TBR Audiobook Reviews: The Death/Susan Discworld books

Death and then his granddaughter Susan StoHelit have a series of adventures across the Discworld, narrated by Sian Clifford, who also narrated Hogfather. I reviewed that one and the Witches books last May.

Sian Clifford isn’t too bad as a narrator and Peter Serafinowicz has a good DEATH voice. Bill Nighy’s footnotes are delivered in a deadpan tone that works well. I enjoyed the stories; I haven’t read them for a long time, so these books were a lovely reminder of how much I enjoyed them the first time around. I think I enjoyed some of them more now, because I read most of them as a teenager, and that was a while ago, given that I’m 40 in less than 4 weeks.

The development of Death and Susan as characters is particularly obvious if you listen to the books in order. By this I mean that Terry Pratchett was obviously developing the characters and the Discworld over time, and that the characters grew as people. Death becomes more human as he interacts with people, and Susan starts to understand her nature better. Their relationship also develops from almost disbelief to an uneasy alliance.

We also get to see The Sweeper in action and Albert doing something other than frying a pudding. If you don’t know who these people are, I highly recommend reading/listening to these books. Well worth it.