The once mighty god Om mistakenly incarnates into the body of an innocuous animal and his divine powers are diminshed accordingly. The only person he can find who believes in him is a simple-minded and illiterate novice priest called Brutha. Meanwhile, the Omnian religion is run by an inquisitorial priesthood, its followers are terrified, and a new but secret religion based on the writings of an unemployed philosopher is gaining support. War, both civil and international, is almost certain. Can Om and Brutha reform the church and prevent bloodshed?
Small Gods is an investigation into the relationship between individual belief and religious orthodoxy, the relationship between the church and state, and how religious zealotry can blind the believer to the actuality of his/her god.
Of course, Pratchett mixes his satire with liberal dollops of good humour. The pace of this novel is a bit laboured compared to his previous novels, but he does have to cover a lot of complex ground. Small Gods is a one-off novel that sits outside the usual witches/wizards/death/city watch canons of the Discworld books, and is set much earlier chronologically. Later and more "contemporary" Discworld novels will feature followers of the Omnian religion.
Not amongst Pratchett's best, but still a worthy and thought-provoking tale.
