Pratchett - Where to Start?
Discussion
I've never read any of Sir Tel's work. I know I'd enjoy it, but he's been so prolific I have no idea where to start. I'd hate to pick up a book and not get the full enjoyment from it because it's full of Discworld in-jokes and I'd not get them.
With that in mind where should I start? I'm aware there are various series of books based around the Discworld universe, but I'm after recommendations for, say, 5 books that I can get stuck into to introduce me to his work. Whether that be one series of a number or individual ones I have no idea.
Over to you, bookworms.
With that in mind where should I start? I'm aware there are various series of books based around the Discworld universe, but I'm after recommendations for, say, 5 books that I can get stuck into to introduce me to his work. Whether that be one series of a number or individual ones I have no idea.
Over to you, bookworms.
Edited by BrewsterBear on Sunday 18th November 03:20
Colour of magic is his first diskworld book, but not his first book. That was the carpet people, but I'd suggest you start with colour of magic too. The next diskworld book is the light fantastic, so that'd be a natural continuation (it follows directly on from the colour of magic).
Enjoy them, I certainly do!
Enjoy them, I certainly do!
You can do them in blocks, so you could do Wyrd Sisters, Witches Abroad, Lords and Ladies, Maskerade and Carpe Jugulum for the Witches series, and then do the City Watch series which starts with Guards! Guards! and goes all the way through to his recent one, Snuff, and then dabble in the other ones along the way (off the top of my head, The Truth, and Monstrous Regiment both mention the City Watch so get a few of those under your belt before you hit these two. Small Gods is really good and can be read as a stand alone book).
Personally I could never get in to his really early work, nor did I really like the Mort series, but everyone has different tastes so give yourself a broad starting point and see where it takes you
Personally I could never get in to his really early work, nor did I really like the Mort series, but everyone has different tastes so give yourself a broad starting point and see where it takes you
if you are at all unsure of the 'style' of the discworld books - i.e. fantasy (initially) - I would start with the witches books - they are significantly better than the colour of magic and the 2nd one. The early books a bit more, er, geeky, and not as enjoyable or good as the others, in my opinion.
however, if you reckon you can take a bit of fantasy stuff, then it's probably better to start from the beginning
however, if you reckon you can take a bit of fantasy stuff, then it's probably better to start from the beginning
JDRoest said:
Why not start from the beginning with Colour of Magic?
Yes, although most of his later work repeats so much of the back story that it probably doesn't really matter where you start.In the end, that was what put me off reading his stuff, but the first few are quite entertaining.
M
Start with Wyrd Sisters and Witches abroad or Night Watch. Should give you a good idea if you will like them and quite early in the series.
The later books such as The Truth are
More rewarding if you have read the earlier ones as they are full of in jokes.
Pyramids is a decent, early standalone novel too
The later books such as The Truth are
More rewarding if you have read the earlier ones as they are full of in jokes.
Pyramids is a decent, early standalone novel too
MentalSarcasm said:
Personally I could never get in to his really early work, nor did I really like the Mort series, but everyone has different tastes so give yourself a broad starting point and see where it takes you
The early stuff is by far the best.The Colour of Magic and The light fantastic are both just a series of gags, great but not a strong story. They do though have some of the best characters in Rincewind and Cohen.
The books after that are by far the best, they stay in the "medieval" state Disk World but have a strong story, great characters and not much moralising. I would advise the OP to start here with either Mort (My favourite personally) or Guards Guards! Also, anything with Granny Weatherwax is worth reading.
The later books have totally lost it for me. Magic is basically now technology, the world has moved on to a very uninteresting Dickensian/Victorian mess and the characters are throw away.
hairykrishna said:
I always recommend Guards! Guards! to discworld newbies. The very early stuff is not as good. Still very good, obviously, just not as good as the later books.
I think I'm in a small minority of people - because I hated the stories about the guards. I found them tedious at best, although after book 24 (or whichever it was) I started to find his writing quite tedious as well. He had lost a lot a lot of the wonderful alternate thinking of how things worked, and Ankh Morpork was becoming more and more conventional as the series went on.
Best character by far - Death.
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