Discworld Reading Order

[GoufCustom]

So. Since I've been hearing nothing short of fabulous on Discworld, I have decided to jump on in. Problem being I have no idea the order of the books, and thought I'd come here for help. What do I hit first?

[factotum]

You might as well start with the first two to be published, "The Colour of Magic" and "The Light Fantastic"--they serve as a good intro to the series.

[Surfing HalfOrc]

Well, you have a number of options:
1. It doesn't matter for the most part. Each book is a stand-alone, so it's not like you really need to know what has happened before.
2. There are several "main characters," and each has their own arc of books, that occasionally intersect:
Four major characters/groups include
-Rincewind: the Discworld's Worst Wizard
-Granny Weatherwax/Nanny Ogg
-Captain Samuel Vimes/The Ankh-Morpork City Watch
-Death/Death's Adopted Family
3. Published Order. Start with "The Colour of Magic" and go from there. That's what I did, and while I didn't care for every book, I honestly enjoyed over 90% of them. You really can't go wrong with Terry Pratchett. :smallsmile:

[Serpentine]

If you do start from the beginning, a word of caution: They're good books, I think, but I also think he gets better as he goes along. So, if they don't seem all that great to you, try a later one.

[Corlindale]

There are various recurring main characters in the books, so the main thing is not necessarily to read all the books in order, but preferably to read all the books within a certain "sub-series" in order. There are also a couple of stand-alone books. Also, some of the characters from the sub-series make cameo appearences in some of the stand-alone works - particularly Vimes.

As stated earlier, these are some of the main plotlines, and their chronology. Most can also be read out of order with little trouble, and I've done that on occasion with most of the series (I'd try to read the City Watch books in order, though. I made the mistake of starting out with Jingo, and I wasn't particularly impressed - I later discovered this was largely because I couldn't identify with the various characters at that point):

Rincewind the Wizzard: Colour of Magic, The Light Fantastic, Sourcery, Eric, Interesting Times, The Last Continent
The first sub-series, which I'm still quite fond of. They are generally the most "silly" (in a good way) of the books, with a lot of chaotic and funny stuff happening all the time. There are occasional serious elements, but they're somewhat rare. And as stated before, the first couple of books do not really live up to the standard of the later ones, though they are still decent. I consider Interesting Times the particular highlight here.

Samuel Vimes and the Ankh-Morpork City Watch: Guards, Guards!, Men at Arms, Feet of Clay, Jingo, The Fifth Elephant, Night Watch and Thud!
These tend to be a bit more serious and dark in tone, a blend of crime fiction and the classical comedic fantasy that is Pratchett's trademark. It's probably my favourite sub-series, and the only one in which I've read all of the books - several times:smallsmile: Also, Vimes is just an extremely cool character. Guards! Guards! probably wouldn't be a bad alternate place to start reading Discworld, if you're not going to do them all chronologically. Almost all books in this sub-series are very good, with Night Watch probably being my favourite.

The witches: Wyrd Sisters, Witches Abroad, Lords and Ladies, Maskerade and Carpe Jugulum
I actually haven't read much of this sub-series, though I hear good things about it. Granny Weatherwax seems to be among the most popular Discworld-characters.

Death and family (Death makes cameo appearences in pretty much every book - every time there is a noteable death - but some books are specifically centered around him and (later on) his adopted family):
Mort, Reaper Man, Soul Music, Hogfather and Thief of Time
Also a good sub-series, though I have yet to read Soul Music. Thief of Time is particularly awesome, and that one can also be read as a stand-alone book with little trouble.

Moist Van Lipwig: Going Postal and Making Money
A fairly recent sub-series, which currently features only two instalments, as far as I recall. I've only read Going Postal, but that was pretty good.

[kwanzaabot]

Anything with Tiffany Aching (or Death) is usually a goodie.

Currently I'm reading Unseen Academicals, the new one. :D
I got my Jolly Sailor football cards, too, yay.

Also, I got into the series with the cartoons, so Soul Music is probably my favourite.

Also Cohen the Barbarian and the Silver Horde are pretty awesome guys.

[Ikialev]

http://www.lspace.org/books/reading-order-guides/the-discworld-reading-order-guide-1-5.jpg

[Kato]

I get the feeling we have one of those every two weeks... Not that I mind it in general but it gets repetitive... Either we just link to the last one or we make a sticky for that topic (which is 'Discworld reading order/what books to read) if we can get that done by the admins... Though I doubt that.