Looking for books (comics inclusive) that include interpretations of "death" as a significant character. This can include angel of death, grim reaper, or even just mental fuckery that suggests death as a physical concept outside of what happens to people. I'm not super interested in interpretations of life after death, but am not against it. I'm mostly thinking about the "death" character interacting with humanity or other aspects of the natural world. I love horror and speculative, and am also open to other world SFF.
Not sure if this is allowed, but open to other media recommendations as well. Thank you!
(Also asked on r/booksuggestions trying to cover my bases)
by Savings-Good9545
17 Comments
Discworld has a fantastic depiction of death. He’s just a guy doing his job.
The Book Thief
Good Omens, though Death is one of the four horsemen of course, not necessarily all that significant to the book perhaps.
A Dirty Job by Christopher Moore
Death makes a brief appearance in book 2 of the Last Herald Mage trilogy (Valdemar) by Mercedes Lackey.
Also has a song devoted to him/her/it, The Shadow Lover (Lyrics in book 3, is out on CD but not Digital).
“I have never been so grieved – and so glad – to lose.”
The Sandman series is the gold standard for this.
The protagonist is Dream of the Endless, but Death of the Endless is also an important character.
There’s some elements of that in Lucifer as well.
Death with Inturruptions by Jose Saramago
the bullet swallower by elizabeth gonzalez james. best book i read in 2024 by a long shot (pun intended 🥲). great grim reaper character, plus so so much more. such a smart book and insanely well written.
The Invisible Life of Addie Rue I think will hit this request for you. It’s not death specifically but the effect is similar.
The Bear and the Nightingale series by Katherine Arden
Masters of Death by Olivie Blake has Death as a character. I enjoyed it thoroughly.
Death on the Installment Plan
It’s probably not what interests you, but in “The Lost Hero”, Rick Riordan’s Heroes of Olympus saga, Death is presented as a minor god who works for the underworld god Hades collecting the souls of the dead in the mortal world.
In the book he is captured, so the gates of death of the underworld are left open and this allows the monsters to escape from the underworld.
On a Pale Horse by Piers Anthony
Followed by Frost by Charlie N Holmberg
Lullaby by Chuck Palahniuk
Death with Interruptions by Jose Saramago