Mogworld

I wanted a standalone novel to read, so I settled on Mogworld by Yahtzee Croshaw. I've had the book for awhile now, but just never got around to reading it. Having read it in two days, laughing my head off during a few parts, I'm rather sad I didn't read it sooner.

Mogworld is the story of Jim. Jim was a student at a battle mage college and died when the college was attacked. Some sixty years later, he is brought back to the world of the living by a necromancer along with most of the people from the graveyard where he resides. He agrees to join the necromancer's undead hoarde, all the while trying just to end his unlife.

But the world he has returned to has changed. The regular living people can no longer die and are brought back to life at the nearest church. Adventures are coming down with "the Syndrome," where they start moving mechanically and lose their personality. And the world's economy has become all about rewarding points to Adventurers. When the necromancer and most of the horde is deleted, Jim strikes out on a quest to find the deleter angels and make them take him, too. But the closer he gets to the deleter angels, he finds himself closer to the world's creators (who tend to talk in gibberish and don't seem as all powerful as they would have you believe). Helping him are the only other two undead minions left, the bubbly Meryl and the dour priest Thaddeus, and the rather inept rogue Slippery John.

Mogworld was a really funny read, reminiscent of Terry Pratchett (at least his later work, not the first two Discworld novels). This is definitely a recommended read for lovers of video games, satire, and Yahtzee's particular phrasing. I laughed really hard at the ending, and just really loved this book.