Is there a Terry Pratchett book I should start with?
For some reason TP has always been a blind spot for me, I know I would love it based on multiple quotes and my love of British humour but where should I start?
The colour of magic and the light fantastic are the first discworld books. Some people are hesitant to recommend them because a portion of the books is spent satirizing the 50s, 60s and 70s brand of pulp sci-fi and fantasy. They’re fine entries, just know that going in.
If you want a more whole cloth story, mort or guards guards are other good discworld entry points and you can circle back to first few books later.
If you want a non-discworld introduction, Good Omens that Pratchett co-wrote with Gaiman is very good.
BillNyesHat on
Prepare yourself for a WALL OF TEXT. (sorry)
My overly extensive answer to “Where do I start with Pratchett?”:
Purists might tell you to start at the beginning (The Color of Magic) and read in order, while others say the first two books aren’t up to par with the rest of the series and to really “get” Pratchett you should start with Guards! Guards. Those are the two most popular starting points for the Discworld series.
BUT
You asked where to start with Pratchett and that opens up some possibilities. There’s Good Omens, which he wrote with Neil Gaiman and which has been adapted beautifully in 2019 (worth the watch, even without having read the book).
Or you could start where he did, with Carpet People, a book he wrote when he was 15 and re-wrote as an adult. Follow that up with Dark Side of the Sun and Strata and you get a sense of his world building prowess and his sarcasm. Especially Strata shows his annoyance at the depiction of women in scifi at the time (and still).
Basically Pratchett wrote out of spite. His teacher once told him he wouldn’t amount to anything and that fueled an astonishing career. Pratchett was annoyed at so many things and in stead of saying outright “this is stupid”, he’d demonstrate it by spoofing it or taking ideas to their logical conclusions.
All that to tell you to be aware not to take anything at face value. Anything and everything can be (and probably is) an allusion to something in the real world that Pratchett either found interesting or disagreed with. And there is a lot he found interesting or disagreed with.
The true joy of PTerry is the *Aha-Erlebnis*, the Captain America moments of “I understood that reference”. If you scroll through r/discworld, you see that that is what keeps us going back and rereading for decades.
So I usually tailor my starting point recommendations for Discworld to the interests of the new reader. If you know a lot about 50’s through 80’s rock ‘n roll music, you’ll get a lot of the references in Soul Music, which will showcase why Pratchett is so beloved. You haven’t experienced Pratchett until you’ve put the book down, while pinching the bridge of your nose and groaning from the depth of an obscure pun.
So I made this rough-and-ready list, in the form of “your interest -> book that’ll be full of stuff you know things about”. This is very broad and experiences may vary. But basically:
* Epic Hero Journeys -> The Colour of Magic
* High Fantasy -> The Light Fantastic
* Feminism In High Fantasy -> Equal Rites
* Fate -> Mort
* Power Corrupts -> Sourcery
* Shakespearean Comedy -> Wyrd Sisters
* Egyptology -> Pyramids
* Police Procedurals -> Guards! Guards!
* Faust -> Eric
* Movies -> Moving Pictures
* Burn Outs -> Reaper Man
* Fairy Tales -> Witches Abroad
* Organised Religion -> Small Gods
* Elves -> Lords and Ladies
* Intercultural Feminism In Police Procedurals -> Men at Arms
* History Of Rock N Roll Music -> Soul Music
* Orientalism -> Interesting Times
* Musical Theatre / Opera -> Maskerade
* AI-> Feet of Clay
* Christmas -> Hogfather
* War And Politics -> Jingo
* (Definitely Not) Australia + Darwin’S Origin Of Species -> The Last Continent
* Vampires & Vampire Lore -> Carpe Jugulum
* Politics & Racial Unrest -> The Fifth Elephant
* History Of The Press -> The Truth
* Time Travel -> Thief of Time
* Space Travel + Leonardo Da Vinci -> The Last Hero: a Discworld Fable
* The Pied Piper -> The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents
* Les Miserables -> Night Watch
* Ya: Knowing Who You Are -> The Wee Free Men
* Trans History, Lesbianism, Women In War -> Monstrous Regiment
* Ya: Working Hard -> A Hat Full of Sky
* History Of The Post Office + Philately -> Going Postal
* Chess & Art History -> Thud!
* Ya: Careful What You Wish For -> Wintersmith
* History Of Banking -> Making Money
* Soccer -> Unseen Academicals
* Ya: Showing Who You Are -> I Shall Wear Midnight
* Classism -> Snuff
* History Of The Railroad -> Raising Steam
* THE LAST BOOK, DO NOT START HERE, NOPE NOPE NOPE, DEFINITELY READ THIS LAST -> The Shepherd’s Crown
PMMeYourHousePlants on
This is a really popular question in r/discworld The most common answer is to skip the first few, as even Terry Pratchett admitted they were ‘essays in the craft.’ They’re good to go back on when you’re hooked, but they’re not really the “best” Discworld books so most people would say to skip. The most popular starting points are usually one of these three:
Mort – the first death book and one of the early series. It features many different areas of the world so a good intro to everything and very funny. Death gets an apprentice.
Guards Guards! – the first watchmen book, which contains the commonly most popular books overall. It also takes place in the world’s biggest city which features heavily across all the books, so another good place to start. All about the guards in the city.
Wryd Sisters – the second witches book and a retelling of Macbeth (the first doesn’t really connect to the rest of the series so it’s safe to skip then come back to it once you’re hooked). The witches are a great choice if you enjoy cranky old ladies that won’t take any nonsense!
I hope that helps! Once you enjoy the books 41 suddenly doesn’t seem like enough
Great-Activity-5420 on
I started with Mort. Then I went back to the first book. It’s personal preference. Maybe pick one of the sub categories that interests you the most. I never used to get this books but I love them now
KingBretwald on
Not even Sir Terry recommends starting with Colour of Magic. But there are a ton of other places to start.
Some standalones: Small Gods, Hogfather, Thief of Time
Starts of subseries: Guards! Guards! or Equal Rites
THEN0RSEMAN on
I jumped in with Color of Magic and loved it, but I would also suggest Wyrd Sisters or Guards! Guards!
11 Comments
I’m also new to him and I just started with the first Discworld novel that was published “The Colour of Magic” and it was a great intro
I started with Colour of Magic and loved it. Just make sure you grab Light Fantastic at the same time so you can read them back to back.
I started with Pyramids, although Wyrd Sisters, Guards! Guards! and Mort also come to mind as good introductions to Discworld.
There’s charts on the different sub-series
https://www.discworldemporium.com/reading-order/
Small Gods is a great one.
Start with death!! (mort) and go from there!
The colour of magic and the light fantastic are the first discworld books. Some people are hesitant to recommend them because a portion of the books is spent satirizing the 50s, 60s and 70s brand of pulp sci-fi and fantasy. They’re fine entries, just know that going in.
If you want a more whole cloth story, mort or guards guards are other good discworld entry points and you can circle back to first few books later.
If you want a non-discworld introduction, Good Omens that Pratchett co-wrote with Gaiman is very good.
Prepare yourself for a WALL OF TEXT. (sorry)
My overly extensive answer to “Where do I start with Pratchett?”:
Purists might tell you to start at the beginning (The Color of Magic) and read in order, while others say the first two books aren’t up to par with the rest of the series and to really “get” Pratchett you should start with Guards! Guards. Those are the two most popular starting points for the Discworld series.
BUT
You asked where to start with Pratchett and that opens up some possibilities. There’s Good Omens, which he wrote with Neil Gaiman and which has been adapted beautifully in 2019 (worth the watch, even without having read the book).
Or you could start where he did, with Carpet People, a book he wrote when he was 15 and re-wrote as an adult. Follow that up with Dark Side of the Sun and Strata and you get a sense of his world building prowess and his sarcasm. Especially Strata shows his annoyance at the depiction of women in scifi at the time (and still).
Basically Pratchett wrote out of spite. His teacher once told him he wouldn’t amount to anything and that fueled an astonishing career. Pratchett was annoyed at so many things and in stead of saying outright “this is stupid”, he’d demonstrate it by spoofing it or taking ideas to their logical conclusions.
All that to tell you to be aware not to take anything at face value. Anything and everything can be (and probably is) an allusion to something in the real world that Pratchett either found interesting or disagreed with. And there is a lot he found interesting or disagreed with.
The true joy of PTerry is the *Aha-Erlebnis*, the Captain America moments of “I understood that reference”. If you scroll through r/discworld, you see that that is what keeps us going back and rereading for decades.
So I usually tailor my starting point recommendations for Discworld to the interests of the new reader. If you know a lot about 50’s through 80’s rock ‘n roll music, you’ll get a lot of the references in Soul Music, which will showcase why Pratchett is so beloved. You haven’t experienced Pratchett until you’ve put the book down, while pinching the bridge of your nose and groaning from the depth of an obscure pun.
So I made this rough-and-ready list, in the form of “your interest -> book that’ll be full of stuff you know things about”. This is very broad and experiences may vary. But basically:
* Epic Hero Journeys -> The Colour of Magic
* High Fantasy -> The Light Fantastic
* Feminism In High Fantasy -> Equal Rites
* Fate -> Mort
* Power Corrupts -> Sourcery
* Shakespearean Comedy -> Wyrd Sisters
* Egyptology -> Pyramids
* Police Procedurals -> Guards! Guards!
* Faust -> Eric
* Movies -> Moving Pictures
* Burn Outs -> Reaper Man
* Fairy Tales -> Witches Abroad
* Organised Religion -> Small Gods
* Elves -> Lords and Ladies
* Intercultural Feminism In Police Procedurals -> Men at Arms
* History Of Rock N Roll Music -> Soul Music
* Orientalism -> Interesting Times
* Musical Theatre / Opera -> Maskerade
* AI-> Feet of Clay
* Christmas -> Hogfather
* War And Politics -> Jingo
* (Definitely Not) Australia + Darwin’S Origin Of Species -> The Last Continent
* Vampires & Vampire Lore -> Carpe Jugulum
* Politics & Racial Unrest -> The Fifth Elephant
* History Of The Press -> The Truth
* Time Travel -> Thief of Time
* Space Travel + Leonardo Da Vinci -> The Last Hero: a Discworld Fable
* The Pied Piper -> The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents
* Les Miserables -> Night Watch
* Ya: Knowing Who You Are -> The Wee Free Men
* Trans History, Lesbianism, Women In War -> Monstrous Regiment
* Ya: Working Hard -> A Hat Full of Sky
* History Of The Post Office + Philately -> Going Postal
* Chess & Art History -> Thud!
* Ya: Careful What You Wish For -> Wintersmith
* History Of Banking -> Making Money
* Soccer -> Unseen Academicals
* Ya: Showing Who You Are -> I Shall Wear Midnight
* Classism -> Snuff
* History Of The Railroad -> Raising Steam
* THE LAST BOOK, DO NOT START HERE, NOPE NOPE NOPE, DEFINITELY READ THIS LAST -> The Shepherd’s Crown
This is a really popular question in r/discworld The most common answer is to skip the first few, as even Terry Pratchett admitted they were ‘essays in the craft.’ They’re good to go back on when you’re hooked, but they’re not really the “best” Discworld books so most people would say to skip. The most popular starting points are usually one of these three:
Mort – the first death book and one of the early series. It features many different areas of the world so a good intro to everything and very funny. Death gets an apprentice.
Guards Guards! – the first watchmen book, which contains the commonly most popular books overall. It also takes place in the world’s biggest city which features heavily across all the books, so another good place to start. All about the guards in the city.
Wryd Sisters – the second witches book and a retelling of Macbeth (the first doesn’t really connect to the rest of the series so it’s safe to skip then come back to it once you’re hooked). The witches are a great choice if you enjoy cranky old ladies that won’t take any nonsense!
I hope that helps! Once you enjoy the books 41 suddenly doesn’t seem like enough
I started with Mort. Then I went back to the first book. It’s personal preference. Maybe pick one of the sub categories that interests you the most. I never used to get this books but I love them now
Not even Sir Terry recommends starting with Colour of Magic. But there are a ton of other places to start.
Some standalones: Small Gods, Hogfather, Thief of Time
Starts of subseries: Guards! Guards! or Equal Rites
I jumped in with Color of Magic and loved it, but I would also suggest Wyrd Sisters or Guards! Guards!