I think I’ve read all the Discworld books mentioned above. Guards! Guards! is probably my overall favorite.
Is it just me or do the first two (Colour of Magic, The Light Fantastic) have a totally different feel than the rest of the series? After those, the rest of the series seem similar in style and humor, but those two stood out as different to me.
ETA: I had no idea what the theme of Monstrous Regiment was going to be based on the name. Can one of you Brits fill this ignorant American in?
The first two books were Pterry doing Sword & Sorcery parody. After that he started to do things his way and write from his own vision. It shows.
John Knox, the famous founder of the Presbyterian Church wrote a book called The First Blast of the Trumpet Against the Monstrous Regiment of Women.
I had never heard of it before the book, either. (Many of the puns escaped me. Never heard of “hidden college”, so Unseen University wasn’t punny for me, for example.)
Thanks, both of you! I never heard of hidden college either.
I feel like I should spend the next 20 years in the UK, maybe going through high school and college, and then I’ll really get all the jokes. Almost worth it…
Googling “hidden college” gets me pages about hidden college costs – that is, amounts you’ll need to pay that aren’t in the obvious bill.
Somebody want to enlighten me about this?
Maybe this?
Seems likely. Thanks!
It was my first Discworld.
I think the Granny in it is already the Granny from the later books. I think it’s a good intro for the later Witches books, not something to be skipped till later. And, of course, it connects to the last Tiffany Aching book.
Next-to-last.
I believe my intro to The Disc was Wyrd Sisters. Then Witches Abroad sealed the deal. Of all things I think I found WS while searching for British authors in the mould of Tom Holt and Robert Rankin.
Shit, you’re right, I Shall Wear Midnight, not Shepherd’s Crown
I’m reading Making Money right now and realizing one huge shame is that Terry started the Moist series so late. I was hesitant to enter yet another series-within-series in Discworld, but I adored Going Postal and Making Money is really good so far as well(I’m about 25% done).
Very pleasantly surprised.
I believe to finish my Discworld experience, I only need to:
I’ll do the Science of Discworld books afterwards as well. I’m not sure what else there is after that.
I am very late to this party! I have only read some of the juvenile lit entries in Discworld, starting with Maurice. My youngest daughter was 10 at the time, and no longer really wanted to be read to at bed time, but indulged me because she knew I loved it. We enjoyed Maurice and found “The Wee Free Men” next.
Reading this book to a 10 year old girl who you want to see prosper in life was very moving. The descriptions of witchcraft (A witch pays attention to everything that is going on. A witch uses her head. A witch is sure of herself. A witch delights in small details. A witch sees through things and round things. A witch sees further than most. A witch sees things from the other side. Witches deal with things.) are qualities any father would like to see his daughter develop. Tiffany is an amazing character, strong, resilient, inquisitive, resourceful, brave, caring, and compassionate. Her intent to save her world despite being a nine year old girl was inspirational to both of us. Grannie Aching’s hardworking, simple but powerful magic was also a reflection on the hard work tha women often do that is magical in a very primal way.
Then there are the Nac Mac Feegle themselves. Getting to read their dialogue in a terrible Scottish brogue while saying their incredible names (No-as-big-as-Medium-Sized-Jock-but-bigger-than-Wee-Jock-Jock) was a delight for me and my daughter. And their terrible habits and fascinating religious and societal beliefs made us laugh but also have thoughtful discussions.
In terms of books I have read aloud to my kids this one takes top place I think. Narrowly beating out Treasure Island (I enjoyed talking like a pirate a lot!) So for me to see that it is far down everyone’s list of Discworld books has me ready for a trip to the library. I will review this thread to see which one looks like a good place for me to get back into it.
It’s not far down mine; though I’d be hard put to give a precise ranking. There are definitely some I’d put relatively low, though; but none of the Tiffany books are among them.
I must say I really, really liked The Shepherd’s Crown - right up until the final Battle(s). I thought they were very poorly … ok, I’m not a writer and don’t know correct terminolgy, but I just found them very jarring.
The closing part after the battles was nicely done.
The Shepherd’s Crown was probably the weakest of the Tiffany Aching books, but that’s praising with faint damnation. And there were some bits in it that I shan’t spoil that were absolutely necessary.
My introduction to Discworld was actually the PlayStation 1 port of the PC point-and-click game soon followed by Discworld 2 Mortality Bytes and Discworld Noir. Those caused me to hunt down the books and read them in order. I don’t think Waldenbooks ever had so many special orders from one person. After reading Unseen Academicals and assuming it would be the last Discworld novel, I went on to the Tiffany Aching books. I haven’t read the Science books but I assume that’s my next foray into Sir Terry’s works.
I am nearly done with Making Money and I have a couple of questions that I obviously just missed the full explanation of.
Why do the golems take orders specifically from someone wearing a golden suit?
Was there never gold in the vault or was it stolen? I missed what happened about this.
I have found this to be mid-level Discworld. Going Postal is amazing. Making Money is only OK so far.
Because the Ancient Priests that built the golems wore golden suits.
I forget, but I think it just vanished over the years. That’s when it gets fuzzy for me, too.
Yeah, I guess that is it. It doesn’t really feel totally like top-tier thought out Terry-writing. I mean, I get it…and I like that Lord Vetinari immediately realizes he must tell everyone this secret instead of keeping it to himself.