Discworld

[ScrewMoonshine]

Anyone have any thoughts to offer on this series? I'm going to try it out with good old book one, The Colour of Magic. My local book retailer ordered it for me and I'm going to pick it up in just a couple of hours. Excitement is brewing in my breast.

Incidentally, though my first Discworld book, this won't be my first experience with Terry Pratchett. I read the three Johnny Maxwell novels some years ago and loved them, most especially Only You Can Save Mankind.

Robert Orme

[David Hart]

Hi Robert,

I'm going to try it out with good old book one

A tried and tested strategy, but not necessarily the best for this series.

Discworld really gets into its stride with the 8th book, Guards! Guards!, which doesn't require any knowledge of the earlier books. If you don't like that one, you're unlikely to enjoy the rest of the series.
Books 3, 4 and 7 are fairly good too, and they introduce major characters so you'll need to read them early on.

However The Colour of Magic is noticeably weaker than average, and The Light Fantastic (which completes the initial duology) is worse. You've bought it, so read it (you've probably finished it by now ); but be reassured that, unlike most series, the later Discworld books are better.

Regards,

David

[ScrewMoonshine]

I'm actually only halfway through The Color of Magic; I'm a slow reader.

Thanks very much for the advice! From what I've read so far, I'd agree that the first book isn't so hot. It's considerably harder to follow than stories of this sort should be, and the characters aren't nearly as compelling nor the humor as tickling as the other Pratchett stuff I've read. Still, it is reasonably entertaining. I think I'll probably finish off the initial duology, and then jump to Book 8 as you suggest.

Robert Orme

[Samuel Mae]

Discworld is one of those series i've found people either love or hate, even if they like Pratchett's other stuff. Actually, that's not entirely true, i was kinda 'meh' about it. But most people i've spoken to who've read (or tried to read) the series seem to have strong opinions one way or the other.

[SJHigbee]

I absolutely love the series! But I'll agree that there are some better than others. I'll endorse Guards! Guards!, but I also highly recommend my personal favourites - Small Gods, which I think is Pratchett at his sharpest; Moving Pictures and Hogfather... But I personally think you should start at the beginning and work through all of them - however not necessarily one after the other... Hope you enjoy them, though.

[ScrewMoonshine]

This is somewhat belated, but I have finished reading The Color of Magic. I'm surprised at how little humor there is in the book, and the plot sometimes jumps about with no apparent sense or reason, but like I said, it is a reasonably entertaining book. Plenty of imagination to it, and while I was very rarely "hooked", the characters' predicaments kept me at least interested for nearly the whole length. Have to get around to requesting the next book from my library(I have plenty of magazines to fill my reading needs in the meantime).

Robert Orme

[Frank]

I've read a bunch of them but years later they all seem to meld together in my mind. Any one of them becomes interchangeable with any other. They're great fun while you're reading them but not particularly memorable afterwards, like a literary equivalent of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies. The ones with Death seem to stand out somewhat in my memory but beyond that I can't recommend any single title more than others.