In an odd change of pace, I’ll do a post about one of my favourite authors, Sir Terry Pratchett. I’ve been going non-stop on reading his books this year. Not sure why, but I’ve been looking for fantasy and sci-fi to escape into. (the world is in such a great place right now, eh? Possibly a reason?)
My first experience reading Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series was reading it in sequential order from book 1. This was working out well for me until I hit the book Pyramids, Discworld #7. I did not like that book. I bounced off the series and stopped there until the magical year 2025.
In fediverse conversations, I saw someone asking for Terry Pratchett book recommendations. Many people recommended reading mini series.
I didn’t realize there were little mini series inside the larger Discworld series. This opened my eyes to new possibilities. I did really like Pratchett’s fantasy world and know many people speak very highly of his books.
I read the Guards Guards mini series first (well most of it).
- Guards! Guards! (1989);
- “Theatre of Cruelty” (1993) (short story);
- Men at Arms (1993);
- Feet of Clay (1996);
- Jingo (1997);
- The Fifth Elephant (1999);
- Night Watch (2002);
- Thud! (2005);
- Snuff (2011)
The Guards Guards series is focused on the Night’s Watch police force in Ankh-Morpork. The main character of the series is Commander Vimes. It follows his adventures in love, dragons, and running a police force in the Discworld. So far, there has been fights of internal city politics, stolen artifacts in the dwarf kingdom, werewolves, and other great adventures.
Now that I’ve finished that series (well kinda finished, I stopped after Night Watch), I’ve begun reading The Industrial Revolution series.
- The Truth
- Monstrous Regiment
- Going Postal
- Making Money
- Raising Steam
This series has been a fun ride, too. Going Postal introduces us to a new character that I rather like, Moist Von Lipwig. He’s a criminal who is ‘killed’ but then forced to resurrect the floundering Ankh-Morpork postal service. It is in competition with the Clacks (sort of like the telegraph), so there are shenanigans and some political intrigue. Moist is also in the book Making Money where he has to convince people that paper money is actually money, you don’t need the gold in the bank! Moist has to turn around the stuck in their ways Ankh-Morpork bank. I’ve just started reading Raising Steam at the moment. It appears to be a book about steam trains(?). I shall have to see if Moist Von Lipwig makes and appearance again.
I shall keep diving into the books by Sir Terry Pratchett. What a wonderful silly, wacky, and cool universe he hath created. I’m so glad I gave Discworld another chance.
Rating: ★★★★
All his books I’ve read so far range from 5 stars to 4. Eventhough I did struggle with Pyramids. It was weird, it wasn’t terrible.