Small Gods
The great god Om returns to his mighty church and finds himself trapped in the body of a one-eyed tortoise, with exactly one believer left: Brutha, a novice who cannot read but never forgets anything. A standalone Discworld novel about belief, institutions, and what happens to a religion when the god goes missing. Widely held up as Pratchett's best single book.
Detractors call the premise that belief creates gods shallow on inspection, one re-read review declaring “I could not overlook such shoddy theology,” profound only to a younger reader. Some say wit alone does not carry a novel, “the plot itself drags its feet a little bit” through the middle. Series regulars find it a rougher entry than its reputation suggests, heavy on “walking and turtle talk” and light on the witches and wizards that drew them to Discworld in the first place. And like every Discworld book it has no chapter breaks, so there is nowhere to stop.
The case for it and the rest of the canon open with Pro.
