Best: Night Watch
Worst: Pyramids, maybe. Or Jingo, which is at least the worst of the Vimes books.
Night Watch is easily Pterry’s best writing, but the darkness of the subject matter means it’s not a book I go back to often, unlike say Guards, Guards!, Men At Arms or Soul Music
Very much disliked Lords & Ladies, Jingo and Eric.
The Colour of Magic and The Light Fantastic are weak, but I recognise them for what they are - a new writer finding his feet in the world he’s created. Plus, I do like the Rincewind and Twoflower characters, so though these two books are lower down the scale, I can’t put them among the worst.
Big agreement here. I love the Discworld audiobooks. I don’t think I’ve actually read (with my eyes) any of the Tiffany Aching books. I listen to them on audio, and they’re great.
[Hijack]
If you fans will forgive a brief hijack, and please don’t throw things at me, I’ve managed to get to the age of 53 and never read a Discworld book :eek:
Ok, so I want to - at last - address this lack. Can you tell me if I need to start with the earliest books and work through in order? Given that the first book is The Colour of Money which has been picked as the worst by large numbers this doesn’t seem a good idea!
Thanks
[/Hijack]
[hijack response]
It’s not necessary to read them in order. However, there are a few main series of books and for each series it’s a good idea to read them in order. The different series are the City Watch, Witches, Rincewind, Death, and Moist von Lipwig. Though each books is mostly self-contained plotwise, there’s a lot of overarching character development and it really helps to read it in order. If you want to read the City Watch books, for example you ought to start with Guards! Guards! before moving on to Men at Arms and then Feet of Clay.
But yeah, starting with Color of Magic is probably a bad idea, as it may sour you on the rest.
The wikipedia page is good to consult if you want to know more about which book falls where in which series.
[/hijack response]
To add a second hijack, I also have only done Discworld books (except The Last Hero) via unabridged audio book.
Does anyone know why Nigel Planer stopped doing the Discworld books from (as far as I know) “The Fifth Elephant” onwards? Because I actually stopped at that point because the guy who took over for “The Fifth Elephant” was terrible*.
And to add an apocryphal bit on here…I think the Watch books are over-rated. The Witches from “Witches Abroad” onward are far superior.
-Joe
*“Terrible” chosen to avoid putting in a string of profanity.
re: the hijack, here’s an obligatory link to the Discworld Suggested Reading Order. My personal recommendation would be to start with Guards, Guards!, since it kind of exemplifies Pratchett’s style of humor. Beyond that, you could continue with the Watch novels or try one of the other series on for size. (I quite like the Witches stories, once Pratchett’s style becomes consistent.)
Night watch is my favorite.
Followed by Soul Music and Hoggfather.
Not a fan of Eric or most of the Rincewind ones actually.
There are some crossover characters, though. So far as I know, DEATH makes at least a cameo in every one of the books, and the Librarian manages to show up in most of them, even those that don’t involve the other wizards (what book does a 300 pound ourangutang feature in? Any one he wants to). And you can definitely see character development even across the “unrelated” series. Personally, I always prefer to read a series of books entirely in order of publication, but if you go this route, be advised not to give up after the first two or three (by Mort, he’s definitely hit his stride).
Many thanks to all who responded to my hijack! Looks like *Guards, Guards *would be a good start.
Just a marker for how far I’ve scored the ratings. Continue on!
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Best: “Night Watch”
Worst: “Monstrous Regiment” and “Making Money” (I was even more disappointed than I would have usually been because “Going Postal” was incredibly funny).
Hey! I need more data!!!
Best: Night Watch. I am madly in love with Sam Vimes. As his wife says, “Not a gentleman, but a gentle man.”
Worst (I’m going to get lynched for this): Small Gods. As evidenced by the fact that I only read it once and barely remember anything about it; I found it a bit boring and didn’t really like any of the characters.
All the rest of them I enjoy to a greater or lesser extent, but when I’m feeling down I reach for a Watch book.
I deliberately haven’t read the thread before posting, so I’ve no idea how the general consensus will pan out, but here’s my picks.
Best: Feet of Clay. There’s something about it that just works - all the bits fit together in a very satisfying way, the characters of Vimes and (especially) Carrot really start to take off and loads of the sort of social commentary we expect from good Pratchett.
Worst: Monstrous Regiment. A re-hash of Men at Arms except that that one was good. He’s already got the Dwarfs as his canvas for exploring the “Women in a man’s world” theme, and he does it very well. Socks down teh trousers just doesn’t compare to Cheery Littlebottom and her ruby-studded axe.
Give it another read. My first time through, I was pretty lukewarm about it. The second time through, I really loved it.
OK, it looks like we won’t be getting any more votes any time soon. Here are the results:
Night Watch 51.00 (21 good or best, 1 bad)
Small Gods 16.00 (8 good or best, 1 worst)
Soul Music 8.00 (4 good or best, 1 bad)
Guards! Guards! 6.00
Wyrd Sisters 5.00
Thief Of Time 5.00
Going Postal 4.00
Reaper Man 3.00
Maskerade 3.00
The Truth 3.00
A Hat Full Of Sky 3.00
Men At Arms 2.00
Feet Of Clay 5.00
Lords And Ladies 1.00
The Last Continent 1.00
Pyramids -1.00
Making Money -3.00
The Light Fantastic -2.00
The Fifth Elephant -2.00
Sourcery -3.00
Jingo -3.00
Equal Rites -4.00
Monstrous Regiment -10.00
Moving Pictures -12.00 (6 bad or worst, 1 good)
The Colour Of Magic -21.00 (11 bad or worst)
Eric -34.00 (14 bad or worst, 1 good)
The following got no votes either way in my poll: Mort, Witches Abroad, Interesting Times, Hogfather, Carpe Jugulum, The Last Hero, The Amazing Maurice, The Wee Free Men, Thud!, Wintersmith
In my previous parsing of several threads for similar information, these were the findings:
Small Gods 25.00
Night Watch 22.00
Men at Arms 9.00
The Truth 5.00
Carpe Jugulum 4.00
Maskerade 4.00
Mort 4.00
Pyramids 4.00
Guards! Guards! 3.00
Soul Music 3.00
The Last Hero 3.00
Thief of Time 3.00
Wee Free Men 3.00
Hogfather 1.00
Monstrous Regiment 1.00
Reaper Man 1.00
Interesting Times 0.00 (received votes which canceled)
Jingo 0.00 (received votes which canceled)
Sourcery -1.00
Fifth Elephant -3.00
Moving Pictures -3.00
Lords and Ladies -6.00
The Last Continent -9.00
Eric -10.00
Feel free to draw your own conclusions.
This is not a scientific poll, YMMV, Post No Bills, Batteries Not Included.
Sorry for being so late, but my worst is The Colour of Magic and my best is Night Watch, though I really don’t hate any of them and personally I love Eric.
I don’t expect you to update just for me, especially since my vote wont change anything really.
My favorite is Witches Abroad. It’s the one I’ve read and listened to the most.
My least favorite is (can you guess?) Eric.
For the record, I read them in order, starting with The Color of Magic. I loved every single book, except Eric and even that wasn’t horrible but I doubt I’d read it a second time. I have also listened to all that are available on Audible and I agree that The Wee Free Men is incredible. I love the Feegles.
My next tattoo is up in the air at the moment. It’s either going to be Rob Anybody, Death and some kittens, or the Death of Rats, sitting on Quoth’s back. hmmmm. Hard decision. When I have a very large amount of spare cash (so, never probably), I’m going to get the whole Discworld on my back. My ex-boyfriend got Vimes’ badge on his arm recently. We’re nerds. We’re not ashamed 
Oh, and I like Rincewind. He reminds me of Arthur Dent.
You mean A’Tuin and the elephants and the disc? That would be awesome!
So you’re going to the N.A. Discworld con then?