Pages 1-35 Summary

In Reaper Man, Death develops a personality and begins a mortal life as farmhand Bill Door, starting a backlash of unnatural events including an undead wizard, poltergeist activity, and animated objects. Worst of all, a dangerous hive mall is hatched from "city eggs." Ultimately, the mall is fought and destroyed. Through forging friendships in the mortal realm, Bill Door determines to fight Death, and he defeats the new Death and again takes on the role.

As the novel begins, the narrator tells of the annual Morris dance, which celebrates life and renewal and alludes to a second, secret dance of equal importance whose time has not yet come. Several indistinct gray figures, the Auditors of Reality, discuss the fact that Discworld's incarnation of Death has developed a personality. They find this unacceptable. One auditor mistakenly refers to himself as "I" and...