Reaper Man
core novel 1991 Discworld
Record
| First published | 1991 |
|---|---|
| Original language |  EN |
| Work type | novel |
| Canon status | core |
| Reader rating | 4.28 (116,327 ratings, collected 2026-09-11) |
| Page count | 289 |
| First-edition ISBN | 9780575049796 |
Synopsis
The cosmic Auditors of Reality decide that Death has developed too much of a personality to keep doing his job properly, and force him into retirement, issuing him a life-timer of his own that will eventually run out. Death relocates to a rural village under the human name Bill Door and takes work as a farmhand for a woman named Miss Flitworth, quietly experiencing ordinary human life for the first time. With no one left to collect the newly dead, life force begins backing up across Ankh-Morpork, causing poltergeists, hauntings and other paranormal disturbances, and turning the recently deceased wizard Windle Poons into a confused zombie who falls in with a group of undead advocating for their own rights.
Where it sits
- Universe: Discworld
- Series: Death core; position 2 of 5 in the series' recorded order
- Author: Terry Pratchett
Neighbouring works
Publication order and internal chronology are tracked as two separate orderings and are never conflated: a book's place in one says nothing about its place in the other.
- Publication order, within the series Death: position 2 of 5: previous Mort (1987) · next Soul Music (1994)
Sources
← Discworld dossier · All universes
Part of the Library. Fields without an identified source are omitted, never guessed.