pratchett’s career-defining invention was the discworld series, in which no fewer than 41 of his novels were set. the facts, depth, and storylines of her within her discworld academic setting are downright mind-boggling.
The best books on the discworld are playing their part in the big picture, along with characters who intersect and intertwine their stories, sometimes across scores of novels.
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The buzzing hive of existence around the Discworld series is truly intricate and animated; It’s a miracle how Terry Pratchett kept it exciting for so many decades.
It’s no secret to some readers of fiction that Terry Pratchett had a brilliant head, a magnificent imagination, and has been a fantastic writer.
Due to his rise to fame in the 1970s, Pratchett’s work has attracted tens of thousands, possibly millions thanks to its complexity and positive outlook.
With over 50 features to his name throughout his career, the late great Terry Pratchett penned some of the most traditional fantasy books of all time.
yet, from a career spanning over four years, terry pratchett’s novels are highly engaging, innovative, lecture-challenging, and psychedelic.
best terry pratchett novels to read
here is a list of the best terry pratchett books for penn bookrecommended reading:
little gods
This best book on the discworld little gods that we recommend to people is their initial foray into the discworld. it is a meditation on faith, private morality, the risks and prospects of progress, religion, and good deeds. Plus, it’s pretty fun.
Terry Pratchett’s anti-clericalism is a recurring theme in the discworld series, but this book manages to be humane to the faith and downright scathing at precisely the same time. It’s also surprisingly complete not to trust some of those figures Terry Pratchett had spent on the previous 12 books.
men at arms
You will note that I have plenty of time for your ankh-morpork city watch, the men-at-arms is where they reach their apex.
This is the book that sees Sam Vimes evolve as a character, giving us the boots of socio-economic injustice as well as confronting a superbly angry and devious antagonist. it’s also about the whole clock, as opposed to just sam vimes, as later books tended to.
there are too many highlights, but understand: the book also introduces the socio-economic concept of injustice. gaspode, the wonder dog if you want to have an evil guy or the right person to organize a gone in and vetinari manipulating the inhabitants and guilds of the city to keep everything running.
reaper man
death retreats then gets attached to people, and things go awry. although it is based on a similar concept of death, this one is better. Bill Door’s growth and Miss Flitworth’s connection is touching, as is her party’s entire relationship with the villagers.
in addition to a fantastic narrative, if instead of parochial about death, there are also wizards running around fighting ankh-morpork and playing around trying to ruin the embodiment of consumerism. in addition, we receive the death of rats.
guards! guards!
on guards! guards! we comply with the surveillance of the city of ankh morpork and precisely in which country it is located. Sam Vimes is an alcoholic, Nobby is a criminal, and Colon is counting down to retirement.
and the body carrot is 6 feet. it lacks the developed dynamics of this watch and city, but it’s so well paced, the action is correct and brilliant, it’s very, very fun. farting dragons, I mean, go ahead! this is excellent.
death
In addition to Sam Vimes and Esme Weatherwax, Death is a critical character; It appears in basically every book. mort is due to death’s helper and fucks up everything, like falling in love with a princess and the son of the party and altering his background.
the humanization of departure is one of terry pratchett’s most incredible thoughts; death isn’t always right, and therein lies the humor.
night watch
The first Terry Pratchett books are crime novels set in Ankh-Morpork and the next two take on city policing outside of the city; night watch will work on both. I was traveling back in time when Sam Vimes first joined the unit.
here is the first of 3 novels (night watch, thud!, snuff) which are much more sam vimes books than city watch books, it means the next high point of this collection.
grandfather paradoxes and original stories galore, which means this is a fantastic book to get a fan of the discworld. and carcer is a terrible villain and very well drawn.
yugulum carp
For some reason, I’ve always loved carpe jugulum. It is the last book of witches until a sorrowful Tiffany reaches the focus of the sequence.
granny weatherwax faces her most formidable challenge yet and overcomes it through tea. for me it beats overseas witches, ladies and gentlemen, and maskerade as the villains are much more intriguing.
The social dynamics of the members of this magpie vampire family and their confrontation with modernity is a beautiful theme that continues after the discworld novels.
if you’re looking for the best discworld reading order, read more about terry pratchett’s suggested best discworld reading order [best update 2022].
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sending postcards
going postal is another book in the mold of the slow sludge of ankh-morpork to the contemporary era that sees the detour of this post office and the debut of a new personality. Moist von Lipwig is a lovable opportunist who, like most of Terry Pratchett’s personalities, comes to heroism reluctantly.
the postcard reminded me of neil gaiman’s quote about terry pratchett: “it’s not cheerful”. this book shows that he is angry. While it’s not the only example of righteous anger, it’s one of the best.
moving images
The first of the novels of the industrial revolution appears on the film market. o holywood is a clear target for a satire, but not for a dream writer.
but what makes the magic of hollywood magical. detritus, gaspode, along with such a lazy guy who stays incredibly fit are comic masterstrokes, but the book’s climax is somewhat anticlimactic.
gentlemen and ladies
elves are the only species that seems almost irredeemable in the discworld series, even orcs take a good whipping, but elves are vindictive bastards.
I think it’s sir terry’s day in the dream score, he adored underdogs, and I think he correctly assumes that any magical, memorable, immortal person is sure to be a sucker.
magret shoots one from the eye through a keyhole, and it’s a big part of the character growth exposition I’ve read. along with the ogg clan he has a fantastic performance with morris dancers and shawn ogg playing crucial roles for both the narrative and the humor.
the color of magic
technically among the most flawed discworld books and the matrix and source of everything that came after. plotting in this book is weak as rincewind, two flowers, and luggage go from one dream trope to another, fleeing from each in turn.
but it’s still such a pleasure to read this first book that I can’t rate it any lower. although the discworld developed greatly from this humble beginning, much of it was in place from this first book.
equality of rites
The first publication of the rincewind book features an excellent female character, something that was sorely lacking in the first two novels. Like the color of magic, much of the planet building is out of place with Terry Pratchett’s later books, the last fight between Esme and the Archchancellor in particular. however, the interaction between a witch and a precocious child is fantastic.
sources
sourcery is your bridge between the old world building era of dream parodies (the color of magic, fantastical light, equal rites, death and sorcery), along with the golden age of the later novels (wyrd sisters before men-at-arms).
everything remains in flux, but you can see the beginnings of this contemporary disco world developing. rincewind’s third experience is just one where he has good character development instead of being an itinerant coward.
Similarly, magic and the ankh-morpork take firmer forms as a tool that may inspire additional books by Terry Pratchett. For many of these reasons, I believe sorcery holds up much better than many men and women realize.
monstrous regiment
the lack of subtlety of terry pratchett parodies, and that’s why I like it. spoiler alert everyone is a girl. all the world. it’s like getting hit in the face with a wet fish while someone yells, isn’t sexism silly?!
terry pratchett does some fantastic female characters and gender dynamics in different books, but that one makes it heavy. So, she’s hilarious, in an insistent dom joly/stewart lee kind of way that I enjoy, but others find a bit too much.
time thief
Death, once again, confronts the listeners of the truth. his granddaughter is involved. along with the death of rats. all fantastic characters against an autistic watchmaker and also an auditor gradually losing her mind.
The gradual destruction of beings of pure motives by direct human experiences is fun and intriguing. Along with listening, the monks are treated well.
However, the configuration is much better than the end. unfortunately, one of the problems with composing books without understanding where they are going.
good omens: the nice and accurate prophecies of agnes nutter, witch
pratchett was a prolific writer of discworld novels. however, he also handled several discworld books that were not on the flat disc. this includes this one with neil gaiman.
People have been predicting the end of the world almost since the beginning, so it’s natural to be skeptical when a new date is set for doomsday. But what if, for once, the predictions are correct and the apocalypse really does come next Saturday, just after tea?
You could spend the remaining time drowning your sorrows, giving away all your possessions in preparation for the rapture, or laughing at it as (hopefully) just another auspicious hoax. or you could try to do something about it.
Aziraphale, a touchy-feely angel, and Crowley, a fast-living demon, find themselves in a sticky situation. they have been living among the mortals of earth since the beginning and, truth be told, they have grown quite fond of that lifestyle. And, in all honesty, they’re not really looking forward to the apocalypse that’s coming.
and then there’s the little tidbit that someone seems to have misled the antichrist.
jingo
The city guard leaves Ankh-Morpork to try to prevent a war. Terry Pratchett is a great liberal, and anti-jingoism and general frustration with the idiocy of war also stand out.
The double story familiar to most disco world novels works great with Vimes trying to solve a crime while Nobby, Colon, Vetinari and Leonardo da Quirm sneak away in a submarine. vimes klatchian reverse number is a beautiful complement to your little ankh morpork flaws.
interesting times
Cohen’s Silver Horde takes over the Agatean Empire through cunning, cunning, and violence. i think terry pratchett is on weaker ground sending out civilizations he doesn’t understand (or businesses, compare moving pictures to the truth).
so this lacks the jingo punch or monstrous regiment as a tyrannical overreach shipment. It’s hugely fun to watch, and you can’t help but cheer for Cohen with the horde. still, on rereading, i can’t help but notice how reliant the rincewind novels are on characters other than rincewind.
tobacco
Terry Pratchett was now diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and it was affecting his ability to compose independently. this is evident as the book is much more than other discworld novels.
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as every author knows, it is much more difficult to write something short than long. there is much to enjoy in the book; in agent sweeney’s introduction to the goblins themselves.
but there’s also a lot I don’t like; regional magistrates seem materialistic, wilkins is unrecognizable from jingo and just a little too awesome. however, i appreciate terry and sam having one last vacation together.
rising steam
another one of those latest discworld novels. inferior writing is rescued from brilliant thought. imagine if ned simnel’s harvester worked? Imagine if the discworld had mechanical electricity as well as magic?
seeing the financing, construction and socio-economic effect of the railways realized was brilliant at this stage where the disco world remains in its multiple novel subplot of midget religious extremists opposing progress and turmoil of the behavior.
This subplot may continue through many novels as a testament to the strength of what was once just a puck on the backs of elephants on a turtle. but that generally means that the political and ethical message is not as subtle as it was, similar to the wording.
the last hero
Is that a book? a picture book? an illustrated book? who cares? It’s the culmination of the entire Rincewind story, and Leonard of Quirm, Captain Carrot, and the Librarian connect it up to try to prevent the destruction of Earth.
examples are great; however, the narrative is relatively linear compared to other discworld novels. cohen and the silver horde’s strategy to return fire to the gods is a fantastic presumption to get a book, but it lacks something specific.
the little free men
tiffany pain is a wonderful addition to the discworld. There is currently a true cradle-to-grave support with a five-part series for young adults to communicate with people in the disco world family. its rating went down because, honestly, it’s young adult fiction, and I’m not a young adult.
Nevertheless, the novel brilliantly builds on the witch series, and Tiffany, the Nac Mac Feegles, the elves, and Chalk brilliantly socialize to create a compelling narrative. Like other young adult novels, it relies too much on a single hero for me, but a 30-year-old man is not a young woman.
make money
von lipwig’s next wet book. Ankh-morpork’s continued growth is accelerated by the advent of contemporary banking. Unlike the moving mail, the story doesn’t progress in exactly the same way.
It’s novel as the world market fell more than it makes it quite timely, and really, there’s something magical about cash: fiat money, it’s weird. however, the figures are somewhat less three-dimensional and the dialogue is not as snappy. it’s a part of the discworld’s decline, but it’s still impressive.
hit!
for me, a deaf blow! it is the starting point of the decline of the post-discworld books. Vimes turns heroic, not just for the residents of Ankh-Morpork, but for Terry Pratchett himself. vimes the common man is gone from thud! and that is detrimental to this character and series.
This is where the town watch books turn into sam vimes books, which usually spells trouble for everyone’s character growth. fixing dream conflicts like geopolitics is a great invention, but the use of religious fundamentalists to transfer things is somewhat weak. “sres. shine. he diamond.”
It’s an excellent and optimistic political slogan and I think it takes a lot of effort to get the optimism that only a troll can feel for his king in this kind of troll-direct step.
a hat full of sky
Similar issues for me personally as above and the swarm is the only dumb antagonist. The witch trials have been fun though, as has the nac mac feegle, which is another masterful creation of old-aged terry pratchett, which is all too easy to miss if you dismiss his work.
soul music
This one, I must admit, is completely based on how it relates to my real life. Before I became a serious author, beard and all, I was a drummer in several bands that played rock music.
The book perfectly captures the sweaty adrenaline rush of puberty when creating and performing music. it’s a book I can touch for weeks after reading it. I look into the distance as I look into the distance.
This book is the story of death. yes, I know all the books feature death. but only this book features him in a leather jacket. cmot dibbler is undoubtedly destined to play the role of music manager.
the color of magic
The Color of Magic is a disco world novel that began in the early 20th century and continues the story of Rincewind, an incompetent wizard, and Twoflower, a tourist. It was also made into a TV movie with Tim Curry.
frequently asked questions
Are terry pratchett books for adults?
Most of Terry Pratchett’s works are adult fiction, except for the Tiffany Aching series. Children can read these novels, but many adults who previously loved them as tweens or teens discover many additional depths when they reread them when they are 10 to 15 years old.
do terry pratchett books have to be read in order?
no, terry pratchett wrote each book apart from the others on purpose, so you can start reading them at any time. that does not mean that her novels were not related; after all, a succession of them share certain characters.
where can i get a list of terry pratchett books?
The easiest place to find a list of Terry Pratchett’s books is his website, which has a complete list of his works.
how many terry pratchett books are there?
As of 2021, there are 41 novels in the Discworld series, as well as many other stand-alone books, short stories, and non-fiction works.
what is terry pratchett’s first book?
The first book in the Discworld series is The Color of Magic, published in 1983.
what is terry pratchett’s latest book?
The latest novel on the discworld is The Shepherd’s Crown, published posthumously in 2015.
conclusion
Terry Pratchett’s books are sure to entertain you and also teach you a few things about the world. if you haven’t read his books yet, you should as soon as possible. you won’t regret it!
what is your favorite terry pratchett best books to start with? thanks for reading and we welcome your thoughts in the comment.
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