I abandoned the book at about 35%.

Plot, suspense and climax: ?/9.

The story starts with the hero’s father sending him to the market to become an apprentice. Death, who is looking for an apprentice, disguises himself as an ordinary person and takes the boy away. At Death’s home, the hero meets Death’s daughter and is made to do tedious chores such as cleaning the stables. Later, Death takes him to collect a king’s life, and the king has been assassinated. From their conversation, the hero learns that the princess will soon be assassinated as well. He then returns to the city and rides to the princess’s side to protect her. At that point, I cannot believe the princess accepted the hero’s protection so easily. She is so gullible that I cannot believe this could happen in real life. The princess should have her own guardians, so I do not understand why she accepts help from a stranger so quickly. It is at this point that I finally decide to abandon the book.

I think this is a horrible book, and I can no longer find any shining points in it. The worldbuilding is plain and uninteresting, and the characters are not intriguing at all. I am frustrated that the hero spends most of his time doing tedious work instead of exploring the fantasy world. I also find the portrayal of women problematic and misogynistic: the women in the story always need men’s protection, and Death does not pass his job to his own daughter, instead choosing the male hero to inherit his position. The plot is slow, boring, and highly predictable. Particularly, I cannot stand how easily the hero gains the ability to walk through walls. The writer does not seem to know how to tell an interesting story, and adds a great deal of boring filler throughout the paragraphs. In my opinion, just judging from my reading experience of this book, the reason why Terry Pratchett was able to write so many books in his lifetime was probably because his works lack quality.