Reading Discworld:

[Lupy]

So...

I'd like to start reading the Discworld books by Terry Pratchet, but before I do, I have some questions.

Where do I start?
How old were you when you started reading them?
Which "series" is the best?
Is there anything else I should know?

Thanks for your help playground!

[chiasaur11]

Hmm...

Well, I started with Pyramids! in high school, and that's a decent enough standalone. Of course, Hogfather and Guards Guards are also good starters.

The best serieses are, in my opinion, the City Watch and the Death series.

Of course all of them are at least pretty good.

[Nerd-o-rama]

The first book chronologically and the best (if mostly dry and overdetailed) description of the setting is The Color of Magic, followed immediately by The Light Fantastic. A detailed guide to Discworld's various arcs and their order can be found here (http://www.lspace.org/books/reading-order-guides/). Personally, I'm the most fond of the City Watch subseries, followed closely by the Witches.

As for when I started reading them, high school.

[BRC]

You can start anywhere, it's best to start at the beginning of a given series, but the thing is Pterry's later books tend to be much better than his earlier ones, For example Thud and Night watch are much better than Guards Guards in my opinion.

[Erloas]

There are a lot of cross-over characters even in the different series. I read them kind of out of order and it wasn't an issue except that in some cases I had an idea of what happened or couldn't have happened based on what I knew from later books.

There are also a number of minor characters in some books which are covered much more extensively in other books, and while their later apperence isn't lost without knowing their story, it is much better when you do know about them.

As far as sub-series, I think my favorite are the Witches, though its a close choice. I would probably say Rincewind is my least favorite set of books, but that doesn't mean they are bad in any means, just not as great as the others.

The stories themselves have all kind of merged so its hard to remember specific books. The pretty much completely stand alone ones are Small Gods, Pyramids, and Monsterous Regiment... at least as far as I remember. I really loved Small Gods, its probably in my top couple books though its hard to really put them in a final order.

I would say start in order and go from there, or start with one of the stand alone books then go to the start of the series.

Not sure how hard it will be to find the books, most libraries I've tried only have a few random ones and there are a lot of them if you start buying them. I've never found one that I didn't really like, but I'm not all that inclined to go back and purchase all of them either. I've got about 1/3 to 1/2 of them and probably won't be going out of my way to finish the collection for a while, namely all the ones I found to read in libraries.

[tyckspoon]

I like Soul Music, personally. Probably because it's one of the most pun-filled of the books with some of the more blatant real-world references..

You can start pretty much anywhere in most of the sub-series without missing out on too much. You can even skip the very first books without a lot of harm; Pratchett doesn't really find his groove until after Light Fantastic/Color of Magic/Equal Rites etc. anyway. The exception is the Guards series. The recent books like Thud! and Night Watch (insert long fangirling about Night Watch here (yes, I'm male, it's still fangirling)) are excellent, but I think you need the proper grounding to get the full impact of them; the Watch cast is Pratchett's best developed and most emotionally impacting set. Plus they spend the most time interacting with Vetinari.

[Trazoi]

I agree that it's probably best to read all the books in a series in order (the Guards series, Witches series, Death/Susan series etc.), but it's not quite as important to read the entire Discworld series in order. That said, there is a bit of cross-over between the different series, especially in the later books; key characters will make cameos in other series. So I'd try to read them all roughly in the right order if you have the time (there's a lot of books!)

The exception would be Equal Rites which technically starts the Witches series; the book is still quite good, but I'd probably recommend starting with Wyrd Sisters (the next one) instead as it more strongly sets the tone for the rest of the Witches books.

The early books aren't quite as good as the rest of the series IMO as Terry Pratchett is still finding his stride, but it gets great pretty quickly. I'd probably recommend Guards! Guards! as one of the better early novels to start with; it's the starter novel for the Watch series (a personal favourite).

[Phaedra]

If you want to see certain characters developing, I'd read one sub-series such as the Guards or the Witches from start to finish first. If you want to see the Discworld as a whole develop, read the books in chronological order. It's a very detailed world and I think sometimes it's nice to see it as one whole complex series rather than just some interlinked stories, which can happen if you read them series by series.

As others have mentioned, his earliest books are probably the weakest. Personally, I see the series beginning at Mort, which I think is the fourth book. My personal favourite series is probably the Guards series, and my favourite book is a tie between Night Watch (one of the latest books) and Wyrd Sisters (one of his earliest).

I started reading them when I was 10 or 11.

[Greg]

Hmm...

Well, I started with Pyramids! in high school, and that's a decent enough standalone. Of course, HogfatherMort and Guards Guards are also good starters.

Fixed. :smalltongue: Mort is the first Death book. Soul Music comes before Hogfather(?).

I'd read them chronologically as written.

[chiasaur11]

Fixed. :smalltongue: Mort is the first Death book. Soul Music comes before Hogfather(?).

I'd read them chronologically as written.

I know that.

That doesn't change the fact Hogfather serves as an excellent bit of book.

And Reaper Man comes before Soul Music.

[littlebottom]

i think, a nice place to start might be like "going postal" and followed by "making money" as they are recent books and are currently a 2 part series about moist von lipwig, an ex-con artist. they are good book and would proberbly give you some good reading while getting used to ank-morpork (i never spell it right :smallannoyed:) and the likes. it also means your not too commited to discworld if you dont like it, where as starting the guards books although good, there are a fair few of them, and they would need to be read in order (as mentioned above)

[Haruki-kun]

1. Go to the bookstore.
2. Ask them whether they have Discworld books. They'll say yes.
3. Tell the store person to recommend you one, mention that you've never read any.
4. ????
5. PROFIT!

[Nerd-o-rama]

i think, a nice place to start might be like "going postal" and followed by "making money" as they are recent books and are currently a 2 part series about moist von lipwig, an ex-con artist. they are good book and would proberbly give you some good reading while getting used to ank-morpork (i never spell it right :smallannoyed:) and the likes. it also means your not too commited to discworld if you dont like it, where as starting the guards books although good, there are a fair few of them, and they would need to be read in order (as mentioned above)Frankly, the Moist books kind of suck so far. It doesn't help that they're basically identical to each other. If I had to tell you a series to start with, I'd go with the Watch series, possibly the Witches (the former's a good intro to Ankh-Morpork, while the latter starts off a little stronger I feel).

Or just start with The Color of Magic and read in chronological order. It's not bad, just not as good as some later ones.

[Erloas]

I really liked Going Postal and Making Money, but I don't think they would be a good place to start. Taking place in Ankh-Morpork (sp?) means that they have a lot of other characters that show up for small roles in the story, but those sections loose a lot if you don't know the background of the characters involved. It doesn't change that the stories are good, but you end up missing some of the layers which make the Discworld series so good.

[Icewalker]

Read The Color of Magic and The Light Fantastic, then from there you can pretty much go anywhere. There are some small contained series I believe, so if you are picking a random book I'd make sure it isn't a specific sequel to another. Other than that I think they're pretty non-continuous. I just read those first two and am now reading Wyrd Sisters. Good stuff, Terry Pratchett...and by good I mean AMAZING.

[littlebottom]

I really liked Going Postal and Making Money, but I don't think they would be a good place to start. Taking place in Ankh-Morpork (sp?) means that they have a lot of other characters that show up for small roles in the story, but those sections loose a lot if you don't know the background of the characters involved. It doesn't change that the stories are good, but you end up missing some of the layers which make the Discworld series so good.

yeah true i suppose, i just thought they would be nice easy reads for a newcommer to discworld, but your proberbly right, you would miss out on alot of little bits...

[Broler]

i liked the ones with vimes. i don't know what book is the first, but they are good

[chiasaur11]

i liked the ones with vimes. i don't know what book is the first, but they are good

Guards Guards.

And yes, Vimes is awesome.

[Eerie]

I started with "Small Gods". And still consider it the best Discworld book.

[Nameless]

The first one I read was Hogfather. It's one of his most famous, so I would recommend that one.

[Om]

I started with "Small Gods". And still consider it the best Discworld book.Same here. On both counts

However I'd recommend either Mort or Guards, Guards as better introductions to the universe. You don't need to know a lot to get Small Gods but there are some things (such as Death, Ankh-Morpork, and the shape of the world) that can cause confusion if you're not aware of them

[endoperez]

The early Discworld books aren't bad, per se, just different. Just as an example, trolls in the early books and late books have similarities, but they change a lot in-between. If you can read them in order, you can start from the beginning. If you can only read one here and another there, Small Gods is good, and then Guards Guards! and other books with Vimes, Carrot and the City Watch. Then, when you've read about Detritus and found him awesome, you can read Colour of Magic and Light Fantastic and see how Pratchett's trolls started.


The Discworld books for "younger audience" aren't bad either. Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents was great, and for the audience? No wonder it won prices. Some parts were more better than others, but the goods parts... amazing.

Not to mention Wintersmith. Reading the beginning for the first time sent chills down my spine. It still does. Just THINKING about it does it! Very appopriate for a book about the anthropomorphic personification of Winter, but still... "This I choose to do." :eek:

[Vonriel]

I took advantage of the friendly neighborhood book store nearby, and just went there any time I felt like reading the books. See, bookstores always have a sitting area set apart so that people can read periodicals, parts of books, and in general anything else that may spark their interest before buying. The best one was probably Borders, but that's because the coffee store there had better seats than the Barnes and Noble down the street - although, B&N had a wider selection, so it's sort of a tossup. :smalltongue:

However! Back to my original point, you don't necessarily need a library to read them without buying them, you just need to be willing to spend some time down at ye auld bookestor.

As for where to start... All of them are amazing. Really, they're just that good. If you want to try some of the stand-alone books before you go for one of the miniseries, Good Omens, Pyramids, or Small Gods are all good ones, even if Good Omens isn't set in the Discworld, and is co-authored by Neil Gaiman. :smallwink: My personal favorite miniseries is the Watchmen arc, followed closely by the Witches and Industrial Revolution* books.

I started reading them a year ago and change, and have finished reading every one the bookstore had on its shelves. :smallwink:

[The Bookworm]

My favorite books are the Witches books and the books with Ridcully and Co. in them. (Reaper Man, Last Continent, Lords and Ladies etc.) I was 11 when I started Discworld.

[Kaelaroth]

I don't know when I started, but I must've been between 9 and 12, methinks, since I remember which library I first started reading them from.
And I first read Wyrd Sisters.
I recommend the Death and Witches (post Equal Rites) series foremost, then Vimes, then Tiffany Aching, then the others.

[Surfing HalfOrc]

While they're all good, you can see that people have differing opinions, so take anything here with a grain of salt. My own comments included! :smallwink:

I personally prefer "The Watch" and "The Witches" arcs the most. A huge cast, and everyone is unique. Vimes ends up calling the members of the Watch "Orphans and Strays," although only to himself.

Granny Weatherwax is clearly the second most shrewd member of the books, with only Lord Vetanari in the lead. I've always wondered what would happen in Lord Vetrenari were to call Granny Weatherwax in for a "little chat." :smalleek: To me, the Tiffany Aching books are OK, to others they are the crown jewels of Pratchett's writing.

While Rincewind started the series, I've never really warmed to him. I don't know why, since I think the entire staff of the Unseen University is hilarious!

The "Odds and Ends" books can be hit or miss, and it depends on what you like. I rather enjoyed "Small Gods" but thought "Pyramids" was the worst book in the series. "Monsterous Regiment" was good, but not great. "Going Postal" was very funny, but "Making Money" was a not-as-good rewrite. "Maurice and his Amazing Educated Rodents" was also good, but not great. Again, your mileage may vary.

I don't know if any of this has been helpful, but that's the nature of opinions. What I think is "The Greatest Thing Ever Written by Man or Beast! EVER!" might be a pile of dog dropping to the next person. Maybe grab one from each series/arc, see who you like, who you don't care for, and have at it. In time, you'll probably have the entire collection. Like I do. :smallsmile:

[Lupy]

Wow. :smalleek: So. Much. Advice.

I think I'm going to start with the Watch Books, from what I've read, and thanks for all the help guys!

[Athaniar]

I also decided to get into Discworld, so I bought The Color of Magic three days ago and have started reading it. So far, I find it good.

[BlueWizard]

I started in order recently. I missed out when I was younger, and I love'em all.

Start with Color of Magic to give you an overview of the world.

[Shades of Gray]

I started with THUD! ~1 year ago. I then went back and read most of the city watch series, which is my favourite. I also read the colour of magic, another great one. I did not really care for Mort though... Even though Death is my favourite character.

[Morty]

I have a soft spot for the books with Rincewind myself. Maybe it's because I've read Sourcery as my first Discworld book after being drawn to the series by the descriptions of wacky adventures of an inept wizard. And although Color of Magic and The Light Fantastic are much different than the later ones, they're by no means worse, so don't listen to what some might say. I struggle to mark a point at which the "old Discworld" became the "new Discworld", but it's hard to do. That said, from all the Discworld books I've read, and I've read all of them, the only two I didn't really like was Equal Rites and The Monstrous Regiment.

[hamishspence]

I've seen Small Gods cited as first of the "new discworld" ones, but people may differ on this.

[mcv]

For every new Discworld book, some fans hail it as the best book yet, others see it as the first sign of the decline of the master, others reminisce the good old days when his books were good, others see it as the return to the old greatness, and others see it as good but not great.

Everybody has his or het own opinion about which Discworld books are the best, and which are best to start with. The lesson here is: if you don't like the first Discworld book you try, try a completely different one.

The Colour of Magic is definitely one of the most controversial. Many see it as the worst book, or at least a very inaccessible book if you haven't read all pre-1980 fantasy (including Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser, Dragonriders of Pern, Conan, Cthulhu, and a lot more), because it's mostly a parody of those. If you want to start at the beginning, a lot of people recommend starting with Mort and skipping the few books that went before, but personally I like The Colour of Magic quite a lot, despite not having read a lot of pre-1980 fantasy novels (well, now I have, but not back then).

While it is indeed a good idea to start at the beginning on a sub-series, every single Discworld book (except The Light Fantastic) stands very well on its own. Yes, many have well developed existing characters, but you don't need to know everything about them to enjoy the book. And many books use hardly existing characters.

Personally I recommend Going Postal. Recent books are (IMO) very, very good, and this one in particular seems designed to be an excellent book to start with. It uses almost no existing characters (except the Patrician, obviously), and it's really good.

Another favourite of mine is Thud!, which is the most recent installment of the very long and excellent City Watch sub-series. It also relates strongly to current events of the past couple of years (at least if you live in a country with an existing muslem population that has recently seen a movement towards religious fundamentalism).

I never really got the hang of Wyrd Sisters and Witches Abroad, although I liked Equal rites and Maskerade (all witches books, of which Equal Rites and Wyrd Sisters are the first, though Equal Rites is considered the odd one out and not as good).

For the books focusing on Death (including Reaper Man, Soul Music, The Hogfather and probably some I'm forgetting), it probably helps if you've read the first of the series: Mort, Hogfather is a great story on its own as well. And was the first Discworld book to be turned into an (excellent and beautiful) movie.