The best Discworld books

Terry Pratchett was an author fueled by worldly rage, and he turned that anger into deeply philosophical books cleverly disguised as fantasy satire. I first read Small Gods as a teenager and it forever shaped my view of narrative and belief. This theme creeps up repeatedly in my writing and it unashamedly started here.

Small Gods illustrates the power of myth over culture and religion, and what happens when myth stagnates. It has been written down and crystalized. Traditions and laws form around it. The myth can therefore no longer evolve with the culture it shaped. As with anything that stagnates, it becomes poisonous. Readers will no doubt recognize real-world parallels that will evoke some rage in some, but hopefully deeper thought as well.

You know the group of guards who usually run in and immediately get decimated by the hero? What would happen if the big storybook hero wasn't there to fight them, but to get a job with them?

I will forever love this book because it introduced me to one of my favorite characters of all time, Captain Sam Vimes. According to Pratchett, he wasn't even supposed to be the main character in this book. But he was an easier head to get into than the big storybook hero, and before Pratchett knew it he'd taken over. This is the start of an equally delightful series, so settle back and enjoy the ride.

This is the second book in the Guards sequence, but it’s easy enough to start here. This detective story set in the sprawling, smelly metropolis of Ankh-Morpork, featuring dwarves, werewolves, and (occasionally) humans, is a laugh-out-loud and anarchic book, managing to be hugely joyous and page-turningly compelling at the same time. Insanely silly and utterly real, with characters so solid you can see (or in some cases, smell) them long after you turn the last page.

I read this book two years ago and it has stuck with me ever since. It is a book about a woman who joins a failing army in order to rescue her family. Along the way, she finds unexpected love, unexpected companions (including a vampire and an Igor), and a way to win a war against a far superior foe. As ever with the brilliant and biting Sir Terry Pratchett, there is so much humor, warmth, and craft poured through every inch of his magnificent prose. There are so many moments that brought actual guffaws from me, including a particularly memorable sock. I highly recommend this book for anyone needing a laugh at the absurdity of society, gender roles, and the military. All of which are topics we should be exploring.

This book and the others, including The Globe, Darwin’s Watch, and Judgement Day, are wonderful in their mix of fantasy – Pratchett’s Discworld Wizards mixing it up in their quest to understand the “Round World” they accidentally created – and real science introduced and explained by Ian Stewart and Jack Cohen. The fantasy and the science are seamlessly interwoven in a way that make some complex subjects not just understandable but very readable. Like the explanation of exploring particle physics in the Large Hadron Collider by comparing it to a race that has never seen a piano, cannot see the piano, and try to determine its function and properties by hitting it and eventually pushing it out of a window five stories up and then naming the sounds it makes on hitting the ground…

Written by the late and great Terry Pratchett himself, this is obviously a must-have for any Discworld fanatic. The actual recipes in this tome range from questionable to delightful, the “narrator,” Nanny Ogg, is the real star of the show. Nanny Ogg’s er… life advice, this book will have you giggling and the recipes will have you intrigued.

Once you start with Terry Pratchett, you won’t be able to stop. His books are highly entertaining and he has a unique style of writing that makes them something special. He develops a number of different characters throughout the books, but this first one contains my favourite: Rincewind, the most inept wizard ever created (and don’t get me started on the Luggage). The world the discworld series is set in is so far beyond anything anyone else has done it is amazing. Ridiculous, but amazing.      

Terry Prachett is my favorite author, and Going Postal is my favorite of his many novels set in his imaginary Discworld, an alternate universe Prachett created to spoof traditional fantasy and human foolishness. Moist Lipwig, a dashing con man, is heading for the gallows, but is given a second chance. He must save Ank-Morpork’s derelict postal service. Moist (what a name!) tries to get out of the job, but I love the way he gradually has a change of heart and takes on the challenge with his usual flare. There is romance, danger, and an amazing satire on the internet. I am in awe of the way Prachett can mix comedy, drama, humor, and pathos, which is what I strive for in my own novels. 

The OG witches of modern fantasy literature. I’ve put down Wyrd Sisters because it’s the first of Pratchett’s Witches books to feature the trio of Granny Weatherwax, Nanny Ogg, and Magrat Garlick, but I’d list the whole series if I could. If you haven’t read them, I envy you, because you get to experience this trio and their world for the first time. Granny Weatherwax is a good witch because she has to be, but if she were to go the other way there’s no doubt she would be the greatest evil witch the Discworld has ever known. She plays cards with Death, knows the power of stories, and, most importantly, understands that being Good and Right is not the same as being Nice. Pratchett’s Witches were formative reading for me, and paved the way for many beloved reads on our shelves today.

I said I would limit myself to two Discworld books, so here we have my other favourite. This is quite an early one, before the world is fully formed, but the portrayal of the wizards and their University is beginning to emerge, full of chaos and joy and demented energy. But again, this madcap, surreal mania is corralled masterfully, the characters feeling like real people with real agency, moving through a world that—while full of vivid colours and impossible, surreal things—is also somehow solid and real. It is a testament to Pratchett’s incredible storytelling powers that Ankh Morpork is more real to me than several cities I have actually, physically visited. It is unreal and yet hyper-real at the same time. You should go visit. It is wonderful.