What Terry Pratched book is good to start?

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
21

I think you shoudl start with Colour of Magic. As has already been mentioned, the books tend to be stand alone (although each sub-classification is much better when read in order ie the Death series, the city guard etc.) but the first discowrld novel tends to set the scene. Particularly for readers new to the rather odd world.

Personally I prefer the city guards set (5th elephant notwithstanding - bit disappointed in it).

And the non-discworld but very funny: Good Omens (nice and accurate prophecies of Agnes Nutter: Witch)

22

I’m particularly fond of Soul Music, myself.

Also, Good Omens was co-written with Neil Gaiman, who authored the rather-funny-in-its-own-right Don’t Panic: the Official Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy Companion.

23

Being a self-confessed expert (HA!) in the series, and having been a reader since 1987 (when Equal Rites first came out) and a close follower since, I hereby claim superior knowledge in anything Pratchett, including the Johnny Maxwell, Nomes, SF (Strata, Dark Side of the Sun), Discworld, independent (Good Omens, Carpet People), and short stories.

And in my educated opinion, start with Colour of Magic, or failing that with Mort.

And the best one is Maskerade.

:slight_smile:

24

…and this fall, Pterry’s newest, The Truth, comes out(Discworld gets a newspaper).

25

Ha! you got me. Shhh, don’t tell my dad.

26

I’d say start with Mort. Personally, The Color of Magic, The Light Fantastic, and Equal Rites are all before Pratchett hit his stride, the humor in them is more of the ‘hit you over the head with outright absurdities’ than the later books where the humor is more sophisticated.

27

OK, so “The Color of Magic” seems to be aparticularly strong candidate.

“Small Gods” and “Pyramids” have also been quite spoken for.

A strong vote for “Good Omens” by Osip.

“Wyrd Sisters” gets a vote from a professional.

And one thing we all seem to pretty much agree on is not to start with “Strata”. I kind of figured that, because after reading the first 20 pages or so, it just didn’t seem to be what I was led to believe Pratchett to be, (which, incidentally is why I started this thread).

I think I’m gonna go with “The Color of Magic” from what I’ve seen here. If anybody here feels these 2 (myself & The Color of Magic) should not be joined together in literary matrimony, let him or her speak now, or forever hold your post. :slight_smile:

28

The Color of Magic or Small Gods.

Both are excellent. If you start with The Color of Magic, make sure you have The Light Fantastic on hand, because these books are like potato chips. You can’t just read one.

I also really liked Equal Rites.

29

Small Gods and Pyramids are good. But, my absolute favorite is Good Omens. It’s the book that got me into Prachett to begin with.

30

I made the mistake of starting with The Light Fantastic years ago, and then didn’t read any more Pratchett for a long time because it was too weird and confusing. My husband is a rabid Pratchett fan, though, and he had me read Mort and Small Gods. I enjoyed both, but the one I fell in love with was Equal Rites. I think the Witch series is still my favorite, with the Guards books coming in a close second. I’m still not wild about the Rincewind or Death books - they’re good, but I didn’t roll on the floor the way I did with the Witches and the Guards.

31

The Colour of Magic is a reasonable place to start, but it doesn’t really show the Discworld at its best. It’s very specifically a parody of some popular SF/Fantasy series of the late 1970s and early '80s (notably Anne McCaffrey’s Pern and, more fundamentally, Fritz Leiber’s Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser), and the jokes can fall flat if you don’t know the books that he’s parodying.

The series has moved to more serious territory since then, and has at the same time actually gotten funnier. (Pratchett’s own jokes are much funnier than his parodies of other people’s silly ideas.) Small Gods is probably the darkest and least funny of the series, so it also isn’t a great starting point. Since that book, I think he’s balanced the light and dark elements very well to tell serious moral tales that are also hilariously funny.

The Rincewind books are also fundamentally sillier and more loosely-plotted than the other books (since they consist in large part of:
A) Rincewind confronts danger
B) Rincewind runs away from danger
C) Danger chases Rincewind until it gets out of breath).
Not that they don’t work as humorous novels, but the other series have more complex and involving plots.

I’d suggest starting with either Wyrd Sisters (especially if you’re of a Shakespearean bent), Mort, Pyramids or Guards! Guards!. Those all begin sub-series or (in the case of Pyramids) stand alone. They all also show the Discworld’s strengths well, which I don’t think is quite the case for The Colour of Magic.

Strata shows Pratchett playing with the ideas that will eventually become the Discworld (and, incidentally, parodying Larry Niven’s Ringworld), so it’s much more interesting to read after you’re familiar with the Discworld. The Colour of Magic can cause similar problems; Pratchett was still working out how the Discworld worked while he was writing it, so it doesn’t entirely have the same tone and feel as later books in the series. The Light Fantastic is a direct sequel to The Colour of Magic, and is a little more like the later novels, but I think he didn’t really crystallize what the books were about until Equal Rites, the third novel.

So I’d argue against the crowd: The Colour of Magic is fun, but not really representative of the series as it developed, and so it isn’t the best introduction to Pratchett.

Good Omens, on the other hand, is another good introduction to Pratchett, especially to a person coming from comic-dom or otherwise already familiar with the co-author, Neil Gaiman. But it has nothing to do with Discworld, which might make it a bit beside the point if you’re looking for a big, long-running series to dive into.

32

Oh boy, you all are not going to make this easy for me, are you?

Comments on Da Ace’s suggestions please?

33

I agree with most of Da Ace’s comments, especially about The Colour of Magic.

Small Gods is one of my favorite books, but it isn’t a particularly good introduction to the Discworld. (I think it is very funny, though, although it deals with a “serious” subject (religion))

I also love the witches, but I’m not sure I’d start with them. The reason is that those books take place outside the city of Ankh-Morpork, which is really the heart of the Discworld series. For that reason, I think I’d choose either Mort or Guards! Guards! to start with.

34

Good Omens is a fine book, but it’ll give you a mistaken impression of what Neil Gaiman usually writes. It’s much more like Pratchett.

But, comparing the two, Gaiman is probably a better writer overall. Pratchett is the funny one.

35

I don’t think Colour of Magic is the best book, but I DO think it’s the best to ** start ** with. It gives a nicer overview and background to the world. After that it depends on your interests.

If you like Shakespeare: Wyrd Sisters
If you’re into music: Soul Music
If you like movies: Moving Pictures (tho a lot of people don’t like this one)
If you know your Australian myths and history: The Last Continent

etc etc

Whatver you choose - just enjoy it.

36

I agree with dpr, because if you don’t start with Colour of Magic, then you’ll probably not go back and read it, or enjoy it so much.

Reading them in order of being written helps with:

  • easing into the Discworld
  • easing into Pratchett’s writing style
  • following any story arcs that interweave ongoing through the books (though there’s very little crossover between each ‘series’)

However, Colour of Magic is not very indicative of Pratchett’s current skill. In the past 12 years he has fallen into a nice easy, some may say routine, style that is consistently funny and clever from line one page one to line end page end.

37

My point was mostly that liking The Colour of Magic is not necessarily indiciative of liking the way the series turned out. Since Moe started Strata, and found it not quite to his taste, I suspected The Colour of Magic might have a similar effect.

I think some of the other posters are assuming that Moe will automatically love the Discworld, no matter which book he starts with. Though I’d like to believe that’s true, it’s also possible that, by starting with one of the less-representative books (i.e., The Colour of Magic is a collection of parodies, The Light Fantastic is a direct sequel, Small Gods is the least humorous and Moving Pictures is usually considered the weakest of the later books) that he’ll decide that the series is not for him.

He might decide that anyway, but I think it would be best to chose one of the better-written and more-representative introductory books at this point. Then again, I started with The Colour of Magic myself (but only because a) I was fourteen at the time and b) it was the only one published at that point).

Moe: it’s your decision. I just think you might dislike The Colour of Magic (or not enjoy it in the way you’d enjoy other books in the series).

38

Hmmmmmmm, very interesting. Well thank you all for your input. I’m gonna have to do some thinking on this one, and I’ll keep you all informed.

In the meantime I’ve switched over to “The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul”. It’s the only Douglas Adams book I haven’t read yet and figured I may as well complete this series first, and this will of course buy me the time necessary to get my ass to a bookstore and pickup the TP books mentioned. But I’d better hurry, I go through books fast since I read every day on the train, and am utterly frightened of riding the train without a book.

Thanks again all. :slight_smile:

39

If you do decided to start with the first books in the series, Moe, you may want to step lively. The publisher who picked up PTerry’s books on this side of the pond recently re-released the first three books here in the states-at a cheapass price, too. I picked up the first three in paperback for something like $3.99 a piece.

As for me, I started with Guards! Guards!, because I got lazy and didn’t send the little invoice back to the SF Book Club. I got through reading all the books that I had meant to order, and turned to this other book left in the box.

Best payoff from being a lazy slob ever. And I’d agree with Da Ace that the first books aren’t necessarily the best place to start. The only thing you’ll miss by not starting there is the development of the dynamic between Twoflower and Rincewind, and the beginning of Granny Weatherwax as a character. And if you haven’t read the works PTerry’s parodying in The Colour of Magic, the thing will make even less sense. Were I you, Moe, I’d pick the start of any of the “chains” that Rincewind mentioned in his post above, and save the first books for later.