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Guards! Guards! is great, but the thing about Pratchett is that his writing got significantly better every few books until the very end of his life. Later entri

Guards! Guards! is great, but the thing about Pratchett is that his writing got significantly better every few books until the very end of his life. Later entries in the series -- Night Watch and Thud! -- are much better. As such, I'd recommend Going Postal as the entry point for the uninitiated.

contravariant 4y ago
I kind of feel that you need to read the Colour of Magic to get a proper introduction to the Discworld itself though (just ignore the story though, it's rather flimsy), but it might not be necessary to read it first.
- Ntrails 4y ago
  I remember colour of magic being pretty hard work and not super fun. I was glad I made it to the later stuff that was far better crafted
  - contravariant 4y ago
    Fair, I have a fairly high tolerance for interesting concepts with lousy stories which probably skewed my valuation somewhat.
- munk-a 4y ago
  I honestly wouldn't recommend it as a first book - and I appreciate the TV mini-series that collapsed Colour of Magic and A Light Fantastic into a single coherent story. Also, it had Tim Curry. But the discworld doesn't actually need all that much introduction - each book is pretty self-sufficient but learning more about the characters just adds more to when they show up as Cameos (except, I'd point out, Monstrous Regiment, where not knowing who the "Butcher of Ankh Morpork" is actually adds to the story)
- andreareina 4y ago
  The first Discworld books I read were Night Watch and Soul Music, I don't feel like I missed anything going that route.
astrange 4y ago
I actually rather disliked Thud!; it feels like it's another "what if guns were evil demons that possessed you?" book like Men at Arms (but this time it's the concept of revenge? or something?), with an added layer of "what if racism was bad?", and in the end it felt like he'd forgotten to write any jokes. To balance out this non-progressive take, Vimes' character arc is "what if a good cop made cops good?", which probably wouldn't work in real life.
syntheweave 4y ago
Men at Arms (the direct followup to Guards! Guards!) was my first Pratchett book and really had me hooked. I think any of the Vimes-centric books are great starting points, because the detective mystery style of plotting keeps the pages at a steady balance of exposition and development. The books focused on witches, wizards and religion can be too on-the-nose, and the ones that use more abstract themes or go deep into one character are easier to grasp after having that entry point of Vimes chasing after a villain.

contravariant 4y ago

I kind of feel that you need to read the Colour of Magic to get a proper introduction to the Discworld itself though (just ignore the story though, it's rather flimsy), but it might not be necessary to read it first.

Ntrails 4y ago
I remember colour of magic being pretty hard work and not super fun. I was glad I made it to the later stuff that was far better crafted
- contravariant 4y ago
  Fair, I have a fairly high tolerance for interesting concepts with lousy stories which probably skewed my valuation somewhat.
munk-a 4y ago
I honestly wouldn't recommend it as a first book - and I appreciate the TV mini-series that collapsed Colour of Magic and A Light Fantastic into a single coherent story. Also, it had Tim Curry. But the discworld doesn't actually need all that much introduction - each book is pretty self-sufficient but learning more about the characters just adds more to when they show up as Cameos (except, I'd point out, Monstrous Regiment, where not knowing who the "Butcher of Ankh Morpork" is actually adds to the story)
andreareina 4y ago
The first Discworld books I read were Night Watch and Soul Music, I don't feel like I missed anything going that route.

astrange 4y ago

I actually rather disliked Thud!; it feels like it's another "what if guns were evil demons that possessed you?" book like Men at Arms (but this time it's the concept of revenge? or something?), with an added layer of "what if racism was bad?", and in the end it felt like he'd forgotten to write any jokes. To balance out this non-progressive take, Vimes' character arc is "what if a good cop made cops good?", which probably wouldn't work in real life.

syntheweave 4y ago

Men at Arms (the direct followup to Guards! Guards!) was my first Pratchett book and really had me hooked. I think any of the Vimes-centric books are great starting points, because the detective mystery style of plotting keeps the pages at a steady balance of exposition and development. The books focused on witches, wizards and religion can be too on-the-nose, and the ones that use more abstract themes or go deep into one character are easier to grasp after having that entry point of Vimes chasing after a villain.