Terry Pratchett's Discworld: Where (or How) to Start?

[Anne]

I must admit that I haven't yet read a single book of Terry Pratchett's Discworld series, but would like to start in the near future.

I was told that most of his books are standalone books, that they just have the characters and setting in common, but you don't need to read them in the right order to understand the story.

So, here's my question:

How would you suggest for someone new to start with the series? What is the best book (or the best books) to start with and are there any that make more sense when read in order or can I just jump from one book to another without caring about the order?

Sorry if this questions has been asked before. I tried to search for keywords, but Pratchett yields a lot of results, so I might have missed something.

[Paul]

hi Anne

you're quite right, they are all more-or-less stand alones (except for the first two which follow directly on) but there are some, particularly some of the Guards books I think, where it helps to know the characters.

Having recently started back at the beginning, The Colour of Magic still stands up well. Although Pratchett's writing gets considerably better, there's no quote matcing the verve and energy of the first few books.

I'd suggest any of the following to start with:

Equal Rites the first book with the Witches
Mort an early classic featuring Death
Guards Guards the first of the, erm, Guards books
The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents a bit of a departure, the first of his Discworld books for younger readers (although I think one of the best books he's written), entirely stand alone, and one that reinvigorated his writing after something of a slump.

hope this helps!

[Michael]

Hey Anne,

Short answer: It depends

Really Short Answer: Book 1

Long answer:
The series as a whole is a collection of stand-alone books where each book adds a little to the world as you go. Within the overall series there are a few "sub-series" which tend to follow the different characters.

The Sub-Series are:

Rincewind (an inept wizard and coward): Rincewinds story tends to move around the discworld a lot. Almost like a tour. Start with The Colour of Magic (book 1) then The Light Fantastic (2), Sourcery (5), Eric (9), Interesting Times (17), The Last Continent (22), ...

Death (centers on the character of Death [who has a lot of personality in the discworld]): Start with Mort (book 4), then Reaper Man (11), Soul Music (16), Hogfather (20), ...

The Witches (principally about Granny Weatherwax who is a cranky old bat packed with so much common sense that it's scary but adds more witches into the mix in the 2nd book [who are awesome in their own right]): Start with Equal Rites (book 3) for Granny, Wyrd Sisters (book 6) for the other witches, then Witches Abroad (12), Lords and Ladies (14), Maskerade (18), Carpe Jugulum (23)

The City Watch (the police force of the discs principle city [bearing in mind that crime is largely legalized and maintained by various special purpose guilds]. Good murder mystery/crime drama but with discworld-style satire): Start with Guards! Guards! (book 8), then Men at Arms (15), Feet of Clay (19), Jingo (21), The Fifth Element (25) - This is my personal favorite storyline

Tiffany Aching (a relatively separate storyline [that eventually joins up with the Witches one [sort of. I haven't read the latest one]): The Wee Free Men (30), A Hat Full of Sky (32), Wintersmith (35), I Shall Wear Midnight (38) - Many people recommend this as a starting point too

The world evolves as the author (and the characters) explore more and more of it and many characters tend to make cameos (Death especially). I tend to recommend people start with either Guards! Guards! (book 8) or The Colour of Magic (book 1). I used to recommend book 8 because I feared people would be turned off by some of the earlier frivolity while Pratchett learned to balance to comedy against the story but I read it again recently and found it was OK.

[Kate]

I've posted this before, but LSpace.org has a visual reading order guide, same as what Michael said, but pretty


http://www.lspace.org/books/reading-o...

(prizes if you can spot the mistake)

[Michael]

Can't argue with the pretty. I don't recommend starting with Pyramids (because I did and I didn't pick another Discworld novel for years afterwards). The industrial revolution arc is an interesting one. I've never thought of them that way before but I think because they are kind of co-located with the Watch novels I'd still read those too. Plus, as mentioned, they're my favorites :)

[Kate]

I tend to suggest Guards!Guards! as a good place to start (the watch are my favourite too).

Wyrd Sisters is a nice place to start if you like messing with Shakespeare, I don't think there's much lost be skipping over Equal Rites.

Small Gods is a great stand alone, but also quite slow and thoughtful and not everyone's cup of tea. I hated it when I was 14, it's now one of my favourites.

[[deleted user]]

I've been listening to these books from Audible over the past few months, and have just been going in the order they were published. I finished #12 (Witches Abroad) last night. I don't mind that the protagonists change from book to book because they are all interesting and funny in their own way and I really do enjoy the appearances of other characters when they happen.

If you are worried that you might not know who a character is, Pratchett is pretty good with giving a short one or two sentences to catch you up without it feeling too repetitive. The character that comes to mind is the university librarian, who is ... quite unique, and is always a delight.

Once I've made my way through all of the books, I may go back and read them again using the really neat map above, but for now I'm just going with the flow. Except for The Light Fantastic, which really does depend on The Colour of Magic, you really can't go too terribly wrong when picking a place to start.

[Anne]

Thanks everyone for your answers and the link to the reading guide.

I think I might start with Guards! Guards!, as it apparently is one of your favorites and a starter book according to the guide. And then we'll see where to go from there.

[Skip]

You'll like Guards! Guards! It wasn't until years after college when I read it that I realized one of my Shadowrun players had copied his first character from Carrot Ironfoundersson.

That or it was incredible coincidence that he came up with it just one year after the book was published.

[Michael]

Anne wrote: "Thanks everyone for your answers and the link to the reading guide.

I think I might start with Guards! Guards!, as it apparently is one of your favorites and a starter book according ..."

Yay!! Now we just need to push everyone else in the book club into reading it as well. And look, it's new book time :)

Skip wrote: "That or it was incredible coincidence that he came up with it just one year after the book was published."

7 foot dwarves are pretty common ;)

[Curt]

They are developing the Ankh-Morpork Watch as a police procedural for television. I would guess that it is set a few books into the series.

Sam Vimes is one of my favorite lead characters.

[Paul]

If not starting at the beginning I agree with the view that Guard Guards is a great place to start. The books are just as funny as the originals and with the added quality of better writing. The story and character development really take off in this series.

A lot of people rave about Mort but for me it was only OK. Personally I think the main reason is that Death is such a cool character but he is only really cool when you have read him in the other books - on it's own it doesn't quite stand up.

The witches series is also very good and Lords and Ladies darkens the genre a little.

In terms of a favourite for me - I guess Guards guards followed closely by Going Postal

[Derek]

Time for a new Rincewind adventure, been quite a while since there was a book with him as the main and not a supporting character. Most of those were in the beginning when he was still feeling his way into the series.

[Philip]

I wondered the same thing, and then tried Going Postal because it was available from my library and I'm a mailman. Very funny book!

[Dale]

Tbh im an avid pratchet fan....read them in order simply because thats how they were released.
As u get further along the whole of the disc world universe grows n u grow with it and u then understand all the little nuanses etc.

I strongly disagree u cant just start anywhere.

[Halbot42]

My First was Feet of Clay, this was back when u couldnt get most of his work in US like 96, but I suggest starting with my second, Small Gods almost a complete stand alone, it still introduces Pratchetts wonderful wordlview and a couple great characters, including Vorbis who would have an audio codec named after him.

[Craig]

Snokat wrote: "Time for a new Rincewind adventure, been quite a while since there was a book with him as the main and not a supporting character. Most of those were in the beginning when he was still feeling his ..."

Rincewind had a very tiny role in "Unseen Academicals" But barely supporting cast.

[Been]

I've read all the Discworld books to date with the exception of the Science books and some of the short stories and my honest opinion? I loved them all. My favourite series within the series is, without a doubt, Vimes and the Night watch. I started with Feet of Clay then went back and read Guards! Guards! as soon as I could and just carried on from there.

Granted it may not be your cup of tea and you may prefer the witches, wizards or more recent Moist von Lipwig series, but considering how few people actually dislike Vimes and the rest of the Night Watch cast it always has my recommendation for people who aren't sure where to start.

[Colin]

Rincey was also in The Last Hero, but i guess that falls under a supporting role.

[Dominik]

I love Small Gods - very underappreciated. Another standalone book I really like is Pyramids.

But I must say I was enchanted by The Colour of Magic and The Light Fantastic. I picked one of them up by accident and have read every TP book (even the original Carpet People).

Although there are many entry points into the series, I still see a certain point to starting at the beginning.

[Paul]

I loved Sourcery - this is one I forgot about - remembered it after an odd dream!

Also loved Truckers, Diggers and Wings even though they are childrens books they are still (imo) very very funny. (they are also not discworld so off topic sorry!)

[Curt]

The next discworld book, Snuff, seems to be about Vimes on Vacation. Due 11 October.

[Ed]

I read them in order of publication and found that to be a great way to get into the universe.

[Aethelberga]

I started with Reaper Man & kind of jumped around for a bit after that. IMO only the Watch novels need to be read in order. The Rincewind novels can be started pretty much anywhere (and the pretty chart above, seems to be missing Eric) & so can the Witches. Maskerade might be a good one to start with.

[Tad]

The first book can be a bit esoteric if you're not used to him. I'd also suggest easing in with the Guards! (Watch) books, though yes, those should be read in order.

[Curt]

Aethelberga wrote: "The Rincewind novels can be started pretty much anywhere (and the pretty chart above, seems to be missing Eric) & so can the Witches. Maskerade might be a good one to start with."

Eric is the fourth Rincewind book- the blue stamp. It was originally released as an illustrated novel titled FAUST(Crossed out) with ERIC written underneath. It was rereleased with the illustrations last year but currently out of stock on amazon.
http://www.amazon.com/Illustrated-Eri...

[Ally]

K I know this is an old thread, but I just didn't want to start a new thread... so hopefully someone reads this and helps me out. I have heard such amazing things about Terry Pratchett and haven't read anything by him. I went to the bookstore yesterday and was at a total loss of what book to buy (I ended up getting the Lies of Locke Lamora instead). So my question is... what is your people's recommendation of which Terry Pratchett novel to read? I don't mean necessarily in this "Discworld," just in general, what are people's favourites and what one can I read to start with?

[Wastrel]

That depends what you want from your book. And what you don't want. Pratchett spans a very broad range from YA to very adult, from silly to very serious, from accessible to highly recondite. Ask any group of people for their favourite and least favourite Pratchett novels, everything on one list for someone will appear on the other list for someone else... So what do you like, and what puts you off?

[Melissa]

If you're bridging to Pratchett from Lies of Locke Lamora, I'd probably either read Good Omens (written with Neil Gaiman) or one of his Classics spoofs (Wyrd Sisters, Masquerade, etc).

When I tried to go from more serious books straight to the super silly, I didn't like him. I had to go back and reread him after bridging appropriately. But that might just be me.

The other way to go about it, is just to read in order. I've been listening to his books on markreads.net which has been really entertaining.

[Ally]

Not huge on YA, and don't think I will go for the really silly stuff (I almost bought Good Omens too, but it sounded almost too silly). I would also probably like something fairly popular as I'm probably going to see if I can get it from the library. I really like reading something that is unique and imaginative. That was what I loved about The Name of the Wind, which has been my favourite fantasy in ages, and also about Mistborn.
I also usually go for high fantasy, which is partly why I put off reading Good Omens and also been putting off American Gods, just because I'm not sure how I will feel about reading this sort of dogma based fantasy.
That being said, I want to expand my love of fantasy and find out what new things I will love in new books, and I've just heard great things about Pratchett.

[kvon]

I'll vote Wyrd Sisters or Guards Guards. Just to be practical. (And Good Omens is silly in a wonderful way.)

[Christopher]

If high fantasy is your thing, Color of Magic might actually be a great starting place.

[Fiona]

Well, I would go with the city watch novels. Guards Guards was one of my first Pratchett novels.
This might help with the reading order and classification: http://www.lspace.org/books/reading-o...

[A.L.]

Reaper Man was my first, but yes Colour of Magic is a good place to start.

[Ally]

Thank you all people, I was so overwhelmed with all the selection that I just didn't know which one to grab. I'm not grabbing it right away so I'll still stew about it for a little bit and also check out that website. Appreciate you all taking the time.

[Eric]

Ally wrote: "Thank you all people, I was so overwhelmed with all the selection that I just didn't know which one to grab. I'm not grabbing it right away so I'll still stew about it for a little bit and also che..."

I'll make a few recommendations, if you don't mind.

1) Read them in order. I did that and it works well for two reasons - a) you see his writing style evolve and change in wonderful ways b) Discworld evolves from a D&D/Tolkien parody into a Steampunk world and by going in order you're not wondering "what happened to the steampunk internet?"

2) If you're insistent on not reading all 40ish and/or don't want to read them in order because of your personality (I know some who would purposely read it out of order because the world needs more chaos), then I'd check the Wikipedia page. The editors there have done an amazing job cataloguing which books are in the same storylines. So you might follow all the Witch books or the Night Watch books. Each has its own style. The Witch books tend to parody Shakespeare and fairy tales. Night Watch parodies crime procedurals.

3) Start with some of the standalone books like Pyramids or Small Gods. Each sets up some running jokes that Pratchett later calls upon (like the way names are structured in his fake Egypt or the Omnian religion), but they don't depend on any of the books that came before them. Small Gods, in particular, is pretty great and is an oft-recommended first book.

[Ally]

Okay so... I think I will still try my hand at a book... but after reading some of the summaries of the books, and after reading how people describe Pratchett's style, I'm starting to think I am not going to like him. Not going to dismiss him without giving it a shot though.

[Eric]

Ally wrote: "Okay so... I think I will still try my hand at a book... but after reading some of the summaries of the books, and after reading how people describe Pratchett's style, I'm starting to think I am no..."

Yeah, he is super British. If you didn't like Hitchhiker's guide's style, you probably won't like Discworld

[Ally]

That's exactly what I just told my husband it was going to be like. I said to him just a moment ago that I thought it would read like a fantasy version of Hitchhiker's guide. And I didn't dislike HGG but it's not something I go nuts over, more just something fun to read.

[CatBookMom]

For one of the guides to the pathways through the Discworld books, go here: http://tinyurl.com/33gn2bo

I believe I started some time ago with Going Postal, but another place I often recommend to people is the first Tiffany Aching book, The Wee Free Men (Discworld, #30). I found these to be an easy way into the style; I didn't think *The Colour of Magic* was a good starting point.

[Wastrel]

On Douglas Adams: bits of Pratchett are certainly close to bits of Adams. Other bits are further away. The heavier Discworld books are a lot more powerful than Adams, and Pratchett can also do YA. He's generally smarter than Adams, and a bit less anarchic (except in his early works) and more interested in conventional plotting. If you like Adams, you'll probably like Pratchett, but the opposite is not necessarily true.


-----

Since it's such a common question, I put some thought into it.

So, here are some different non-insane places to start Discworld and why (NB not necessarily the best books, just the possible starting places):(view spoiler)[

The Colour of Magic (book 1)
What: a cowardly wizard and a tourist have adventures in fantasyland.
Pro: It's the first one, so you won't be missing any in-jokes. Reading from the start lets you see it all evolve. It's got a great zest to it. It parodies earlier fantasy. It's clever and fun. Introduces a major character.
Con: Later Discworld is much less overtly parodic and anarchic, making this rather unrepresentative. It's also silly and a lot of jokes rely on you being highly educated, and also knowing a lot about pre-80s sword and sorcery novels. The character introduced doesn't feature much in later books. Divisive.

Equal Rites (book 3)
What: A precocious girl from a rural area has magic powers, must go on trip to the Big City (and save the world)
Pro: The first half in particular is more grounded in reality than the first two books, and with a child protagonist it's aimed more at a YA/child audience, but is still a fine read for adults. Introduces a major character.
Con: A bit light, and Pratchett hasn't quite worked out yet what he's doing so it's rough around the edges. Likeable but not great. The character introduced changes a bit in later books, and is in a new situation, and the backstory for her here isn't really that important.

Mort (book 4)
What: Death takes an apprentice. What could go wrong?
Pro: A good read, doesn't need backstory, introduces an important character (Death - has been met already, but his character is being defined here), funny, enjoyable.
Con: Still a bit light.

Wyrd Sisters (book 6)
What: Three witches, a murdered king and his fool, a company of actors, and a melange of Shakesperian tropes.
Pro: Starting to have more depth and resonance. Introduces major characters/setting.
Con: Still not sure whether it wants to be silly or serious.

Pyramids (book 7)
What: Pteppic, trained as a gentlemanly assassin in an urbane city, has to return to his native country to take over as Pharaoh. And possibly as a god.
Pro: I think it's probably the best of the early ones. Deals with big themes (nature of faith, etc) in a light-hearted but not 'zany' way.
Con: Lots of people don't like it. I'm not sure why.

Guards! Guards! (book 8)
What: A parody of film noir and police procedurals: the inept night shift of the city watch must solve some crimes. Most importantly, it rather seems as though there's a dragon on the loose...
Pro: Introduces the Watch characters and subseries (probably the most popular set of books). Non-stop jokes. Has a dragon in it.
Con: Your humour may vary, as may your appreciation of film references. Broader and shallower than later Watch books.

Moving Pictures (book 10)
What: More film parodies... Hollywood arrives in Discworld.
Pro: A fun read, made very funny by the screentime given to the Faculty of the wizard's university, who it introduces. Pretty much sets the world in stone and introduces narrative themes it will be interested in for many books to come.
Con: A light read, and the main characters do not recur and nothing matters much in terms of the overall plot. The constant film jokes can irritate some.

Reaper Man (book 11)
What: Death is sacked, goes to retire in a farming town. Meanwhile, strange things occur in the big city, where a zombie wizard explores undead subculture and live wizards deal with... something odd.
Pro: Arguably Pratchett at his most moving and his most hilarious. Does use characters touched on in earlier books but that needn't be an obstacle.
Con: The content is bonkers and the plot is an utter mess.

Small Gods (book 13)
What: The Great God Om decides to manifest himself to a new prophet. Unfortunately, rather than coming back as a fiery bull or the like, he finds himself to be a tortoise. And only one person - a lowly novice - can hear him. It seems that in his absence, his church has grown, but faith in him as not. Instead, the church, and the terrifying Deacon Vorbis, are rather more focused on the impending holy war against the neighbouring philosophers of Ephebe... if only there wasn't an impassable desert in the way.
Pro: Nearly everyone agrees that this is Pratchett's best and most profound novel. And it's a standalone. This makes it perfect.
Con: If you start here, everything else will be downhill. Plus, if religion is a touchy subject for you you may not like it.

Men at Arms (book 15)
What: People are being murdered in Ankh-Morpork, and the Watch (including some new recruits) has to put a stop to it.
Pro: Maybe better than Guards! Guards!, or at least less divisive... and not really fatal not to have read the earlier book, particularly since there are some new characters here anyway.
Con: Yeah, but better to have read the earlier book. Plus another character is here slunk in from Moving Pictures.

Soul Music (book 16)
What: Death's granddaughter is drafted in to help, while a strange new music is sending people mad.
Pro: If you're an overly-rational slightly morbid teenage girl, or if you love rock music, this might be a good place to start.
Con: If neither of these applies, you're likely to find this a bit mediocre at best and possibly just downright silly.

Night Watch (book 29)
What: Policemen. Time travel.
Pro: After Small Gods, this is the one most often cited as his best.
Con: For the love of Om, no! The book is all about Sam Vimes, who by this stage has starred in five books and cameoed in several more, and if you've not gone that deep into the character (and his city) a lot of the significance of this book will be lost on you.

The Wee Free Men (book 30)
What: A new series of witches starts here. Marketed to young adults.
Pro: YA (though not necessarily more so than some of the early ones). Interacts with existing characters, but has a new setting and new characters and sort of works like a reboot, so probably a good place for new readers. And supposedly the best books of the later Discworld.
Con: YA. And maybe other things, but I've not read it so I can't say.

Going Postal (book 33)
What: Slippy conman Moist is brought in by the ruler of the city to operate the ancient and inadequate postal service.
Pro: Existing setting, but new main character, so again sort of works as a way for new readers to get into later books. By this stage Discworld books are less brilliant, but also less odd, making for a generally entertaining read that probably has broad appeal. Also a parody of Ayn Rand, though knowing that isn't essential to enjoying the book.
Con: It's late in the series and you'll just have to go back in time to get to the best ones. It's not bad, but it's far from the best itself. (hide spoiler)]


Or, if you want the tl;dr version, I would probably advise people in general:

- read either Guards! Guards! or Witches Abroad. If you prefer films and cops and like machinegun-pace humour, probably the former; if you prefer plays and kings and witches and complicated plotting, probably the latter.

- if this was succesful, read the other one, and then read forward from there, probably skipping Eric (a thin, originally illustrated story in the style of the earlier books). Check back to read Mort ideally before Reaper Man but certainly before Soul Music. At some point, when you can't find the next on the list maybe, have a go at the earlier books too.

- if you don't like the first one you try, try the other. If you still don't like either of them, bust out the big guns and read Small Gods. If you still see nothing you like, give up.

However, if you like books for younger readers, I might also suggest Equal Rites, Mort, and probably The Wee Free Men (except I haven't read it myself).
And if you like zanier stuff and don't care so much about the characters and plot, then try The Colour of Magic.


And finally, while we're at it: The Bromeliad and to a lesser extent The Johnny Maxwell Trilogy are fine books for younger readers that older readers may also enjoy.

[Jenny (Reading Envy)]

CatBookMom wrote: "I believe I started some time ago with Going Postal, but another place I often recommend to people is the first Tiffany Aching book, The Wee Free Men (Discworld, #30). I found these to be an easy way into the style; I didn't think *The Colour of Magic* was a good starting point. ..."

I loved the Tiffany Aching set and have never read the rest. You don't need the others to make sense of her story, so I agree with CBM!