Since it seems Pratchett compares favorably to Heinlein, I’ve gone from “Maybe I ought to read Pratchett” to “I must read Pratchett!”. My problem is which one should I start with? Diskworld sounds interesting, but which one is the first? Maybe another one of his works would be the best to start with? Please let me know which one you would suggest and more importantly why that one. Thanks.
On the L-Space Web there is a link to a page that is a graphic representation of a suggested reading order that was posted as part of the alt.fan.pratchett FAQ. I’ve looked over it and it makes pretty good sense to me. The list does need to be updated, for I don’t see Thief of Time anywhere on there.
I particularly agree that Pyramids, Mort, Small Gods, and Guards! Guards! are excellent “starter” books to get introduced to Discworld. I haven’t made up my mind as to whether or not Thief of Time could be included in the starter category.
When I was hanging around on alt.fan.pratchett, the concensus was that Small Gods is the best novel to give to someone who’ll only give one chance to Pratchett. It’s late enough that it’s not just a silly parody like the first two, but it’s also a pure stand-alone AND it’s funny.
Me, I love Moving Pictures, and think it’d make a damned good starter novel, but I’m waaaaaay outvoted.
Fenris
The alternative viewpoint is that if you read the best one first, they’re all downhill from there. So you should just start at the beginning, and let them flow as they did originally, and be pleasantly surprised as you come across the better ones. So my vote is for Color of Magic.
This is a difficult question – I could easily recommend Small Gods, the best book ever written by anyone anywhere in this or any other star system. However, all other Discworld books will then pale in comparison.
On the other hand, if I recommend The Colour of Magic or The Light Fantastic, it may give the mistaken impression that Pratchett is simply a parodist, instead of one of the great writers of our age.
So I have to go with Mort. Starts a subseries (of sorts), is early enough that you won’t not get any of the background stuff (as I think may happen with some Ankh-Morpork ideas in Guards, Guards!), introduces you to the character who’s been in more Discworld books than any other, isn’t “just” parody and is pretty darn good, too.
Well, my personal Pratchett-pusher told me I could start with any book, so I picked up *Mort and Equal Rites at the used bookstore. I read Mort first, then Equal Rites and have since picked up Soul Music and am in the middle of that. I loved Mort (the book and the character).
Along with Small Gods as a starter, you can try Soul Music, Reaper Man, and Moving Pictures as well, IMO. Throw in Maskerade if you have a secret desire to see opera skewered… 
I’d say start with Equal Rites. Third in the series, it’s the first of the “real” Pratchett novels, (I don’t count the first two) when he starts to get into his stride, but it’s not quite as dense and multi-layered as the later ones. Plus you get introduced to Granny Weatherwax, and to Ankh-Morpork and Unseen University, both in the same book. You get a sort of over-view of the whole Discworld universe, the witches and the wizards, and how it all fits together.
Thanks for you assistance everyone. It looks like ** Mort** is definitely the winner. I’ll see if I can buy it this weekend. The recommendations for Moving Pictures make it sound like another possibility.
My only gripe is that the ending of the novel seems to have disappeared from the Trousers of Time of the later ones. Must have gone down a different leg…
rjung:
– (Terry Pratchett, alt.fan.pratchett)
But that is the best one, imho. Only Guards! Guards! comes close.
I agree with Color of Magic. It’s the first Discworld book, so it’s a little rough and Discworld’s a little underdeveloped, but that’s part of the fun is watching how the characters develope over time. Specifically because Death is in every book, it’s fun to see his start and watch how his character developes over time. So go with that, then The Light Fantastic to finish the story arch.
Guards Guards is a great one to intorduce you to the Watch, my favorite protagonists in the Discworld series. Small Gods and Pyramids are fairly self contained stories, so you could read those first without needing any background on characters.
Start at the beginning - Colour of Magic
Or : Wyrd Sisters (I dont care for Equal Rites), Mort, or Small Gods.
BTW, I dont see any similarities between Heinlein & Pratchett.
Fenris get over here! Support me on this one. Surely Pterry is the unknown son, with the strawbeery birthmark and the killer computer, of RAH, claiming the throne of ‘greatest teller of fantasic fiction of all time’!!!
Nor do I, and what’s more I love Pratchett while I would consider having to read the collected works of Heinlein a far more painful experience than simply dropping them all on my bare foot at once.
Could there be any two less similar authors?
Yes. Ray Bradbury and William Gibson
Isaac Asimov and Ann Coutier?
I have gotten 4 or 5 people hooked on Pratchett and have always started them off with Guards! Guards!. One of them in passing along knowledge of the literary master used Mort.