A question about the Discworld series

[Tartarga]

I'm not sure if this should be in the Advice section or not so I apologize in advance and i'm also sorry that I had to ask my fellow Escapists about this but after some Googleing I couldn't find an answer.

My question is Does it matter what order I read the series in? I got Night Watch by Terry Pratchet for Christmas and its the 29th book in the series. So should I go ahead and read it or buy the first 28 books ahead of it?

 

[baddude1337]

My ex used to read them, and from what I can figure out, some of the books follow characters from other books, so there are several sequels and the like. I think the first few follow a wizard, for example. Just research them a bit before you buy them so you read them in order.

 

[HowardHoward]

I've read pretty much all of the books in the series and each one pretty much stands alone however if you have night watch i'd recommend reading the other books about the watch before that one, they are, guards guards, men at arms, feetof clay, jingo, and the fifth elephant... that way you dont have to but another 28 books.

enjoy the series

 

[Tartarga]

I've read pretty much all of the books in the series and each one pretty much stands alone however if you have night watch i'd recommend reading the other books about the watch before that one, they are, guards guards, men at arms, feetof clay, jingo, and the fifth elephant... that way you dont have to but another 28 books.

enjoy the series

Alright, thank you for your help. That saves me a lot of reading.

 

[DuplicateValue]

Well I'd read a bit of it before you buy the others in The Watch series, just to make sure you like the writing style and stuff.

 

[Shoggoth2588]

There is a sort of order to them...hold on a sec, let me find the graph. Personally, I got The Light Fantastic and, Guards! Guards! I know TLF is the second book in the Rincewind plot line. G!G! Is the first story about The Watch. OH right, the graph...

Spoiler: EDIT: This is a big image

It seems Night Watch is pretty far along in the Watch plot arc but really you can read them in just about any order. I have most of the Death books and those were just as coherent from Mort to Hogfather (last one I have) as they were all mixed up. You should be fine but the thing is...I don't know enough about the Watch plot arc to be 100% sure. If anything is mentioned in Night Watch that references an older book though it would be just that: a reference.

Long answer short: there is no hard order. Not really. It's part of the magic of The Disc.

Also: I know you didn't mention owning these but Making Money and, Unseen Academicals isn't on this list. MM is after Going Postal and UA is part of a new arc staring the Wizards of Unsees University.

 

[Vie]

You can read them in any order, though the Guards and Witches books make more sense if you know what happened in the previous book. I heartily recommend the Moist Von Lipwig books - Going Postal and Making money. The Guards series are fantastic, the Witches are also fantastic. The Truth is great. Oh and Monstrous Regiment - Masterpiece.

Also look out a copy of Strata - not in the Discworld series, but if you get the unspoken punchline its perfect.

Also Dark Side of the sun, though that you have to be in the right mindset for.

OH! and the Gnome books - Truckers, Diggers and Wings. you MUST read those.

 

[Zhukov]

You don't have to but it helps.

Also, bear in mind that the very first two Discworld books aren't as good as the rest. SO if you read them first, don't be put off. (Someone gave me the exact same advice and I'm very glad I that listened to them.)

 

[Fridge]

I'm not sure if this should be in the Advice section or not so I apologize in advance and i'm also sorry that I had to ask my fellow Escapists about this but after some Googleing I couldn't find an answer.

My question is Does it matter what order I read the series in? I got Night Watch by Terry Pratchet for Christmas and its the 29th book in the series. So should I go ahead and read it or buy the first 28 books ahead of it?

You can read them out of sync and still make sense of it all but you'll gain a greater appreciation and understand of the world (and some of the running gags) if you read the others before it.
Most of them are set in certain storylines regarding a certain character or group.
I'll put below the series as I've termed them and in what order it makes sense to read that series;

Rincewind Series - The Color Of Magic, The Light Fantastic, Sorcery, Eric, Interesting Times, The Last Continent, The Last Hero.

The Witches - Equal Rites, Wyrd Sisters, Witches Abroad, Lords and Ladies, Masquerade, Carpe Jugulum,

The Death Saga - Mort, Reaper Man, Soul Music, The Hogfather, Thief Of Time,

City Watch Series - Guards! Guards!, Men At Arms, Feet Of Clay, Jingo, The Fifth Elephant, Night Watch, Thud!

The Moist Von Lipwig Series - Going Postal, Making Money

Tiffany Aching Series (this makes more sense after reading the Witches series) - The Wee Free Men, Hat Full of Sky, Wintersmith, I Shall Wear Midnight

Individual Books (these will expand on some reoccurring characters and themes in later books) - Pyramids, Moving Pictures, Small Gods, The Truth, The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents, Monstrous Regiment, Unseen Academicals.

That is all of the discworld series to date, not including daft things like the calanders, cookbooks, Maps and varying other things that have also been created to go with it.

I hope all this helps, I'd hate to have typed all this for nothing.

P.s As some others have mentioned the first two books aren't great, they get much better after that. Mind you I feel pretty any book with Rincewind in is a bit weak.