Small Gods is a treasure, a masterpiece of humanistic philosophy. The theocracy of Om is an aberration on this disc, a harsh empire of unyielding fundamentalists. The massive hierarchy of the Church and Inquisition has stamped out all opposition to Om, and also all true faith, leaving nothing but an immense shell of hypocrisy. And on the Disc, where belief is like air to gods, this means that the Great God Om is sadly diminished, diminished down to a single believer, the Novice Brutha.

Brutha and Om, incarnate in the form of a tortoise, are swept up in a war orchestrated by the head of the inquisition, Vorbis, a man of means without ends. Om is pitted against Ephebe, a city-state of philosophers, guarded by a deadly labyrinth. Brutha isn't much of a thinker, but he has an incredible memory, one that Vorbis can use to defeat Ephebe. And so a novice is drawn into a game of politics, philosophy, and long arguments with his Greatly Diminished God over the nature of morality, religion, commandments, and priests.

It's simply my favorite Discworld book, one that's helped me immensely, and is always a joy to return to.