this post was submitted on 27 Sep 2025
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The titles are:
"Reaper Man", "Small Gods", "Wyrd Sisters", "Moving Pictures"

Went to an adorable book shop and found these guys. I haven't read Pratchett yet but I feel it'll be right up my alley

I'm pretty sure I see "Small Gods" and "Wyrd Sisters" recommended a lot and I know you can't really go wrong, but of these which would you recommend the most? Since this is what I have I'll read them all eventually

Regardless I'm excited to have gotten physical copies because my library has long wait lists for his books

Edit: Thanks for all of the discussion! This post brought me a lot of positive on an otherwise rough day. I've decided to start with "Small Gods"

I just want to say again thank you to everyone who responded to me or to someone else. It's been a joy hearing what each person has to contribute to the conversation

Even if they fall flat (which I highly doubt) all of your enthusiasm came through and that really in itself means so much. It was truly touching

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[–] Voroxpete@sh.itjust.works 49 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (9 children)

Personally I'd start with Reaper Man, but they're all really good.

If you don't already know, Pratchett liked to build multiple ongoing series within the broader Discworld universe. Basically if Discworld is the MCU then within it you get your Captain America movies and your Iron Man movies and so on.

In the case of Discworld, the big ones to know about are:

  • Rincewind - Incompetent, cowardly wizard stumbles through inadvertent adventures.
  • Death - The Sandman style cosmic weirdness.
  • The City Watch - Fantasy crime procedurals.
  • The Witches - Witches dealing with darkly irreverent takes on classic horror tropes.
  • Moist Von Lipwig - A conman gets strong armed into running civic institutions.

What you have acquired is the second book of the Death series (Reaper Man), the second book of the Witches (Wyrd Sisters), and two largely standalone books (Small Gods and Moving Pictures). The first two can both be read without reading the preceding novels in their respective series, but it might not hurt to try to track those down first. You'd be looking for Mort and Equal Rites respectively.

In general Discworld stands up fairly well to reading out of order, and you certainly should not try to read the whole thing chronologically (the first two books, especially, are pretty bad). The best approach is to pick a single sub series and read that in order. If you start with those four, based which you like best I'd continue with that series or a related one. Reaper Man or Wyrd Sisters, continue with that series. Moving Pictures, you'll probably want more stuff set in Ank Morpork like the city watch and the Moist Von Lipwig / "Industrial revolution" series. Small Gods is mostly its own thing, but you'll get more of that vibe with Rincewind.

[–] TheRealKuni@piefed.social 28 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Honestly? Once you acquire a taste for it, I recommend reading Discworld in publication order. You’ll catch more of the cross-references, more inside jokes, and the books consistently get better and better (until The Embuggerence, which did diminish quality a bit).

But it is quite the undertaking, and not for everyone.

[–] Almacca@aussie.zone 11 points 1 month ago

I started reading them when Mort was the newest one. I quickly acquired the first three, and bought each new one as soon as it came out. He was putting out two books a year for a while there, and it was always a thrill to see a new one on the shelf. I too recommend reading them in publication order.

Wyrd Sisters is one of my all time favourites, and my well worn copy is the one I chose to get signed by the man himself when he came to Brisbane many years ago.

The Discworld has been part of my life for so long that I sometimes forget there are people in the world that have never read any of them. OP is in for a treat.

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