Top three:
Small Gods
Making Money
Lords and Ladies
At the bottom:
The Light Fantastic
The Colour of Magic
Pyramids
Small Gods gets a boost due to the fact that I read both The Light Fantastic and The Colour of Magic when they were first released and was kind of “meh”. Then a decade later I picked up Small Gods and was stunned by how much better a writer he was, or maybe how much better a reader I was. I’d actually discarded the first two and had to go back and repurchase them. They were still kind of “meh”.
**Top Discworld:
**Small Gods Night Watch
*Thud! (*which only just edges out TAMAHER)
**Top Non-Discworld:
**Good Omens Johnny And The Dead The Unadulterated Cat
I don’t want to derail the topic, but I would like to ask a question. I haven’t read much Pratchett. And by “much” I mean probably 6 of the, what? 40 + books he’s written. But I’m trying to take the Discworld in a semblance of order.
Anyway, it seems as if the consensus from this thread is that Pyramids is a crappy book whereas the next in line Guards! Guards! is one of his best. So if I skip Pyramids, will I miss much from the overall universal story arc? For that matter, if make a habit of going in order but skipping the subpar books in general, how much will I miss out on?
Favourite:
Sourcery
Interesting Times
The Fifth Elephant
Runner up goes to the Dark Side of the Sun
Least favourite:
Monstrous Regiment (the only Pterry book I couldn’t finish)
The Last Continent (seriously, what the fuck happened in that book? And what an awful send off for Rincewind)
The Night Watch (aka when Pterry officially disappeared up his own arse)
You wouldn’t miss anything at all. “Pyramids” is one of the “stand-alone” books. That also goes for “Small Gods”, most of “Monstrous Regiment”, among others. They may feature recognizable characters from other books but mostly they are outside the story arcs, if you want to call them that.
My top three:
Guards! Guards!
Lords and Ladies
Hogfather
Bottom three (never re-read :eek:)
Colour of Magic
Light Fantastic
Eric
Good Omens would be in the top three if it counted (they should have found a way to use both their versions of Death).
I should answer the OP, too. (Disclaimer: I’ve only read fifteen or so Discworld novels – haven’t read many of the early books, or many involving the Witches or Rincewind.)
Favorites
Going Postal
Night Watch
The Truth
(Monstrous Regiment is fourth)
Least Favorite
Lords and Ladies
Moving Pictures
Maskerade
There isn’t really a universal story arc to the Discworld in the first place. You can skip just about any novel, and not mess up your enjoyment of the next book. Pyramids in particular doesn’t feature any characters (other than Death) that show up in any other books, so it’s not a bad idea to skip it to get to Guards! Guards! and then just go back and read it later. It’s not that bad a book, really.
