Point of View

An impersonal, but thoroughly bemused and opinionated, narrator tells the story of Mort in the third person omniscient with frequent extended runs of lively first person dialogue interspersed. The narrator seems to be aware that the twentieth-century earthbound reader has much to learn about flat, magical Discworld and Death's domain, a separate dimension between which Death and select minions can travel instantaneously.

The narrator makes frequent use of asides to the reader in order to provide useful bits of history, metaphysics, religion, magic, politics, and economy. He explains things that differ from life on Earth and comments on the medieval elements of life on Discworld, using the cultural references of twentieth-century life (e.g., skateboards, arctic vehicles, super novas). Paragraphs of narration free of similes, metaphors, or other figures of speech are rare. Most of the characters share the narrator's sharp sense of humor. Even Princess...