terry Pratchett passed away before he could do
this kind of tweaking, so while The Shepherd's Crown is a
complete book, but upon its publication it was not as complete as
Terry Pratchett would have liked. Technically, The Shepherd's Crown may not be the best in the series, but it is perhaps the
most "human" of them all. This book is moving, as if Terry
Pratchett knew his time was running out, so he poured as much
compassion into the story as he could, to share his view with us,
that we can be better people.
"Why should we care and help other
people?" My former associates in Christian churches often ask me
this question. It is almost as if they assume, that a world without
the religious doctrines and an external moral authority will
inevitably become a moral desert, deprived of any human decency and
kindness. Is their assumption true? Secular humanists have been
explaining to religious people why this assumption isn't true, and
while the religious people have heard but they don't listen.
Human beings learn from stories, so
perhaps through the narratives in Discworld books my religious
friends can come to see that they don't have to completely agree with
someone to be inspired by their words; and there is indeed an oasis
in the desert - an alternative, and equally valid reason, for caring
and helping each other. Then, hopefully they too will come to see
that we don't have to completely agree with each other to agree that
we ought to leave the world better than we found it, which is a main
theme in this book.
Religion told me that we have fallen
from some previous, better state, and that only through the acts of
supernatural beings can we hope to be better. Well, I disagree with
it because it puts a cap on us, I mean, so what happens after your
god fully restores you to "grace"? Dead end?
In contrast, Terry Pratchett's Discworld tells me that we are
growing, so despite our existing shortcomings we can be better. I
think Terry Pratchett's view is far better and more realistic (instead
of optimistic or pessimistic) than the former, and so I will finish my
last Discworld book review with a quote form this great man, whose
ripping yarns have inspired and shaped my new identity – I'd
rather be a rising ape than a falling angel.
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