Guards! Guards! is one I recommend endlessly to everyone always.
IAmTheZump on
**Guards, Guards!** is the standard recommendation for starting Discworld. It marks the unofficial point where Pratchett shifted from parodying other fantasy worlds to really creating his own, and introduced some of the series’ most iconic characters.
On the other hand, I started with the first book in the series, **The Colour of Magic**, and loved it anyways. He does a great job of making each book work as a standalone, so if you find one that looks interesting you can easily start there.
onceuponalilykiss on
A lot of people will tell you the early books aren’t *that* bad but honestly, if you’re at all picky, they definitely are.
It’s not until *Wyrd Sisters* (or maybe, maybe Mort) that they become decent, and IMO the first like “yeah this is good without caveats” is *Guards! Guards!*. The first **great** one is *Reaper Man.*
Usual advice is to pick either a standalone like *Small Gods* (which is way overrated and kind of tedious, IMO) or pick one of the series out of city guards, witches, or Death and start with book 1 or 2 in that series. If you like witches I’d start with *Wyrd Sisters*, if you like more like a spoof on police procedurals and big city life, try *Guards!* and if reading about Death sounds cool then start with *Reaper Man*, though *Mort* works too (*Mort* is much earlier and Pratchett’s authorial voice is much weaker then, but people tend to like that one anyway).
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Guards! Guards! is one I recommend endlessly to everyone always.
**Guards, Guards!** is the standard recommendation for starting Discworld. It marks the unofficial point where Pratchett shifted from parodying other fantasy worlds to really creating his own, and introduced some of the series’ most iconic characters.
On the other hand, I started with the first book in the series, **The Colour of Magic**, and loved it anyways. He does a great job of making each book work as a standalone, so if you find one that looks interesting you can easily start there.
A lot of people will tell you the early books aren’t *that* bad but honestly, if you’re at all picky, they definitely are.
It’s not until *Wyrd Sisters* (or maybe, maybe Mort) that they become decent, and IMO the first like “yeah this is good without caveats” is *Guards! Guards!*. The first **great** one is *Reaper Man.*
Usual advice is to pick either a standalone like *Small Gods* (which is way overrated and kind of tedious, IMO) or pick one of the series out of city guards, witches, or Death and start with book 1 or 2 in that series. If you like witches I’d start with *Wyrd Sisters*, if you like more like a spoof on police procedurals and big city life, try *Guards!* and if reading about Death sounds cool then start with *Reaper Man*, though *Mort* works too (*Mort* is much earlier and Pratchett’s authorial voice is much weaker then, but people tend to like that one anyway).
Neil Gaiman.