orderandlaw

I've started recommending 'Guards Guards!' to friends as a starting point for Discworld as it's the start of Sam Vimes' storyline and it's far easier to get into from. I used to start at the beginning with the Colour of Magic and Light fantastic duo, but more and more I think they're just not as good, and to grip people you need Ol' vimes.

What does everyone else think is the best starting book?

GatorDeb

http://www.lspace.org/books/reading-order-guides/

starman9000

I just started Mort, which somebody recommended to me as the best place to start. I can't recall where I heard about it though.

orderandlaw

Once established you can dip in for sure, because they're all based on each other (almost). But to convince someone who's slightly skeptical about Pratchett you need to have almost the inverse, a book that doesn't reference other characters much and introduces people as new characters. There's a few of these, The orange ones on the above list, as well as ones like Thief of Time or Monstrous Regiment that are rather disconnected and so suitable 'starting points'.

However rather than 'starting at the beginning' as I've heard many people suggest, I find Guards Guards to be the best introductory book. Once someone's read that, then they'll be hooked and can go onto anything. But that first book is the important one and I've known a few people to read The Colour of Magic only to find it rather confusing and give up on all his books.

starman9000

Thanks, I just put Guards Guards on my wishlist at paperbackswap, so hopefully it comes in.

Sean O'Hara

Since Pyramids and Small Gods are stand-alones, I don't see why they should be read in order. Small Gods is the superior book, so that's the one that should be recommended first.

Jay G.

That chart seems to simply mark the first book in a series as a "starter" book. So Small Gods can certainly be read independent of Pyramids, or any other Disworld book. Also, I think Wyrd Sisters is a better starting point than Equal Rites for the Witches series. Equal Rites is kinda the odd duck out in that series, even though it came first. Plus, Wyrd Sisters has all the Shakespeare reference/homages/parodies.

Another starting point could be the Tiffany Aching books and The Wee Free Men.

Also, if you're just wanting to introduce the reader to Terry Pratchett, and not necessarily Discworld, you can't go wrong with Good Omens.

Of course, when started, I was silly and started with the first book, The Color of Magic, and read on from there.

GreenVulture

That was pretty much me. Got about 40 pages into Magic before all the names and locations overwhelmed me, so I stopped. However, I picked it back up again and I guess something clicked this time, because I got through the entire book in about five days (read it on the way to and from work). Now I'm halfway through The Light Fantastic.

A question, though: I'm really enjoying the misadventures of Rincewind and Twoflower, so I was wondering if I could just skip ahead to Sourcery next, then Eric, and so on? I was originally going to go through the books in publication order, and I believe Equal Rites is next, but I'd rather just follow one set of characters all the way to the end before moving on.

I'm not going to miss any important events and characters by temporarily skipping books like Rites and Mort, am I?

Jay G.

In terms of the overall series, you'll be skipping over important events yes. In terms of the Rincewind series, you won't be skipping over anything that will severely impair your enjoyment of those books, at least up through Eric. After that, the books that feature Rincewind also heavily feature the new group of Unseen University wizards first introduced in Moving Pictures. If you went from Eric to Interesting Times, you'd be missing a lot of the development of the University Staff as recurring characters in their own right.

Aside from major plot and character developments, you'll miss all the little tiny references and jokes that become recurring references and jokes, and the starting point of ideas that are further developed as the book goes along. The above chart may make the series look more disjointed than it actually is. As the books progress, even the characters themselves start appearing in what are ostensibly "other" characters' series. I actually find it refreshing that at this point practically ever new Discworld book is centered primarily around a different set of characters than the last. It keeps things fresh yet familiar.

Personally, although Rincewind is dear to my heart, he ranks pretty low in the list of favorite recurring characters and series. Death and The Witches are at the top, followed by The Watch, Rincewind, and Moist von Lipwig.

Finally, after you finish The Light Fantastic, it may be a gamechanger in your reading plan to know that...

GreenVulture

Oh dammit, why did I click on that spoiler...

Thanks for the info, Jay G. So you're suggesting that I should read it in publication order? I can do that; my only concern is forgetting about certain characters and events if they're not brought up in each book. On to Equal Rites then.

Jay G.

Well, that's the way I read it, and it worked for me. You've already seemed to have gotten through the so-called "trouble" books that prompted this thread.

After The Light Fantastic, the books have more-or-less self-contained stories. Pratchett also does do a bit of a refresher on characters and relevant plot points at the beginning of each book, since as he wrote them it would sometimes be as long as 4 years between books in a specific series. Also, there is a bit of crossover between the different series. For example, any book that takes place, either completely or only for a bit, in Ankh-Morpork is going to feature the Watch in some way. And Rincewind makes a cameo in Mort. Of course, Death is in all the books.

If you're reading them fairly quickly one right after the other, you shouldn't have too much difficulty. It's only when there have been years between books that you may feel you want to go back and refresh your memory by reading the books in a specific series, not that doing that is much of a chore.