That bad? Why?
I liked Unseen Academicals, so you aren’t alone. 
Or Kubo, which was magnificent.
I don’t think the idea of orcs is a good one for the Disc and I frakking loathe football with every atom of my being. So there is really very little for me to like here. It is also extremely later Pratchett, which means he dictated it rather than wrote it, and it shows.
This would be the same Discworld that also has Gollum on it?
I found it a great dive into the “orcs - Born evil?” discussion that even Tolkien wrestled with. I love it, and find it a nice follow-up to Snuff in this regard (which I’m sure you also don’t like, if you don’t like the dictated books).
Wasn’t there a clan of Mac Feegles whose swords would glow blue in the presence of lawyers?
Yes, the Wee Free Men book has this.
I am listening to Stephen Briggs read it and it is possible his voice smooths out the fact that it is dictated. I would not have known if you did not say.
It’s well established that the Disc contains a lot of concepts and one-offs that have leaked in from other worlds. The Frog-Like Humanoid Thing with a Birthday fits right in there. But that’s different from making something an established part of the world, like the orcs.
It really doesn’t bother me - we’ve already established that Dark Lords and Goblins and Dwarfs and Elves and Dragons and Trolls exist on the Disc in one form or another. Orcs are very much part of that whole scene.
Also gnolls, the name (if not the description) of which came from DampersandD.
Well, the spelling does. Dunsany has *gnoles *(which the original D&D description of gnolls references).
The Fifth Elephant
I’m too weak. I may just run the rest of the City Watch series because it is clearly the best thing in the Discworld. Small Gods is a better novel, but my favorite books involve Vimes, Carrot, and all my other friends in the Watch.
I like The Fifth Elephant better than Jingo, but I still think that Clay Feet is the best of the series up to this point(uh, the City Watch series, I mean).
I may go directly from this one into Night Watch, which I always hear is very well received by many.
Lucky bastard.
Night Watch is where Pterry commits Literature.
Ahem. Small Gods is his *best *novel.
Ahem yourself. Second best.
It’s in my top 5 of all time.
I used to think so, too. Then* Night Watch* came out.
I do not know whether Small Gods is the best Discworld books. But it’s certainly one of the best, and it’s also more disconnected than most from the rest of the series, which makes it a very good starting point.
I would recommend it to anyone starting out. I tried twice to get into the Discworld(once with Mort and once with Colour of Magic) and struck out twice.
Small Gods pulled me in.
I’ve read 19 of them now and may eventually find my way through all of them.