How to Start Reading Sir Terry Pratchett's Discworld Series
We think Sir Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series is all kinds of awesome. All forty one books are intelligent, thoughtful and deep, as well as clever and funny. Sir Terry used fantasy like a mirror, to show us aspects of our world and ourselves from a slightly distanced perspective and we would very much advise anyone to read them, should they have the chance.
However, while it might seem obvious to start at the beginning and read them in order, we wouldn’t necessarily advise that for everyone.We love the early novels, but we don’t think they’re the best place to start reading Discworld, and Sir Terry himself said as much. The first few books rely heavily on referencing fantasy tropes, which many new readers won’t be familiar with, and the tone and quality improved a great deal in later works.
For example, the first Discworld novel, The Colour of Magic and it’s sequel The Light Fantastic, are good books. In fact, we think they’re very good indeed, but Sir Terry achieved greatness more than once - and we want potential new fans to find that greatness as easily as possible.
So, if the beginning is not the best place, where should one start reading Discworld?
Don’t worry too much
First of all, we should say that all the Discworld novels stand alone, in that a new reader will be able to understand the story, and that all important business will be concluded by the end of the book. Also, we think that once you’ve read one you’ll want to read more of them, which means you’re actually just selecting a starting point, not rejecting the forty books you didn’t choose.
We can’t stress enough how re-readable we’ve found the whole series to be, so if you do happen to read them out of order you can always re-visit them for that “big picture” experience if that’s how you roll.
If you’re not already a fantasy fan
Pratchett is relatively unusual among fantasy authors in that he became a household name outside the genre and if he’s only recently come to your attention there’s every chance you’re not already a fantasy fan. If this is the case, we’d recommend starting with a book that doesn’t rely too much on fantasy tropes, that you may not be familiar with.
For example:
Soul Music draws references from rock music directly, but also from stories involving rock music, like the Blues Brothers. Moving Pictures reflects the golden age of Hollywood, while Wyrd Sisters takes aim at Shakespeare, Witches Abroad at fairytales, Carpe Jugulum at vampire stories and Masquerade at musical theatre. These are all great introductions to Discworld for those who aren’t familiar with fantasy stories and their conventions.
If you like a police procedural
If you’re a fan of mystery and detective stories, Discworld has a real treat in store for you, in the form of Samual Vimes and the beautiful, eclectic mess that is the Ankhmorpork City Watch. If you can commit to reading the whole Guards series, the reading order is:
Guards! Guards!
Men at Arms
Feet of Clay
Jingo
The Fifth Elephant
Night Watch
Thud
Snuff
However, if eight novels is too much of a commitment right now and you want to choose one or two from this list, be advised that we’d be holding up Jingo and The Fifth Elephant as works of true genius, if they didn’t sit on our shelf right next to Feet of Clay and Night Watch.
We think the Guards series deserves a bit more attention, so watch this space for future articles about it.
To Examine the human condition
To a degree, all great books will do this but the Death series does it from a unique perspective. Sir Terry shows us a character who is at once implacable and lovable in his alien naivety. Shaped by the expectations of Discworld’s humans and both changed and challenged by prolonged contact with them, the anthropomorphic personification of Death allows these stories to ask questions about what it means to be human, and to answer from the outside.
Again, for those who want to read the whole mini-series, the reading order is:
Mort
Reaper Man
Soul Music
Hogfather
Thief of Time
If you’d like to cut this list down a little, Soul Music, Hogfather and Thief of Time could be taken together as “the Susan Trilogy” and of course we would recommend any of them as a standalone “toe-dip”.
If you like a little chaos with your fairytales
The Tiffany Aching series is aimed at a more YA audience, but Pratchett fans of all ages enjoy them all the same. The tone is markedly different, with themes around coming of age, taking responsibility and becoming/living your choices, but we very much enjoyed them as adults and crivens we think you will too.
The reading order for the mini-series is:
The Wee Free Men
A Hat Full of Sky
Wintersmith
I Shall Wear Midnight
The Shepherd’s Crown
The Shepherd’s Crown also has the heartbreaking honour of being the final book in the Discworld series, being the last book written before Sir Terry’s death in 2015. We warn you; the opening is as brutal as it is gorgeous in its thoughtful and resonant depiction of grief and loss.
If you don’t like being told what to do
As we said at the start of this article, we would not necessarily advise a new reader to start at the beginning and read Discworld in the order it was published, but that doesn’t mean you can’t. We’re not your mum, and we know she’d agree that there are worse things you could be doing with your time, so, for those of you who might want it, here is the reading order for the whole of the Discworld series:
The Colour of Magic
The Light Fantastic
Equal Rites
Mort
Sourcery
Wyrd Sisters
Pyramids
Guards! Guards!
Faust Eric
Moving Pictures
Reaper Man
Witches Abroad
Small Gods
Lords and Ladies
Men at Arms
Soul Music
Interesting times
Maskerade
Feet of Clay
Hogfather
Jingo
The Last Continent
Carpe Jugulum
The Fifth Elephant
The Truth
Thief of Time
The Last Hero
The Amazing Maurice And His Educated Rodents
Night Watch
The Wee Free Men
Monstrous Regiment
A Hat Full of Sky
Going Postal
Thud!
Wintersmith
Making Money
Unseen Academicals
I Shall Wear Midnight
Snuff
Raising Steam
The Shepherd's Crown
And there you have it - our thoughts on the best way to start reading Sir Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series.
We hope we were helpful. If you’re one of the lucky people who still get to read these amazing books for the first time, we’re genuinely a little envious.
You’re in for quite a ride.
Good luck.