I find the idea that Rincewind is an idiot laughable. What he frequently is, is the only sane man in a collection of insane people.
Nor is he a coward. Or at least, he is a coward, but doesn’t see anything wrong with that as it’s the sensible way to be, and he can act like he isn’t one - when it counts.
Since we now live in a house big enough to have proper bookshelves, I have decided to acquire and read every Discworld novel, in publication order. I already had some of them, and I had read many more, so I know I love Pratchett and his work.
I do agree, however, with everyone above who suggested not beginning with The Color of Magic. I think that’s one to go back to if and when you decide you’re a Pratchett fan (in fact, I’d suggest skipping at least the first three Rincewind novels) and you wish to be a completist. I would heartily endorse the votes above for beginning with Guards!Guards!, Wyrd Sisters, or Pyramids.
I am a terrible example, though, because I think the first Pratchett I read was Going Postal, so what do I know? 
I read the series in order. I actually enjoyed the first two books; I liked the silly parody of Fantasy. A friend had told me about The Colour of Magic and the style so that probably helped set my expectations. I didn’t go into Discworld expecting satire; that was a nice surprise later.
Despite my experience, I do heartily agree that it is better to recommend a gateway book, like Going Postal, to new readers.
All that said, I can’t understand why The Colour of Magic and The Light Fantastic get so much hate when we can all agree that Sourcery is the absolute worst. After penning Equal Rights and Mort the bar was raised too high to expect (accept?) Sourcery.
You can say that about most of Pratchett’s protagonists, and yet none of them are dislikeable as Rincewind.
I have been planning for some time to read The God of Small Things, by Arundathi Roy, but Small Gods was just beside it in my shelves, so I have started that one instead. No idea how those two books ended up sitting next to each other. But that Rincewind fellow is making me curious: which book should I try next to get the full Rinceblast?
Personally, I find Moist way more unlikeable than Rincewind.
Nah, Unseen Academicals was the worst. And there were several other bad ones towards the end, when his Alzheimer’s was getting bad. Though, towards the end we also saw I Shall Wear Midnight, which was great, and The Shepherd’s Crown, which could have been polished a bit more but was good.
I have avoided some books just because he’s in there, but I would give them a try if he acts in a non-despicable way in them, can you give me an example?
The Last Hero doesn’t count, as we’ve seen he wasn’t volunteering to save his friends, or even to save himself but just because he knew that it was inevitable.
Sourcery, where he literally sacrifices himself to save Coin, is the best example.
Added to my TBR, thanks!
Interesting Times. Then maybe The Last Hero.
For that matter, Rincewind steps up in Interesting Times. When he isn’t running away, of course. But give him a chance to actually do something, he does.
Thanks, is noted.
That’s just, like, your opinion, man.
I like Rincewind.
I like Sam Vimes.
I’m only almost a quarter done. But the difference in quality between the books is less than people here think. I enjoyed Sourcery too. Best so far (IMHO) is Mort. Of course people will like what they like. Goodreads basically gives all the books ratings between 4-4.5 out of 5 from many thousands of readers.
Goodreads ratings are worthless, the level of “star inflation” is so big I had to start giving more stars to books than I felt they warranted because otherwise I would be hurting the author.
Goodreads guidance used to say it was something like: (Used to say because I can’t find it anymore)
1 Star: I did not like it.
2 Stars: I liked it.
3 Stars: It was good.
4 Stars: It was really good.
5 Stars: It is excellent.
But almost nobody respects it and anything below 4 stars is “bad”.
I’ll have to try Sourcery again. I remember burning through the series back-to-back. Maybe I was just a bit burned out for that one.
I’ve only read it once when it came out, but I liked Unseen Academicals. I remember something about the candle that must always stay lit that was pretty funny.
To me Raising Steam was more of a farewell or victory lap. A chance to say goodbye to all of the characters, places, and the author that gave us all so much joy.
This is a common problem for aggregated ratings by the unwashed masses. A boolean like/disklike is much more reliable.
Oh, sure, even Unseen Academicals had its moments. The worst of Pratchett is still better than a lot of authors can do.
And The Shepherd’s Crown was definitely a deliberate farewell, but I didn’t get the impression that Raising Steam was trying to be that. I thought that its biggest flaw was that it was too disconnected from the other books: There really wasn’t anything leading up to steam power anywhere else in the series, and if he wanted to do the Industrial Revolution, Discworld style, well, the Axle Device from Thud! was right there.
I guess it helps if you know something about British football culture and how it intersects with the British fashion scene. I don’t know much about either of them, so most of the jokes in the book didn’t really land for me.
Goodreads is owned by Amazon, so some have (naturally) complained about self-interested inflation, lack of half star reviews, bots, any number of issues. No review system is perfect, and de gustibus non est disputandum, but I don’t believe bots are the cause of Pratchett books being given fairly similar ratings. The ratings are slightly more dispersed (but not that different) on Librarything.com or similar sites, and more votes provides better statistical power subject to the limitations already mentioned. Goodreads ain’t the last word, but as a general thing I find it useful.