Should You Read Discworld? (Yes)|| Where to Start? (That Depends) || A Newbie's Guide to Discworld 

Puns? The first was the best, from ‘The Colour of Magic’, Prologue. "An alternative... was that A'Tuin was crawling from the Birthplace to the Time of Mating. When they arrived they would briefly and passionately mate, for the first and only time, and from that fiery union new turtles would be born to carry a new pattern of worlds. This was known as the Big Bang hypothesis".

This is the kind of video that, even if I had no interest in ever actually reading Discworld, I would absolutely love to watch. There's something completely fantastic about listening to someone just rave about something that they love. I've always been interested in Pratchett's works, but this moved it further up my priority.

The day my annual “I should read Discworld, but where to start?” internal dialog begins, and this video is uploaded. Seems like a sign I shouldn’t ignore.

Sir Terry was quite simply a literary genius. I was so glad when I first picked up and read one of his books, and I was devastated when Death finally came for him.

This is the first time I've actually been convinced I might like Discworld. Very helpful!

This year, starting from January, I made it my goal to finish the entirety of Discworld by the end of the year, and I can safely say that it has been one of the most wondrous journeys I have been on. I am currently reading the last book, The Shepherd's Crown, in tears. Those first few chapters impacted me in a way I could never have imagined. GNU Sir Terry Pratchett

I started Guards!Guards! I am loving it. And I need a dictionary along it as well:))happy to have an excuse and say that English is a 2nd language

Did you just say Monty Python?! Yep, I’m gonna like Discworld

I just started Discworld and the Big Bang theory joke in the introduction of the Color of Magic automatically had me hooked to the series

I loved to see a review and where to start video of the Discworld from somebody who had read all the books. I personally started way back with the Witches series and fell in love. I had to warm up to Ankh Morpork afterwards, but I would imagine the same is valid in the other direction. My usual answer to where to start is: The Witches if you like magic and fairytales and folklore The Night Watch if you like action and murder mystery plotlines The Death series if you are an angsty/ edgy teenager Small Gods, Mort, Guards! Guards!, Witches Abroad and Hogfather I think are the best starting points (I'm not really a purists for the order of the first book a person will read; I started with Witches Abroad)

Great introduction to Discworld, I love the enthusiasm!

Love this video and your recent tier list! A friend of mine convinced me to start Discworld with Guards Guards too and I loved it! You certainly convinced me to read more of them!

This is one of my very favorite videos you've made! I've never read any Discworld books before, but this gets me really fired up to try some out. Your passion is truly infectious! This video inspired me to put a nice edition of Mort on my Christmas wish list. :)

Thank you so much for getting me into Guards! Guards! I love it so much. It's exactly the refresher that I needed right now. I love this video and your enthusiasm, as always!

Your passionate way of explaining things really make me want to re-read Pratchett's (or read the books I haven't read yet). LOVE!

Omg thank you so much for this video! I honestly was so intimidated by the number of books but this video makes it just seem like a fun ride. I'm so excited to start!! It reminds me a little of Welcome of Night Vale.

Thanks Allen! Your enthusiasm for Discworld LEAPS off the screen

This was exactly what I needed! So much good info!

Hey Allen. I only just discovered your channel. I watched (the non-spoiler piece) of your live with Philip Chase yesterday regarding Discworld, which led me to this video. This was a phenomenal video. I’ve never tried Discworld, and this was extremely educational and really got me interested, so I will definitely try it out. Thanks so much!

I appreciate this SO much. Everyone mentions Discworld but I feel like I haven't heard from anyone who's read it so I never even knew what they were about. These sound amazing, I'm gonna start reading them this year! Your channel has introduced me to so many new books! Thank you!!

Fantastic overview and much appreciated. Mort sounds the most appealing to me, so I think I may jump in there. Thanks so much for this! ☺️

Thank your all of your time and effort that went into this! This is the most comprehensive explanation of disc world that I have seen. You also make a 40 book series seem approachable! Bravo! I am off to order Guards! Guards! now.

It was super helpful! Thanks so much. I'm impressed at your love and knowledge for the Disc World books.

I just read Small Gods and LOVED it!! (haven’t read any other Discworld) Thanks so much for this video, gonna use it to continue my Discworld journey! Loving your channel by the way, great stuff! 😁

Now I really want to read the Death books 🥺 This was really helpful and well done, thank you!

Yes, Pratchett always deserves more love! I'm so happy to see more enthusiasm for him. And thank you for mentioning and appreciating his genius as well as the comedy. His books are so well-crafted. I am so stoked to find another fan 😄

I’m always in for puns! Luters, I love it. The world sounds amazing too! This is such an informative video Allen, thank you! 😁

This is extremely helpful! I'm not sure if I'll be able to catch up with the Jingo read but will definitely start something in Dec or early next year. I'm saving this video. Thanks again!

I LOVED Guards! Guards! Can’t wait to read Men at Arms 😍 Thank you so much for getting me to start Discworld.

Great video, this was very helpful! I started with The Color of Magic 6 years ago and then never picked up another Discworld novel... I enjoyed it well enough but didn't feel compelled to continue. I think I'll be much more pulled in to the series with a different starting point, so I'll have to break my general rule of following publication order. The Death books sound fantastic!

I know it's not advised by most people but I think I'm just going to take the plunge, and try to read the entire series in publishing order. I just like the idea of experiencing the development of the setting and writing as the series goes. Also the way you describe the first two books as a tour of various locations in the Discworld sounds appealing to me as an introduction to the series. Though one thing that bothers me a bit is that I keep seeing all these great illustrated covers for the novel, but the current editions all just have boring minimal covers. Oh also your accents are spot-on.

Great video! Best Discworld video yet! Thanks a million!❤

I’m right now inspired to do two things: start a book tube channel, and re/read Malazeverything. And I’ve never read a Discworld novel. Your infectious enthusiasm has convinced me to slip City Watch novels into the Malazan reading whenever I need a light hearted break. 🙂👌🏻

I just REALLY think I would like Pratchett's writing style/authorial voice... !!!! Thanks for this freakin awesome video!!

Wao! what an amazingly informative video! Thanks a lot. I have never read any Discworld books, but I have "Guards! Guards!" planned for January.

Just bought the first four books books, but now I will read them in the order on your chart. I'm so glad you explained some of the world. My friend told me I would like them and laugh about. Thanks again.

Fascinating ✨ thanks for creating & sharing this 📚

The minute you referenced that Monty python and the holy grail scene, I was sold. This video was so well-done Allen!! Sooo excited to pick up Mort!! You’ve made death sound so precious 🥺 You ranting about wee free men again killed me 🤣🤣🤣

Guild of Assassin's an The Fools Guild. One is a dark, depressing place, with strict rules and severe punishments. The other is light, airy, with excellent educational facilities, where you also learn to kill ( or rather Inhume).

Yes! The constitutional peasant scene is my favorite part of Holy Grail! I don't think that I would have made that connection, but that makes a lot of sense now that you point it out. Okay - no wonder you think that I read it in the wrong order if you don't like travel books. I liked "The Color of Magic" in part because I got an introduction to more than just Ankh-Morpork.

I think this video gave me the final push I needed to start this series! (and luffy being in the background 🤩🤩)

Great beginner's guide to Discworld. I just finished reading Small Gods as my first Discworld book. I wish I had found your video earlier!

Thank you Allen. I found your video very useful indeed in wanting to know where do I need to begin reading this series. I liked that it was exhaustive and critical. 👍🏽👍🏽🙂

Pratchett's Discworld books are a gift. 😊

Man this was a fun video to watch! Catching those pop culture references is one of my favorite things about reading these books. “Sometimes it’s good to go where everybody knows your shape.” 😂 Also I CAN’T WAIT to get to Hogfather now!!

This is so helpful - thank you! And I love how passionate you are about these books! I think I will try Mort or Guards! Guards! first.

Man, if I start reading fantasy for real, my world is going to be overwhelmed. You totally sold me on this. I seriously hesitate, because I know if I start I will overwhelm myself. This is a great video.

I actually started reading discworld 7 months ago starting with the color of magic and ending with the shepherd's crown. I looked at the whole world as a series and each individual part as a season. I loved it and am continuing to re-listen to it until this day.

Always great to hear someone share their love of Pratchett's work, especially if it helps others access the joy as well. I think I've probably read about a dozen Discworld novels. Just grab one every couple of years for a fun read and am always surprised anew by the level of human insight tucked into the zany tales. There isn't a ton of genuine wisdom floating around in my head, despite my ever increasing age, but a lot of what there is certainly came from Sir Terry. I'll just leave this quote here as one short example among many (and an apropos one for 2020 I think): "There are, it has been said, two types of people in the world. There are those who, when presented with a glass that is exactly half full, say: this glass is half full. And then there are those who say: this glass is half empty. The world belongs, however, to those who can look at the glass and say: What's up with this glass? Excuse me? Excuse me? This is my glass? I don't think so. My glass was full! And it was a bigger glass! Who's been pinching my beer? - Terry Pratchett (from The Truth)

I was so excited to come across this video. I don't find that Terry Pratchett is talked about very often and he is one of my favorite authors. I've enjoyed his books so much. His books have such a variety of characters from witches, to trolls, wizards, vampires and so many more. Going Postal is just one of my favorites. I love DEATH, he's great. Terry Pratchett was such a talented writer. He is truly missed.

Allen, I first watched this video in 2021 after reading ASoIaF (my introduction into the genre after being a lifelong avid reader) and was searching for other fantasy books to read. It's always been in the back of my mind, and this past week, I finally decided to jump in. Thank you.

This was both fun and helpful - thanks, Allen! I’ve only read the wizard books (Rincewind and company), so I need to branch out. I was thinking of the witches next, but perhaps Guards! Guards! is calling.

I saw Jessy Mae her video referring to this video. This really helped. I was one of the persons who started Colour of Magic and quit. But i will give it a try again. Thank you so much!

Going to start this today in publication order - I can’t wait. I’ve already read Hogfather and the first five books and I love them :-)

I was planning on reading Men At Arms this month but looks like I'd have to read Feet of Clay as well to join the buddy read for Jingo.

My favorite scene from Holy Grail and my favorite Flying Circus sketch! So, yeah, I'm sold. Thanks!

The Science of DW books are awesome! They're written in alternating chapters: 1 chapter of the narrative, with the wizards discovering this impossible universe that works on laws instead of magic (the mere idea! and no narrativium! how can such a universe function at all?), and then 1 chapter written by the co-authors, which explains the science corresponding to what the wizards were observing. My favs are books 1 and 3. Book 1 is all about physics and book 3 is evolution and genetics. I might join on next month's Jingo (re-)read. 😄

I always have a Discworld book on reread. I've done the whole series in order several times, now I just grab whichever one strikes my fancy.

As someone who started with the Colour of magic and hasn’t ready anything else, you’ve convinced me to give it another go. After storm light 4, and jade city, and fires of vengeance, and great coats 4 and...

Speaking from experience READ THEM IN SERIES ORDER! The stories matter so much more when you are invested in the characters and reading chronologically leaves huge 5/6 book gaps between character arcs, it's hard to even remember what happened the last time you saw them. Im 31 books in and it has taken me 5 years so far. I've forgotten so much, but atleast reading them again will be like reading them for the 1st time!

Discworld sounds like a crazy amazing D&D setting. I'll have to read them soon.

Thanks for this. I've been wanting to get into Discworld since playing the point and click games as a teenager but after a couple of attempts of reading Colour of Magic I just couldn't get into it. I've started again with Mort, thanks for reassuring me I made the right decision!

Great video. Not knowing that you shouldn't start with book 1, I started with The Colour of Magic. I actually really liked it though. It is the only one I've read so far, but I'm excited to keep going.

TIME magazine, are you watching? This was an excellent guide! I think I would really enjoy these books. I'll have to put Guards! Gaurds! on my TBR.

Great video! You said you have never met someone whos favourite Pratchett books are the Tiffany ones. Now you have, I love those :-) "Color of Magic" didn't work well for me as a starting point. It is not a bad book by any means but I think the prose isn't on the level Pratchetts later work is and the humor is less subtle it feels more forced than in the later books. It took me several years to pick up another Pratchett book after that. I'm glad i did.

I've got some Discworld books. Tried a few times and I find it's not straightforward and like riddles at times. But I want to try again as I feel once you've got into it and can into the swing of how he tells a story I could do it. 🤓

Duuude. You are selling me pretty hard on this.... I gotta give it a shot. I hate puns, but this sounds like art.

I have about twenty of these.. Every last one is a joy to read.. Guards, Guards. Or the Mort series great starting point. But actually any one is perfect..as are all .. I love high fantasy but Pratchett's works are just delightful..

Guards guards is a good place to start. As is Equal Rights or Witches Abroad. If you prefer to start with books aimed at younger readers try The Wee Free Men, or The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents. Of the Tiffany books, I would say that Wintersmith is one of the best. It has to be said that The Shepherd's Crown is up there, but the ending is a little rushed, but it was his last book, completed just before he died.

I started chronologically, but that was in '02, so I didn't have many resources to help me. The Sam Vimes series is my favorite of the books. Night Watch is my favorite (because time travel and Les Mis). Also big fan of Wyrd Sisters, Mort, The Last Hero, and Going Postal

My first Discworld book was "Lords and Ladies" back in 1998. I bought it because I was amused by the blurb. And finished it that very evening... After that, i made it my mission to hunt for TP books from my side of the world (which was hard at that time). Now I got his complete works... I did cry when Sir Terry passed away. He will always have a special place in my heart and bookshelves...

Yes. I think you'll enjoy The Science of Discworld books Allen, they're really rather wonderful. Hex has to use up a whole bunch of magic fast, or the Universe will explode (again), and literally created our universe. We become an item of interest to the Wizards, and in trying to work out how our magic-less universe works, the story interchanges with chapters that describe each piece of science they discover in roundworld layman's terms (I learned LOADS) before heading back to UU and the next experiment, where hilarity ensues... I'm (obviously) a lover of Discworld too, and just saw your livestream with Jimmy Nutts, where you mentioned you haven't read the last few that were published - so I need to tell you to drop whatever you're reading at the moment and read Snuff. Because Vimes.

I totally agree on not starting with COM and LF. However, had great success getting friend who has degrees in physics and applied mathematics by starting him with those. He is a huge fan now and has got his department reading it.

Yes. You should read the "Science of Discworld" books. They do what you like about the wizard books: provide an insight into the inner workings of Unseen University. They surprised me how well they describe Academia life and explain incredibly difficult scientific fields while still being funny, entertaining and correct.

I read Going Postal for the first time last summer, and really enjoyed it!! How would you recommend I go from here?

Hey Allen. I’m a little late to the party lol. I am going to start soon and want to start with the city watch books and the death books. I wondering if it’s better to start with reading the city watch books all in sequential order, then the death ones in sequential order, ects. Or should I start with “Mort” for example as it’s book 4 and then read “guards! Guards!” as it’s book 5 and continue on like that in publication order? Thanks for your time

Okay, okay, you've convinced me, good sir. I've just ordered seven Discworld novels (Guards! Guards! among them, of course), thereby ruining all of my brilliant reading plans for February... let's see how this turns out.

I learned about Terry Pratchett from reading Good Omens, and decided to keep an eye out for his books in thrift stores and used bookstores. Eventually, I came across Moving Pictures, so thats the book I started with. I really enjoyed it, and didn’t have a strong feeling that I was missing something.

They are on my list to get to one day!

I just started my own journey through the Discworld... with the Colour of Magic. I've the 1st 4 books and a bunch of others so I decided to start at the beginning and if i wasn't feeling it jump to Equal Rites and Mort then come back later but really enjoyed myself and will be continuing on with the series.

Nicely done

Thanks for this video! I had a fail with Colour of Magic in 2008. I had a fail with Going Postal in 2018. Now I know why! I shall try again with Mort. Maybe third time is the charm 😆.

I started with Color of Magic and liked it but found myself struggling to finish some chapters sometimes. I read Guards! Guards! and got completely hooked!

Funny how massively different tastes can be. Reaper Man and the Tiffany Aching books have Pratchett's best prose. Poetic, with such a strong sense of place that the landscape becomes a character in its own right.

I have read them all many times and will again

I have Mort, Colour of Magic and Guards!Guards! on the way. I'm glad you are comparing it to Python's Holy Grail and not the Lumberjack Song. I'm in my 50's and haven't read anything "absurding in at least 20 years when I read Aspirin, but my first fantasy reading was in that vein with Piers Anthony's Xanth books and it promises to be a nice escape from Wheel Of Time's slog that I'm going through right now.

I love this series and I agree that it's not absurdism though it can be absurd. And I love audiobooks, but that's a good point about not reading discworld on audio. I might have bungled into that and not known what I missed

Omg you showed the Monty Python Parrot skit and I immediately thought CMoT Dibbler! 😂😂 we’re on the same wavelength, bud. PSA Allen is right, everyone. Just do what he tells you. Start immediately. Lol.

Hey Allen! I know this is an older video, but I just found your channel recently, have been binge watching your videos and I really could not think of a more appropriate place to ask this in. I don't know if you'll see this, but I definitely hope so. Anyways, you have really convinced me to start reading Discwolrd so guess I'll be reading Guards! Guards! next month. I tend to really love satires and using them in order to critique or question things or maybe even just to reflect upon things sounds like something I'd be really interested in. I've been wondering however about something that, from what I understand, is extremely prominent in Discworld, and that is the pop culture, historical, real-life elements and anything else that might be similar to these (I mean obviously parodies and satires are rooted in pre-existing things that's their whole thing). I do understand that you'll be able to get and appreciate the books best if you know these references, and I guess what I've been trying to ask in this longer-than-needs-to-be paragraph is if there's a resource that lets you know the different references in each Discworld book (not necessarily every single minor detail) so that one can research before reading a book in order to understand it better. For example, how with Wyrd Sisters, with it being inspired by Macbeth (And being a play on it), you should probably know Shakespeare's play (I still haven't started the series so I'm sure there's a whole lot more to it was just an example). So, something that tells you for each book which pieces of media to consume prior or which events in history to contextualize yourself in and anything adjacent to either of these things. So yeah. Sorry, this was so convoluted, English is not my first language and I have a hard time explaining stuff. I hope this was a clear enough question. Love your channel!

Parody and satire is such a good way to describe it. Every book has a little bit of social commentary to it, which makes it even more enjoyable on top of the fun fantasy world and story. I know a lot of the references he includes go over my head, but the ones I do understand are always fun nuggets to discover. The wizard books are probably my least favorite ones of the series. The Wee Free Men definitely deserves to be on the top fantasy list ;) I love the Tiffany Aching books because that's where I got started in the series when I was young. As much as I love Death as a character, I don't tend to enjoy the books in his series as much for some reason.

i love monty python and i loved the comparison! I've only read the color of magic but I'm excited to get farther in the discword! also really fun to learn eric idle voiced rincewind in an old video game so it all comes together lol!

I was at Valu Village the other day in the used book section and came across Guards Guards which I bought because of your recommendation. I also found Thud just wondering what your thoughts are on that book I really havent heard mention of it on any booktubers channels that talk about Discworld?

I started Guards! Guards! in kindle after reading about it in shelf space server and I ordered Men in Arms physically and waiting for it to arrive... 😁

The only Diskworld book that I have read is The Amazing Maurice and that is because my Dad read it to me as a bedtime story when I was like 10. I have always meant to read more. As a purist I will probably start with the Colour of Magic 😁

I needed this, I’m of an age with you but my teenage friends read these and I missed out and have no idea how to get started

Talking about pop culture references-- I'm listening to Guards Guards (Audible) and there's a few song lyrics in there from the late 80s. I don't know if id've picked'em up if i were reading instead of listening. the reader, Jon Culshaw, is very good. Bill Nighy reads the foot notes

I started reading Pratchett when a friend kindly recommended "Moving Pictures" in 1992 and was instantly hooked. I had a few years of catching up with the previous 10 or 11 titles, then i found I was getting impatient for the paperback editions to come out. Then when I saw the hardback of "Jingo" in the shops I knew I was doomed, hopeless devotee. Perhaps there should be a warning on the covers? However, unlike most addictions, Pratchett leaves you happier and wiser. Take the plunge, people, you won't be sorry.

I *had* to start reading the Discworld books with "Colour Of Magic" and "Light Fantastic" because there *weren't* any others yet. Terry hadn't written them yet, in other words. Yes, he hit his stride with books 3, 4, and 5, finding the writing voice he wanted with "Guards, Guards" and building the rest from the basis of the worldbuilding in the first five books. Thankfully, although Discworld has the thematic sub-series runs of books as you pointed out and the first book of any of those would be an acceptbale place to begin the series as a whole, Terry made it possible for almost any of the 41 books to be acceptably standalone. If I had to pick one single book to persuade someone that Discworld was worth their time, it would be "Hogfather." Not my favorite book in the overall series, but one that I believe has the best balance between all the elements that makes a Discworld story enjoyable. "Soul Music" would be a close second choice, with "Moving Pictures" as a third. Not because I think they are the best three, but because I think those cover the *most* of all the common ground that interconnects the entire 41 books.

Colour of magic was reccommended to me as an intro to Pratchett, and I couldn't get into it. I might give this another go with Mort, that premise and character sounds really interesting.

Is Mad lord snapcase a reference to the Mad King from song of ice and fire?