Where to start?

O

oooo

P M A
Joined
Dec 17, 2006
Messages
2
Hi all new member here,

I'm a big fan of The Lord of the Ring's, also David gemmell and Elizabeth h Bower.

My question is, having not read any of Terrys book's could someone recommend where to start, you know, some kind of order so as not to spoil later plot's.

Thank's in advance, Lee
 
Welcome to the Chronicles Lee, the good thing about TP is that you could pick up any book and start reading and not be missing anything important. Everybody has there favorite sets check out the bibliography for more info. Personally I would start with the guards series starting with guards, guards then men at arms but you could start at the beginning with the colour of magic, which is part of the rincewind series TP's first book but I am not really a fan of Rincewind. If you just want a couple of books to try I would suggest

Guards, Guards (guards series)
Witches Abroad (Witches series)
Pyramids (stand alone)

once you have read them you should be hooked enough to want to read them all.

Enjoy
 
Mort is also a great starting point. It is relatively serious, but hilarious all the same. It introduces Death as a main character.
 
I echo the Mort book, as well as Small Gods which is another fav of mine and requires no knowledge of Discworld before reading it. :)
 
I would still start with Rincewind- I thought the humour was brilliant but by TP's own admission he wrote them in a hurry when he was with the CEGB.
 
The Colour of Magic is the first book so it might be a good idea to read it first. I did, and confess I wasn't overly impressed with it. I perservered with the series, and after a few more books I loved it - then I re-read The Colour of Magic and appreciated it a lot more.

Though if you want to get straight to some of Terry's best works, the aforementioned Guards! Guards!, Witches Abroad and Mort would be good choices. :)
 
Rincewind is even better on the PC, there are a few games out there which have kept the humour - Disk World Noir, I think one of them is called (can't find it on my shelf, must have moved it). I would try this after reading the Rincewind books.
 
Although each book has a story of it's own, I still think it's a good idea to start from the beginning so that you won't miss any development and background knowledge. However you can also read by themes but follow the order within it.
 
is it necessary to start with book one or can you read them in any order bar the ones that are actual continuations of each other like the Witches series?
 
Either way. But I'd say it's still better to start from book one as there are developments in the characters and their lives.
 
sanityassassin said:
Guards, Guards (guards series)
Witches Abroad (Witches series)
Pyramids (stand alone)
Click to expand...

that should be Equal rites for the Witches, although Weird Sisters is the first of the books with all the Witches (one of my favourite story arcs after I got over the shock of a whole new cast for those books)
 
Welcome to the forum Lee from a relative newbie. I was a classic fantasy novel reader until a few years back when I was post op. On the way home from hospital I realised I had nothing to read and persuaded OH to stop by the local library. It's a small library and the only books they had that could be considered fantasy were The Redemption of Althalus by the Eddings (don't bother) and Night Watch. I was totally absorbed in Night Watch and promptly sent OH to buy me more Pratchett books. Although far from the start of the City Watch books it still remains my favourite.
 
Ok, I tried reading Colour of Magic and gave up and found out it's not his best book. My buddy told me Terry gets better as you progress through the series. Is it true? And when does he start getting "good" (no offence to Mr Pratchett but I would just like to know).
 
biodroid said:
Ok, I tried reading Colour of Magic and gave up and found out it's not his best book. My buddy told me Terry gets better as you progress through the series. Is it true? And when does he start getting "good" (no offence to Mr Pratchett but I would just like to know).
Click to expand...

Hi Biodroid

I am not a fan of the first two books (The Colour of Magic, The Light Fantastic). Equal Rites (the 3rd book) is quite good and you might like that one. However, Mort (the 4th book, and the first in the Death series) is very good. I've read Mort two or three times and I enjoyed it just as much every time.
 
Thx Daisy-Boo,
I was planning on getting a few for my Kindle as I am getting tired of reading super serious fantasy, I want light-hearted, funny, witty quick entertaining reads. I think I will get Mort. What is Mort's sequels?
 
The other book in which Death features prominently is Reaper Man. Other than that, Death is a character that appears in nearly all the books. Mort does not feature in any other book but is referred to occasionally.
 
The great thing about this series is that you really dont have to read any book first; I dont think this can be emphasized enough. Knowing more about any specific character than is contained in one specific book is purely supplementary and not needed to fully understand what is going on. I read Thief of Time (26th book) first and was able to thoroughly enjoy it (still my personal favorite of what ive read). I preferred Death more as a slightly more enigmatic character than when I had the knowledge of Mort and Reaper Man to supplement tbh.

As for where to start, it all depends. If you like to go to your local bookstore, see what they have and pick out the book that sounds most interesting to you. I personally thought the Colour of Magic was terrible, so I definitely cant recommend starting off from the beginning; even if it does have one of the most thorough explanations of the discworld itself, which I also found I liked better when it was more enigmatic.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Thread starter Similar threads Forum Replies Date
chongjasmine Where should I start? David Eddings 6
Dragonlady how to work out where to start and cut your scene Writing Discussion 11
redzwritez Where do chapters start and end? Writing Discussion 11
S Never had anything published, where to start? Publishing 4
R Where to start? Battlestar Galactica 2

Similar threads


Back
Top