Terry Pratchett - Discworld

[Mrs Fish]

How many books in the series, and which was the first, do you have to read them in sequence?

Are they any good?

I love Harry Potter will I like these?

Ta :D

[Raffles]

I loved them. You do need to read them in order, to be introduced to Characters etc.

colour of Magic is the 1st.

Totally different to Potter, but you will love them!

Never get boring!

[Ace-T]

Well, therein lies a tale Mrs F.

His first two (The colour of Magic and The Light Fantastic) are quite nerdy in that you need to have read quite alot of fantasy and scifi to get all the jokes. However IMHO the best ones are (in no particular order):

Standalone

Mort



Sam Vimes series

Guards Guards
Jingo
The Fifth Elephant
Night Watch

I am sure others would disagree. :-)

Ace-T

[hugoagogo]

first one i read was 'interesting times', then read any i found, in any order

[Size Nine Elm]

They are excellent. The first book (Colour of Magic) is a bit different, a collection of medium-length shorter stories, and introduces some of the characters and 'world', but is not as well written as the remainder. The second (Light Fantastic) is better, and then they are very very good.

Lots of bad punning, nerd aside cross-references to all sorts of other genres (sci-fi, tolkein, mythology, even python), humour, and even the odd moment of pathos.

The next ten or so books were great, bursting with ideas, and then I find that, although the books got longer, the density of absurd humour dropped, and the plots and the characters took over a bit from being part of delivering the humour and the story to being the story. (e.g. Night Watch was actually an interesting book in its own right, without necessarily having the earlier Pratchett chaotic humour.

But overall, very worth reading - if you like that sort of thing

Favourite? Probably "Witches Abroad". I just loved all the parallels of 'stories' throughout the book.

>> Edited by Size Nine Elm on Saturday 29th October 20:40

[Mrs Fish]

hugoagogo said:

first one i read was 'interesting times', then read any i found, in any order

Did they make sense?

[Mrs Fish]

Size Nine Elm said:

Just the thing I wanted to hear

Looks like my Xmas list is sorted this year then Will give them a go, see how I get on.

[Ace-T]

Mrs Fish said:

hugoagogo said: first one i read was 'interesting times', then read any i found, in any order Did they make sense?

The characters do develop as the books go on so it is worth reading them in order. However probably grouping them together in order is best i.e. read all the witches ones in order, the Death ones together and all the Watch books in order (if you see what I mean)

If you want I will mail you with what books are about what characters?

Ace-T

>> Edited by Ace-T on Saturday 29th October 20:45

[Mrs Fish]

Thanks


Edited to add, that would be great if its not too much trouble

>> Edited by Mrs Fish on Saturday 29th October 20:46

[gopher]

One of the best series I have ever read, I can't tell you how many there are, but I'm on number 30 and I'm sure there a few after that!

I can't really say what my favourite one is, maybe colour of magic or weird sisters, it might be another, but it doesn't matter the point is Terry manages to point fun at everyone and makes sure you can laugh along, oh yes, Mort is very funny as well, and Death is a nice bloke, just doing his job, etc etc.

I can't remember which one, but look out for the one where the 4 horsemen of the apocalypse stop for a beer and a game of cards and one of them get his horse nicked! Brilliant!

My copy of "Soul Music" is signed which is nice....

Cheers


Paul

[Ace-T]

BTW urrently reading his latest - 'Thud!'



Ace-T

[Mrs Fish]

Ah... just found all the books in order of being written

[Ace-T]

I will post here so I can be corrected as I have not read every single one

Rincewind the Wizard
1. The Colour of Magic (1983)
2. The Light Fantastic (1986)
17. Interesting Times (1994)
22. The Last Continent (1998)


The City Watch/Sam Vimes
8. Guards! Guards! (1989)
15. Men at Arms (1993)
19. Feet of Clay (1996)
21. Jingo (1997)
24. The Fifth Elephant (1999)
27. Night Watch (2002)
30. Thud! (2005)


Death and his family
4. Mort (1987)
11. Reaper Man (1991)
12. Witches Abroad (1991)
16. Soul Music (1994)
20. Hogfather (1996)
26. Thief of Time (2001)


Granny Weatherwax and the other witches
3. Equal Rites (1987)
6. Wyrd Sisters (1988)
14. Lords and Ladies (1992)
18. Maskerade (1995)
23. Carpe Jugulum (1998)


Standalones
5. Sourcery (1988)
7. Pyramids (1989)
9. Eric (1990)
10. Moving Pictures (1990)
13. Small Gods (1992)
25. The Truth (2000)
The Last Hero (2001) (with Paul Kidby)
28. Monstrous Regiment (2003)
29. Going Postal (2004)

Ace-T

PS numbers are in order of being written. There is also Good Omens which is fabulous.



>> Edited by Ace-T on Saturday 29th October 20:59

[Mrs Fish]

Excellent Thanks for your time

Bookmarked for future reference.

[fidgits]

I've read all his books, and, as bad as it sounds, I've bought them all too (half in hardback! - eek!)

I actually started with Mort - the first in the death series, and think its better to start than the Colour of Magic - i found that and the light fantastic a little difficult to get into...

But well worth reading - much better than the Potter books, a much more adult sense of humour...

And sorry to be pedantic, but Ace-T, there are a couple of errors in your list..

Sourcery and Eric are both Rincewind books, which come after Light fantastic.

Monstrous Regiment is a city watch one - I think before Fifth Elephant..

I think the rest are right..

Oh and Thud - his latest - is back on form (the last few havent quite had the impact of the early stuff).



>> Edited by fidgits on Saturday 29th October 21:18

[Jaglover]

Mrs Fish said:

How many books in the series, and which was the first, do you have to read them in sequence? Are they any good? I love Harry Potter will I like these? Ta

You don't technically have to read them in order, but you do have to read the subsets in order.

Let me explain further, within the discworld series there are a number of subsets told from the perspective of different characters which are pretty much stand alone

These characters are

Rincewind
Granny Weatherwax
Samuel Vimes
Death

and there are also a few other books which are one offs within the series.

At his best he is one of the funniest authors there has ever been.

A good starting point will probably be Guards Guards

The first books The Light Fantastic and the Colour of magic, but they are full of in jokes of the Fantasy genre, whereas I would consider Guards Guards where he started to broaden the scope of his humour more.

I have read virtually all the books in the discworld series, sadly in my opinion they are becoming less funny and more and more focused on only one character Samuel Vimes.

Edited to add, some of what I am saying is covered above, I was so enthusiastic I dived in before reading all the thread.



>> Edited by Jaglover on Saturday 29th October 21:32

[Jaglover]

fidgits said:

Oh and Thud - his latest - is back on form (the last few havent quite had the impact of the early stuff).

That's good to know

I still have Going Postal and Thud to read to catch up.

Have there been 30

Apart from Thud I have bought all of them, though these days I buy them in paperback.

[fidgits]

Yeah - although from reading your previous post - I have to warn you, its another vimes one..

But i have to say - this one is much better - more like the early vimes ones...


Oh, and i've just gone and counted - I make it 32 Discworld books (not including the wee free men and hat full of sky - although they are technically also discworld books)

>> Edited by fidgits on Saturday 29th October 21:38

[456mgt]

These are some of my favourite books of all. Terry Pratchet is a very clever guy and his imagination is outstanding. They work when you dip in and out of them, or to take in a single sitting. I read them in any order I could get hold of them, and enjoyed them all. Anyone who hasn't read them has a real treat in store

[GetCarter]

Mrs F

If you like Potter and Discworld - then make sure you read "His Dark Materials" (Philip Pullman). IMHO - better than both. (Except Professor Umbridge which is pure genius - especially when read by Stephen Fry)

Steve