# The Discworld Series by Terry Pratchett



## Werthead (Jul 13, 2009)

So begins my attempt to reread all of the Discworld books to date (apart from MAKING MONEY, which I read fairly recently, and the YA books, which I haven't read before).

*The Colour of Magic*



> Ankh-Morpork is the greatest city on the Discworld - a flat planet carried through space on the back of four elephants standing astride a giant turtle - and has seen fire, flood, famine and even the odd barbarian invasion during its long history, but even it is unprepared for the arrival of a much more devastating threat: tourism. Twoflower is the first visitor to the city from the distant Agatean Empire, and is happy wandering around taking 'pictures' of the 'sights' with his magic box and soaking up the 'authentic' atmosphere. This behaviour in Ankh-Morpork would normally result in him having the lifespan of a mayfly confronted by a supernova, but luckily the wizard Rincewind has kindly 'volunteered' to be his guide and protector in return for not having his extremities removed by the city's Patrician, who is anxious to avoid insulting a foreign power with an army in the millions.
> 
> Unfortunately, Twoflower's attempts to introduce the concept of fire insurance to the hardy and creative business-owners of Ankh-Morpork results in an enforced flight from the burning metropolis and the beginning of a long and very strange journey across the Disc, taking in dragons, spaceships and the fabled temple of Bel-Shamharoth along the way. All the while the only spell that has ever managed to lodge itself in Rincewind's mind is very keen to get itself said, which could be a very bad idea indeed...
> 
> ...


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## Rinman (Jul 13, 2009)

When I was at McNally on the 9th I bumped into a couple of people who were talking about the Discworld series and I asked them about the series...they said (summarized) that you have to like British humour, that the series is based where the world is flat, there's like a turtle (I can't remember the turtle part of what they said) - and my mind was just going...uhm...okay...flat world, based on turtles...that sounds like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in the Christopher Columbus age...then add in some more science fiction. Ugh...


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## AE35Unit (Jul 13, 2009)

Rin,best way to understand a Discworld book is to read one! Go on,give one a try! Its kind of like Harry Potter but deliberately funny,full of wonderful and memorable characters,including an inept Wizard, a piece of sentient luggage called err Luggage and a librarian that just happens to be an Orang Utan!
Oh and the Grim Reaper who takes his job quite seriously.


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## Werthead (Jul 13, 2009)

Rinman said:


> When I was at McNally on the 9th I bumped into a couple of people who were talking about the Discworld series and I asked them about the series...they said (summarized) that you have to like British humour, that the series is based where the world is flat, there's like a turtle (I can't remember the turtle part of what they said) - and my mind was just going...uhm...okay...flat world, based on turtles...that sounds like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in the Christopher Columbus age...then add in some more science fiction. Ugh...



It's an old creation myth, that the world is flat and sits on the back of a turtle (other cultures later in threw the elephants for a laugh). The world itself is a secondary fantasy world through and through, the set-up is just there to show you this isn't going to be your average fantasy series.

As for the British humour, I don't think so. At least, I've seen people complaining about the 'Britishness' of the humour a lot less than with people like Douglas Adams. The stuff Pratchett addresses is a lot more international than that. The tenth book, _Moving Pictures_, is a riff on the birth of Hollywood in America and features a lot of homages to old-school Hollywood movies and stars that British readers probably didn't relate to, whilst _The Last Continent_ was aimed squarely at his Australian fanbase.

It's also nothing like *Harry Potter*. Book 3 had a female student trying to get a place at Unseen University but that's probably the closest the series ever comes to a HP-style plot. The series also doesn't have a continuing plot or cast of characters. Instead Pratchett moves back and forth over a wide range of locales and moves between the casts as he feels he needs to, and each book is more or less totally self-contained.


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## Rinman (Jul 14, 2009)

Whether or not it's like Potter, I wouldn't be able to read it. I've tried reading the Potter series and it just doesn't go with me. Potter is just to slow for me, not enough action or anything like that. I highly doubt I'd be able to read this DW series.


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## AE35Unit (Jul 14, 2009)

Rinman said:


> Whether or not it's like Potter, I wouldn't be able to read it. I've tried reading the Potter series and it just doesn't go with me. Potter is just to slow for me, not enough action or anything like that. I highly doubt I'd be able to read this DW series.



Forget the whole Potter thing-its only similarity to that is the fact that its a fantasy setting rather than a SF setting. And Discworld books aren't slow,they flow nicely along. 
I'm not a big fantasy reader but I love Discworld. There's just something about it.


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## Urien (Jul 14, 2009)

Rinsman,

The only way to know for sure whether you (a visitor to a SFF site) like the world's third best selling fantasy author is to read one of his books. I suggest "Guards Guards", fast paced, clever and amusing. Hope you like it.


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## The Ace (Jul 14, 2009)

Oh yes, any chance of a dartboard ? still cracks me up.


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## Rinman (Jul 14, 2009)

But what kind of things go on in the book? That's what I mean. Whether it's a givaway or not, I don't want to go spend money on a book that I'll read ten pages and leave it. At least the books that I do have do in fact have a chance of being read - only series that'll be hard is the Hitchhiker's Guide...but before we go off topic on that.

Like is there any fighting, action, or anything of the sort on this Discworld series?


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## The Ace (Jul 14, 2009)

Well, 'Guards, Guards,' is about city watchmen fighting a dragon, 'Jingo' is about a war and both include many of the same characters, including Sam Vimes, a natural policeman.

Another arc concerns the witch, Granny Weatherwax, forced to be the good one and resenting every minute of it and yet another concerns Death (yes, he really is a seven-foot tall skeleton carrying a scythe and wearing a robe of absolute darkness).

How these can be funny is difficult to explain, you're best just to try them for yourself.


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## Werthead (Jul 15, 2009)

http://thewertzone.blogspot.com/2009/07/light-fantastic-by-terry-pratchett.html_*The Light Fantastic
*_


> At the Unseen University, the wizards are disturbed by the sudden appearance of a blood-red star in the sky, which is getting slowly bigger. With the people 'concerned', the wizards mount an investigation and learn that all eight of the Great Spells must be united to save the Disc from a flaming death. Unfortunately, one of the spells is lodged in the head of the spectacularly inept wizard Rincewind, who was last seen plummeting to his doom...
> 
> The Light Fantastic picks up after the end of The Colour of Magic and is the only direct continuation of a storyline in the entire Discworld series, resolving the cliffhanger from the ending of the first book. The resolution to that cliffhanger is slightly disappointing, to be honest, but given that Pratchett's goal here was to get the story moving again as fast possible, it's not too much of an issue. After that it's pretty much business as usual from the first book, with Rincewind and Twoflower's travelling around the Disc as they meet various eccentric people, almost die, have various misadventures and almost die. You know the drill.
> 
> ...


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## AE35Unit (Jul 15, 2009)

Rinman said:


> But what kind of things go on in the book? That's what I mean. Whether it's a givaway or not, I don't want to go spend money on a book that I'll read ten pages and leave it. At least the books that I do have do in fact have a chance of being read - only series that'll be hard is the Hitchhiker's Guide...but before we go off topic on that.
> 
> Like is there any fighting, action, or anything of the sort on this Discworld series?



Isn't there a public lending library near you?


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## Marky Lazer (Jul 15, 2009)

I tried it too, to write reviews about 'em all, but failed keeping it up. I'm reading _Going Postal _now. Only a few to go for the re-reads truly begin.


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## Werthead (Jul 15, 2009)

*Equal Rites*



> The Unseen University, the centre of magical learning on the Discworld, a building whose endless rooftops make Gormenghast look like a toolshed on a railway allotment and whose faculty are the guardians of magic for the whole world. Of course, wizards are renowned for being incredibly intelligent but not very smart, and when Drum Billet realises his time is almost up he decides to pass on his staff to the eighth son of a poor blacksmith, himself an eighth son. Unfortunately, he neglects to check the baby's gender first...
> 
> Nine years later, Eskarina is a happy and normal nine-year-old child, happily terrorising her older brothers and learning the ways of the world. Local witch Granny Weatherwax is less happy about the magical staff left to her by the wizard. When Esk's burgeoning magical powers threaten to cause chaos, Granny realises she has to get Esk enrolled at Unseen University, which given that the university specifically prohibits women from joining (on the grounds they'd probably be too good at magic) could be rather problematic.
> 
> ...


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## Werthead (Jul 22, 2009)

*Mort*



> Young Mort is unsuited to follow in his father's footsteps, so is put up to apprentice in another trade. Unexpectedly, Death himself decides to train up Mort as a neophyte Grim Reaper so he can have a few days off. After all, what could go wrong? Well, as it turns out...
> 
> Mort was the point that a lot of people started taking more notice of the Discworld series. Smaller in scale than the first three books, Mort features Death as a main character and some thoughts and meditations on the nature of death and what may (or may not) come after. This is Pratchett in a more thoughtful mood, but he doesn't neglect the comedy. There are quite a few funny moments and passages, and we meet some more soon-to-be-iconic Discworld characters like Albert as well. But it's the serious thinking about life and the place of people within it that makes Mort stand out a little bit more than some of the other early books. Pratchett is also quite disciplined here, with a focused and tight plot that doesn't ramble like some of his other novels (which is sometimes entertaining, sometimes not), and this works quite well.
> 
> ...



(apparently this post is too short (!) so I'm sticking this bit down here to make it long enough to post)


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## Pyan (Jul 22, 2009)

Good summings-up, Wert, and (so far!) you're in tune with my thoughts on the series...




			
				Werthead said:
			
		

> (apparently this post is too short (!) so I'm sticking this bit down here to make it long enough to post)



Because there's a seven-character minimum posting limit, but as anything in (quotes) doesn't count toward it, the software only saw *Mort*...


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## Allegra (Jul 23, 2009)

pyan said:


> Good summings-up, Wert, and (so far!) you're in tune with my thoughts on the series...


 
I second pyan, except I'd rate *The Light Fantastic* higher because I like Twoflower and the Luggage too much!


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## SpaceShip (Jul 24, 2009)

I, like Rinman, didn't really like the look of any of Pratchett's books and left them alone for YEARS - but a friend twisted my arm - now, even with my arm completely twisted, I can't put them down. Thanks goodness he has written so many because it means that they can be re-read and enjoyed all over again.


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## Rinman (Jul 24, 2009)

Okay so I was going through my Guinness Book of World Records: Gamer's Edition 2009, and  I noticed there was some Discworld stuff made, so I read the info on it, so I read it, four elephants, a giant turtle...that's just...weird...


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## AE35Unit (Jul 24, 2009)

Rinman said:


> Okay so I was going through my Guinness Book of World Records: Gamer's Edition 2009, and  I noticed there was some Discworld stuff made, so I read the info on it, so I read it, four elephants, a giant turtle...that's just...weird...



Yea basically the world rides on the back of a giant turtle supported  by 4 elephants. Simple really


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## chrispenycate (Jul 24, 2009)

Rinman said:


> Whether or not it's like Potter, I wouldn't be able to read it. I've tried reading the Potter series and it just doesn't go with me. Potter is just to slow for me, not enough action or anything like that. I highly doubt I'd be able to read this DW series.



I suspect (from comments you've made on other threads) that you're right. The centre of the discworld universe is its humour, not its mindless violence (although there is no shortage of characters ready to deliver that, the writing tends to be clever, rather than graphic. Frequently the footnotes are more interesting than the main story line, and I have been known to literally LOL in a bus or aeroplane, to the surprise of my fellow travellers, at some juxtaposition of ideas he has delivered.

As you might have gathered, I'm extremely fond of them and attempt to get others who enjoy playing with language to discover them, but I don't consider them universal.


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## Werthead (Jul 25, 2009)

Rinman said:


> Okay so I was going through my Guinness Book of World Records: Gamer's Edition 2009, and  I noticed there was some Discworld stuff made, so I read the info on it, so I read it, four elephants, a giant turtle...that's just...weird...



I think as was mentioned before, the elephants/turtle thing is a very common idea from human mythology. Pratchett just decided to write about a world where that was actually the case.

The mechanics of the world also cease to have any relevance at all after the second book. The later books in the series don't ever even mention it.


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## Rinman (Jul 25, 2009)

Dunno if this was mentioned, but when I was talking to the sci-fi worker at McNally Robinson earlier today, he said that Pratchett won't be writing anymore because he apparantly has Alzheimers or some strange disease of some sort.


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## Marky Lazer (Jul 25, 2009)

He has been diagnosed with Alzheimers, yes, but it's in an early stadium and he keeps on writing as far as I know. This autumn we'll see _Unseen Academicals_ as a brand new Discworld.


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## AE35Unit (Jul 25, 2009)

Rinman said:


> Dunno if this was mentioned, but when I was talking to the sci-fi worker at McNally Robinson earlier today, he said that Pratchett won't be writing anymore because he apparantly has Alzheimers or some strange disease of some sort.



Yea it caused quite a shock when it was announced on the Chrons! 
We're all rooting for him!


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## Werthead (Jul 25, 2009)

Pratchett has Early-Onset Alzheimers, which he was diagnosed with in late 2007. However, it can take upwards of ten years from diagnosis (and Pratchett caught it very early) before it really starts to inhibit a person's life. He's already finished his next novel, is well into the next one and has another two or three lined up after that.

There was also a TV programme on the BBC earlier this year which covered Pratchett's first 12 months battling the disease and it was intense stuff. He's putting a brave face on it, but there were moments when you could see it really getting to him. Fortunately, he has the resources to travel around the world and get the very best medical treatment available.

*Sourcery*



> There was an eighth son of an eighth son who was, naturally, a wizard. But, for reasons too complicated to get into now, he also had seven sons. And then another one: a source of magic, a sourcerer. The Discworld hasn't seen a sourcerer for thousands of years, since the Mage Wars almost destroyed the world and caused an awful racket which annoyed the gods. Soon enough the re-energised wizards of the Disc are engaged in all-out warfare and the Apocralypse draws nigh (provided the Four Horsemen can get out of the pub in time). It falls to a wizard who doesn't know any spells, a box with lots of little legs, a mighty barbarian warrior of three days' experience, a timeshare genie and a homicidal hairdresser to save the day.
> 
> Sourcery sees the return of Rincewind and the Luggage as the Disc faces its greatest threat so far. Whilst previous books seemed to have end-of-the-world plots tacked on, this one embraces the concept to the fullest and is probably as 'epic' as the series ever gets. Fortunately, Pratchett seemed to get the end-of-the-world-is-nigh story out of his system with this book and whilst dire consequences would still abound in later books, things would never quite get as huge as this again.
> 
> ...


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## Werthead (Jul 27, 2009)

*Wyrd Sisters*



> The King of Lancre has died of natural causes. As everyone knows, it is very normal and even traditional for a king to die from a stab wound to the back followed by a swift plummet down a steep staircase. As is also traditional, the king's heir and his crown have mysteriously disappeared and it's no doubt only a matter of time before he grows up and returns to reclaim his birthright etc etc. Some things are Traditional. Unfortunately, the new king and his scheming wife aren't hot followers of Tradition and as a reign of terror falls on Lancre, it falls to three local witches (and a psychotic cat called Greebo) to take a hand in events...
> 
> Wyrd Sisters sees Pratchett stepping up to the plate a bit more. Whilst the improvements in his writing skills have been clear and steady over the first five Discworld books, it was with this one that he really hit his stride, balancing moments of drama, comedy and even romance (of the awkward, stuttering kind) very nicely. The story is wholly unoriginal, being essentially a Discworld cover version of MacBeth (with a bit of Hamlet thrown in as well, not to mention too many clever references to performers from the Marx Brothers to Charlie Chaplin), but Pratchett doesn't worry about that and instead just revels in the sheer joy of writing here.
> 
> ...


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## Werthead (Aug 9, 2009)

_*Pyramids*_



> Young Prince Teppic is sent forth by his father, the ruler of the desert kingdom of Djelibeybi, who sends him to Ankh-Morpork to join the Assassin's Guild. Teppic is successful in his studies there, but, seven years later, the death of his father sees him recalled to take up the mantle of pharoah.
> 
> Unfortunately for all concerned, Teppic comes home with some strange notions about plumbing and the benefits of feather mattresses, which is not good news to the head priest, Dios, who prides himself on how things are run in the kingdom precisely as they were seven thousand years ago. New ideas are not welcome in the Old Kingdom...
> 
> ...


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## Werthead (Aug 11, 2009)

*Guards! Guards!*



> Captain Sam Vimes of the Ankh-Morpork City Watch is not a happy man. He has a thankless job, a bunch of incompetent subordinates and he doesn't get no respect or, more accurately, actually gets no respect. The arrival of a fresh, eager-eyed new recruit (a six-foot-tall dwarf named Carrot - long story) whose relaxed and literal approach to policing (such arresting the head of the Thieves' Guild for being a thief) is another headache for Vimes to deal with. At the same time, the Unseen University Librarian is upset over the theft of a book that could be used to summon dragons and, in an almost certainly unrelated incident, people over the city are vanishing, leaving behind only fine traces of ash and scorched brickwork. Yes, things are definitely afoot...
> 
> Guards! Guards! is Terry Pratchett's tribute to detective novels and all those hapless extras dressed in chainmail who's only job in films is to run into the grand hall and get cut down by the hero. No-one ever seems to ask them if they want to or not. Oh yeah, and possibly dissatisfied with the imaginary dragons of The Colour of Magic, Pratchett cuts loose here with the real deal, a fire-breathing behemoth of a creature who is permanently in a bad mood. The book's real success is bringing the great city of Ankh-Morpork to life as never before seen in the series, giving the city a real sense of life (and frequent, screaming death) and community. In various polls over the years, Ankh-Morpork usually tops out as the most detailed and convincing fantasy city ever created, and Guards! Guards! is really where the city starts getting its character and identity.
> 
> ...


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## Werthead (Aug 14, 2009)

*Eric*



> Eric is a demonology hacker who is trying to summon a demon to answer his worldly desires. Unfortunately, due to a slight malfunction, the demon he summons turns out to be a wizard called Rincewind. To Rincewind's own bemusement, he ends up helping Eric achieve his goals, but wasn't reckoning on the side-trips to a remote jungle kingdom, the greatest war in history, the dawn of time and hell...
> 
> Eric is a bit of an oddball Discworld novel. Although listed as the ninth book in the overall series, it's not published by Corgi but by Gollancz instead, with a different cover design as well. It's also the shortest book in the series by far, coming in at 150 pages. The explanation is rather straightforward: it was originally a large-format illustrated book written by Pratchett primarily as a vehicle for the late Josh Kirby's artwork. As a result the story had to be streamlined and more of a travelogue of various locations rather than having a deep and complex narrative. In fact, it's reminiscent of the later book, The Last Hero, with the difference that Last Hero has been kept in print as an illustrated book rather than becoming a 'proper' novel.
> 
> ...



Bit of the odd-man-out in the series, but still entertaining.


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## dwndrgn (Aug 14, 2009)

Werthead said:


> I think as was mentioned before, the elephants/turtle thing is a very common idea from human mythology. Pratchett just decided to write about a world where that was actually the case.
> 
> The mechanics of the world also cease to have any relevance at all after the second book. The later books in the series don't ever even mention it.


Sorry had to add: *The Fifth Elephant* mentions that set up - basically there were five elephants instead and one...uh don't want to give it away but it is also a riff on The Fifth Element.


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## Werthead (Aug 23, 2009)

Oh yeah. To be honest I found _The Fifth Elephant_, _The Last Continent_ and _Carpe Jugulum_ to be really poor and I was worried Pratchett had completely lost it for a while, but he pulled it back later on. I don't remember a huge amount about those books.

*Moving Pictures*



> The Guild of Alchemists have created a new form of entertainment - moving pictures! Soon Ankh-Morpork is gripped by this latest craze and everyone's trying to break into the business as more and more 'clicks' are made out at Holy Wood. The speed with which the phenomenon spreads is quite strange and soon reluctant actors Victor Tugelbend ("Can't sing, can't dance, can handle a sword a little,") and Theda Withel (aka 'Ginger') are caught up in epic events set against the backdrop of a world gone mad! With a thousand elephants! Once the order arrives, of course...
> 
> Moving Pictures is a bit of a 'fallback' Discworld novel. That is, whilst still entertaining, funny and enjoyable, there's also the feeling that Pratchett simply came up with a cool idea and let it meander around for a bit aimlessly rather than being really fired-up and inspired by the concept. His taking of a real-life phenomenon and turning it into a Discworld novel is a pretty consistent way generating stories throughout the series (he also does Discworld takes on the theatre, the post office, rock music, organised banking, Christmas, war and newspapers in future books, with football and taxation still to come), but it does feel like he hasn't put much more effort into the book than what he did with, say, police procedurals in Guards! Guards!
> 
> ...


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## Werthead (Aug 26, 2009)

*Reaper Man*



> The Auditors of Reality are unhappy with the Death of the Discworld, who has shown signs of individuality and - shudder - a personality. They decide to fire Death and recruit a replacement. Death accepts this decision stoically, and decides to spend his last few days of existence sampling life, adopting the alias of handyman Bill Door and going to work on a remote farm.
> 
> Unfortunately, Death's absence causes some anomalies. Windle Poons, the oldest wizard on the Disc, is upset to discover that, despite dying, he can't move on to the next life. As a result, he has to spend the interim as a zombie but, thankfully, he finds some help from Ankh-Morpork's resident undead rights movement. At the same time, an unusual plague of odd novelty items is afflicting the city. The wizards of Unseen University investigate and discover that something rather unusual is taking shape outside the city walls...
> 
> ...


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## Arwena (Aug 27, 2009)

The Discworld series is absolutely the most humurous going and is on mt rop ren list of series to be read.


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## Werthead (Oct 16, 2009)

*Small Gods*



> When Brother Brutha of the Omnian Church starts talking to a tortoise, he merely assumes that he has gone mad. However, when the tortoise turns out to be the great god Om who is having a Bad Day, Brutha finds that his faith is about to be put to the test...
> 
> Up to (and including) Witches Abroad, Terry Pratchett was an author who wrote books that broadly fell in two categories: books that spoofed or were a satire of modern society in some way, often through broad comedy, and other books that were a bit more serious and had a point to them, though still amusing. The two sides had come very close to coexisting in Pyramids, but arguably just managed to avoid fusing into one impressive whole.
> 
> ...


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## thepaladin (Oct 17, 2009)

I've ski,,ed this thread...now let me put in my $.02 worth .

Prachett's writing here defies description. Just get a couple. I haven't read them all and I ran across one that didn't breal me up...an early one. But on the whole these are amazing books...amazingly funny yes and also amazingly imaginative. Prachett is a like a food that strikes everyone's palate differently. Just try the books they're amazing. 

My favorite character so far is death (an Anthropomorphic personification)...but like I said I haven't read them all.


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## Werthead (Oct 23, 2009)

*Lords and Ladies*



> Returning to their home kingdom of Lancre after various misadventures elsewhere, Granny Weatherwax and Nanny Ogg are disconcerted to discover a new, younger and more hip coven of young witches has arisen in their absence. Whilst they deal with the situation with their traditional patience and thorough levels of understanding, Magrat finds that arrangements for her marriage to King Verence are steaming ahead and the invitations have been sent out already. One recipient is Mustrum Ridcully, Archchancellor of Unseen University in Ankh-Morpork who decides to attend on a whim (and the prospect of excellent fishing), dragging the terminally confused Bursar, the simian Librarian and the very keen young Ponder Stibbons (whose favourite word is 'quantum') along for the ride.
> 
> The wedding suffers a series of complications of the kind that are to be expected and some that are not, most notably a full-scale invasion by beings from another dimension. Naturally it is up to the witches of Lancre (plus an annoyed orang-utan, a legion of ninja morris dancers and a terminally frisky dwarf in a wig) to rise to the occasion...
> 
> ...


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## Werthead (Nov 9, 2009)

A double-bill today.

*Men at Arms*



> Captain Sam Vimes of the Ankh-Morpork City Watch is retiring and getting married in a few days. But an explosion at the Assassins' Guild attracts his interest, and soon a trail of bodies is forming. The Guilds don't want his help, the Patrician has ordered him to lay off and his fellow Watch members seem more concerned about the new intake of ethnic minorities (Lance-Corporal Cuddy of the dwarfs and Lance-Corporal Detritus of the trolls) than the mystery. But somewhere in Ankh-Morpork a killer is on the loose with a very powerful new weapon...
> 
> Men at Arms is the second Discworld novel to focus on the City Watch, introduced in the classic Guards! Guards! As told in that volume, the City Watch saved the city from a marauding dragon and at the end of the book the Watch gained fresh resources from a grateful city government. However, it is still regarded as a joke, as Men at Arms makes clear.
> 
> ...




*Soul Music*



> Imp y Celyn, trained as a musician in a druid society, arrives in Ankh-Morpork ready to seek his fortune. Instead, the city rapidly deprives him of the few riches he already has. Teaming up with the dwarf horn-blower Glod and the troll drummer Lias, Imp braves the wrath of the Musicians' Guild by playing without a licence. When he acquires a special guitar from a back-alley shop, Imp learns that he and his band are meant for greatness, for sex and drugs and Music With Rocks In (well, one out of three isn't that bad).
> 
> Meanwhile, Susan, the daughter of the Duke and Duchess of Sto Helit, is rather perturbed to learn that she is the granddaughter of Death, and when her grandfather decides to take some time off she has to step in and do the job. Which would be fine except that when it becomes time for her to collect the soul of a certain musician, she learns that music doesn't want him to die. At least, not until it decides the time is right...
> 
> ...


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## Werthead (Jul 9, 2010)

*Unseen Academicals*



> For long years the game of foot-the-ball has been played in the back alleys of Ankh-Morpork, with teams formed from street communities coming together in sporting comradeship (involving violence and pies, not necessarily in that order). But the game is starting to turn ugly, and in the spirit of maintaining civil order the Patrician has decided to make the game legitimate, with professionally-organised teams and codified rules. The wizards of Unseen University are invited to form a team and Archchancellor Ridcully enthusiastically agrees, with new staffmember Mr. Nutt proving an invaluable asset. But the old street game isn't going to die peacefully...
> 
> Unseen Academicals is the most recent novel in the Discworld series and, at around 530 pages, is also the longest. It's also one of the more unfocused books in the series, with lots of excellent ideas which Pratchett is unable to bring together with his customary cleverness. For example, we are given two different reasons why UU has to form a football team. As well as the general sense of civic duty as the Patrician attempts to legitimise the game, we also have a requirement in the will of a deceased wizard whose money is funding the UU kitchens that the university has to field a football team or lose his money (and thus their food). This is an amusing idea, but also unconvincing and, after it is initially brought up, is promptly dropped.
> 
> ...


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## Mary Hoffman (Jul 10, 2010)

Reaper Man not one of the best?

Crivens.


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## Werthead (Mar 1, 2013)

*The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents*



> A band of travellers from Ankh-Morpork have arrived in the town of Bad Blintz. The band consists of a boy with a flute named Keith, a tomcat called Maurice and a lot of rats. A lot of very smart rats. However, as the town suffers from a curiously well-timed rat infestation and Keith and Maurice prepare to enact 'the scam', it becomes clear that something else is at work in the sewers and tunnels under the town. Something that takes an interest in the curiously smart rodents...
> 
> The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents was Terry Pratchett's first Discworld novel aimed at younger readers, released in 2001. It was, arguably, the novel that finally broke Pratchett in the USA, where it won the Carnegie Medal and won more notice than his previous books (which had been a cult success at best). Subsequent Discworld books began to hit the New York Times bestseller lists, finally giving Pratchett some Stateside success after almost two decades as Britain's biggest-selling author (well, until the arrival of a certain J.K. Rowling).
> 
> ...


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## Mouse (Mar 1, 2013)

It's the only one I've read of his. ^ But I enjoyed it very much. I liked the names of the rats - Hamnpork. Dangerous Beans.


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## Vertigo (Nov 3, 2014)

To add my twopennyworth; just read The Fifth Elephant:

Though not the best of Terry Pratchett’s Discworld books this was still very good. Sam Vimes and his City Guards are as always brilliant even when Vimes isn’t actually around to watch over them. Corporal Littlebottom, in particular, excels here, tactfully guiding Vimes through the maze of Dwarvish tradition.

However this volume lacked the usual biting satire on modern ways of life. Yes, it was still there but not a great deal of it and very much in the background which, for me, was a distinct shame. I also found the story lost coherence in places and sometimes stumbled badly which is not something I have often found in the Discworld books.

That aside The Fifth Elephant is, as with all Discworld books, a hugely enjoyable read. In particular Pratchett has great fun with the werewolves, twitching nervously at words like bath and vet, and with Angua on her way home things can’t help but get interesting.

A good read but not one of Pratchett’s best.


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## althea (Nov 20, 2014)

I think I have read all of T.P.'s books.The most recent was called Snuff.I have enjoyed some more than others,but always loved his little asides and his hidden gems.
Sausage onna stick? Anyone?


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