First published in 2009.

Fool is a crazily fiction story very loosely based on the idea of Lear. I say “crazily fiction” because the geography and history outlined in the story is very far fetched, and even just outright wrong. As the author acknowledges in the an author’s note at the end. He also acknowledges that the book is not about Shakespeare’s Lear, but that was merely an inspiration.

The story follows a fool, King Lear’s fool no less. The king hands over his lands to his two eldest daughters, and travels. The story, with many flashbacks, ends with the king dead, and his youngest daughter (of three), in control over Britain, and large parts of Western Europe.

On the front cover of the copy of Fool that I read, there is a quote from the “Washington Post”. It compares Moore to Terry Pratchett. I have to agree that I did enjoy the book, and I do enjoy Terry Pratchett’s Discworld novels. And yet, I have to say that it was not as good as Terry Pratchett’s best, and would only rate as high as some of his lesser works. Still, I enjoyed the novel, though I am thankful that I did not purchase it when I first saw it in the bookshop, and instead waited until I saw it in the Library to read. Three stars.

Mort, by Terry Pratchett, was first published by Victor Gollancz Ltd in Great Britain, 1987.

Mort, a young man who seems to be useless at virtually everything, is apprenticed to Death, an anthropomorphic personification, who ushers souls into the next world. A strange combination which is even stranger when it is discovered that Death has both daughter (adopted) and a, umm, servant? However, things don’t quite work out as well as might be hoped. While Death enjoys being able to have time off (gambling, getting drunk, that sort of thing), Mort risks the very fabric of time and space by killing someone, which prevents the death of a princess. It all works out in the end though, with Mort marrying, well, I’ll leave it up to you to find out who he ends up marrying.

As a stand alone book, Mort is probably three and a half stars stars. Within the Discworld series, well, it is still three and a half. It’s one of the better ones. Rating Discworld novels are difficult for me, because I’ve read every one (except the latest) more than once. So far as it goes though, this is one of the Discworld novels that I would, and probably will, read again, and again. Would I own a copy? Umm, if I think about it hard, I might already. But if I don’t, and could get a fifty-cent copy, sure I would pick it up. Otherwise I’ll just keep borrowing it from the nearest library.