just read Thief of Time yesterday. fabulous.
personaly i read all of his books in a totally random order. didn’t seem to hurt, and i know who does what to whom and why.
i like the guards and witches books best, although i too rate Good Omens as my fav Pratchett. (even though Neil Gaiman co-authours)
“the carpet people” and the nomes series are nice books for kids.
if you really get into to it, you could by the maps and the dictionary (and if you’re very brave Nanny Ogg’s cookbook).
I count The Last Hero as a standalone because, while Cohen is a frequent character in Rincewind books, it’s still not about Rincewind.
And of course, my read on the subseries is certainly not The Only One. The Susan Sto Helit novels are only marginally about Death, but I lump them in with Mort and Reaper Man, which take place in times before she’s even born.
The Last Hero is a variety book – you’ve got Cohen, you’ve got Rincewind, you’ve got the City Watch, you’ve got Death in various cameo appearances… I was only slightly surprised Terry Pratchett didn’t fit in the witches in there!
Of course, having all those characters merely meant more excuses to drool over the art…
Estilicon – while each book stands well on its own, the characters grow and develop, and jokes made in one book reference events in prior books. So, while you don’t HAVE to read them in order to enjoy them, I suggest that you do have to read them in order to enjoy them to the fullest.
I was amazed, reading through them the first time, at how consistently good TP (nope, better call him Terry instead) is. Yes, the early books are not as good, but that’s far from bad, if you know what I mean. They’re pleasant parodies with hints of greatness in them.
By the time I got to Small Gods, Feet of Clay, The Truth and Interesting Times – that’s not in order but four very, very good books that just came to mind – and I can’t think of another author who does a series this long and this well.
