4 ms·

I'd recommend you just read them in chronological order. The universe evolves over time and there are many surprise appearances by a lot of characters -- notabl

by mickeyp 13y ago

I'd recommend you just read them in chronological order. The universe evolves over time and there are many surprise appearances by a lot of characters -- notably Death -- in many of them.

mrich 13y ago
I assume you mean publishing date?
- mickeyp 13y ago
  Yep.
Roritharr 13y ago
Yes, i've also read them all by publishing dates. It makes the most sense and since they are all very good you really shouldn't try to follow specific story arcs because there is nothing gained by doing that.
tomfakes 13y ago
Publish Date order was forced on me by circumstances - mainly that I started reading these books in 1986. This is a fine way of seeing the universe and Pratchett's writing craft evolve over time.
ColinWright 13y ago
I'm not convinced. I've gone back and re-read "The Colour of Magic" and found it to be significantly less entertaining than "Guards! Guards!" In fact, I found "The Colour of Magic" much better after having read the other stories. A colleague of mine agrees with you, saying that TCoM was published on its own merit - others may have ridden the wave of success, but I say that the canon of work is there, why not pick a good place to start? As a metaphor, you don't insist everyone learn ForTran, then BASIC, then Pascal, etc., before learning a modern language. You choose where to start. <fx: shrug /> Start somewhere.
- mickeyp 13y ago
  The first two are standalone, yes. They're also different in style to the rest as Pratchett had yet to find his voice for the series. However, they do introduce two very important characters that remain some of the most popular in the series. I would call that a false dichotomy, Colin. Most of the books are standalone, technically, yes; but consider this: most people who look at the reading order wouldn't know why they should read the witches novels nor the watch novels - so why not just start at the beginning and let it unfold as the author wrote them?

by mickeyp 13y ago

I'd recommend you just read them in chronological order. The universe evolves over time and there are many surprise appearances by a lot of characters -- notably Death -- in many of them.

mrich 13y ago

I assume you mean publishing date?

mickeyp 13y ago
Yep.

Roritharr 13y ago

Yes, i've also read them all by publishing dates. It makes the most sense and since they are all very good you really shouldn't try to follow specific story arcs because there is nothing gained by doing that.

tomfakes 13y ago

Publish Date order was forced on me by circumstances - mainly that I started reading these books in 1986. This is a fine way of seeing the universe and Pratchett's writing craft evolve over time.

ColinWright 13y ago

I'm not convinced. I've gone back and re-read "The Colour of Magic" and found it to be significantly less entertaining than "Guards! Guards!" In fact, I found "The Colour of Magic" much better after having read the other stories. A colleague of mine agrees with you, saying that TCoM was published on its own merit - others may have ridden the wave of success, but I say that the canon of work is there, why not pick a good place to start? As a metaphor, you don't insist everyone learn ForTran, then BASIC, then Pascal, etc., before learning a modern language. You choose where to start. <fx: shrug /> Start somewhere.

mickeyp 13y ago
The first two are standalone, yes. They're also different in style to the rest as Pratchett had yet to find his voice for the series. However, they do introduce two very important characters that remain some of the most popular in the series. I would call that a false dichotomy, Colin. Most of the books are standalone, technically, yes; but consider this: most people who look at the reading order wouldn't know why they should read the witches novels nor the watch novels - so why not just start at the beginning and let it unfold as the author wrote them?