Mort

This is a favorite. Death gets a protagonist role and a personality. He decides he needs an apprentice, Mort, partly to share the workload, but mostly to understand humans better. It’s hilarious watching reading about the anthropomorphic personification of Death trying to fry bacon, get drunk, or go fishing to feel “alive.” But the core story is about Mort messing up the timeline because he felt pity for a princess he was supposed to collect. It’s a brilliant balance of humor and very serious stakes.

It forces you to look at death not as an evil event, but as a necessary function, performed by someone who is just doing his job and is actually quite lonely.

One of the funniest scenes is Mort’s awkward job interview with Death at the hiring fair, where he doesn’t quite realize what the job is until it’s too late. While Mort takes over the Duty, Death tries to live a human life, including working quickly as a short-order cook (because he is naturally good with a scythe/spatula). The story culminates in a duel where Mort fights Death for the life of the Princess - a battle not of strength, but of authority and the rules of the universe.

The book tackles the concept of justice versus mercy. Death famously says, “THERE IS NO JUSTICE, THERE IS JUST ME” - highlighting that the universe is indifferent, and concepts like “fairness” are human inventions. It also explores anthropomorphism - we give Death a human shape to cope with the concept and in doing so, we make him more human than some of the actual people in the book.