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Favourite Terry Pratchett Discworld novels

This popped up on alt.fan.pratchett (yeah, I know, I’m Avoiding Work), so of course I had to. Feel free to disagree, although anyone who dislike Pratchett and the Holy Discworld Scriptures is a lost cause and should not be replied to.

Under the fold:

1. Small Gods (1992)

2. Guards! Guards! (1989)

3. Men at Arms (1993)

4. Lords and Ladies (1992)

5. The Fifth Elephant (1999)

6. Thief of Time (2001)

7. The Wee Free Men (2003)

8. A Hat Full of Sky (2004)

9. Going Postal (2004)

10. Maskerade (1995)

11. Interesting Times (1994)

12. Witches Abroad (1991)

13. Wyrd Sisters (1988)

14. Pyramids (1989)

15. The Colour of Magic (1983)

16. The Light Fantastic (1986)

17. Mort (1987)

18. Reaper Man (1991)

19. Feet of Clay (1996)

20. Jingo (1997)

21. Carpe Jugulum (1998)

22. The Last Hero (2001)

23. The Truth (2000)

24. The Last Continent (1998)

25. Night Watch (2002)

26. Making Money (2007)

27. The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents (2001)

28. Unseen Academicals (2009)

29. Wintersmith (2006)

30. Thud (2005)

31. Soul Music (1994)

32. Eric (1990)

33. Sourcery (1988)

34. Moving Pictures (1990)

35. Equal Rites (1987)

36. Hogfather (1996)

37. Monstrous Regiment (2003)

Of course, the best Pratchett book is always the next one

18 Comments

  1. Neil Neil

    Agree that Eric and Sourcery should be low down. Agree that the top 6 should be high on the list. Disagree about lots…Monstrous is an excellent book and so is Hogfather and Thud. I was disappointed by Unseen. And Color and Light are among the least good.

    I trsut you wil bow before my persausive arguments.

      • jackd jackd

        Likewise surprised at the high rating you give Colour of Magic. It took a few volumes, as I read it, for Pratchett to hit his stride.

        The only Pterry I’ve heard in audio format was Jingo, but it was excellent.

  2. Susan Silberstein Susan Silberstein

    I have been listening to “Making Money” on my iPod. The New York Public Library has about 1,000 books available for download and several of them take us to Discworld.

    More witches would have been good.

  3. Barry Rountree Barry Rountree

    I’d have Night Watch and Small Gods as 1 and 2, but that might be because they’re the first two that I read and everything was judged against that experience.

    • John S. Wilkins John S. Wilkins

      That is the way of it. I read Good Omens before anything else, so that is my yardstick (but of course it’s not a Discworld book).

  4. Have only read a handful (8), but my list is

    Small Gods, The Truth, Mort, Reaper Man, Guards Guards, Making Money, Unseen Academicals, The Last Continent. Big gaps after The Truth and Making Money.

  5. I’m ashamed to admit that the last Discworld book I read was probably back in 1990. Not sure why I stopped reading them. I am well aware that admitting this will result in an albino gorilla throwing feces at me. Such is my lot in life.

    • John S. Wilkins John S. Wilkins

      John, I’m so sorry to hear that, but fear not! You have 20 years of books to catch up on! Lucky man!

  6. Susan Silberstein Susan Silberstein

    John Wilkins, like you I have read them all and wish I could have the pleasure of looking forward to reading them for the first time, but listening to the books read is almost like reading new books. Try it.

  7. I couldn’t possibly order all the discworld books, except to pick out a few that would go near the top and a few that would fall well below par. Near the top would certainly be Small Gods, Going Postal and Witches Abroad. I also have a soft spot for Moving Pictures. There is only one discworld book I didn’t gobble in a matter of a day or two. The most recent, Unseen Academicals, which took me more than a week to slog through. Don’t know why, maybe its because I don’t like football.

  8. Mel N Mel N

    One of my favorite authors. You really can’t go wrong with any of his books. Good Omen co-authored with Gaiman is worth a read. The Tiffany trilogy was a surprise for me that I bought for my Kindle this year and now that you let me know that a 4th novel is possibly coming! Oh Joy joy joy joy. Thank you.

  9. Unseen was just dull… None of the characters really captivated.

    Wee Free Men should be higher… Same with Hat Full of Sky. I’d bump Gaurds! and Men down a bit.

    The Amazing Maurice… Meh. Above Unseen, but that’s about it…

    Actually, your list is bollocks… As is would be mine… 🙂 But then, such is nature of a list based on personal preferences…

  10. chris y chris y

    Not bad. I’d put Lords and Ladies and Maskerade a lot lower and Hogfather and Night Watch quite a bit higher. But other than that you’ve got the real stars and duds fairly well sorted, and the middle ground is middle ground.

    Of course if Good Omens is your benchmark, you’re setting an impossible standard.

  11. dinah dinah

    how to decide? almost any of them any time I’m feeling in a need of something to smile at…

  12. Bob O'H Bob O'H

    I got to the point where I only bought Discworld books when the Academic Bookshop next to Stockmann’s had them in a sale. Now I’ve moved away from Helsinki, this makes things a bit more difficult.

  13. Jax Jax

    Yeah, NightWatch should be WAY higher.

  14. Ian H Spedding FCD Ian H Spedding FCD

    I have to go with The Amazing Maurice because it’s about a cat and it’s the only Pratchett I’ve read. So far.

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