The turtle moves.

Small Gods is a bit odd in the greater Discworld universe, being one of only a handful of one-off stories (Pyramids and Amazing Maurice are the other two if you count the Industrial Revolution subseries as a series) and being relatively early in the reading order. So with the exception of offhand references (such as to the Great God Om), it’s one of the books you could easily read anywhere in your reading order.

That being said, the story is interesting enough. It’s basically a story about one of the Discworld Gods (specifically Om) getting stuck in a mortal form and having to deal with the religion that has grown up around his name, to the point that even he doesn’t really recognize what he’s supposed to have done any more.

It’s an interesting enough take on the idea that I’ve seen in a few other books–that gods have power in relation to how many believers they have– combined with how religions tend to grow more strict as they gain more and more laws over the years.

It’s well done and an interesting enough take on the topic, but I feel like it’s been done better otherwise. Still worth the read for completeness sake and it would probably work as a pretty good introduction to the world of Discworld - although I think the City Watch books do a better job of that.

Quote for thought:

Just because you can explain it doesn’t mean it’s not still a miracle.