Mort discussion

Hi fellows, I am big fan of harry potter recently heard of discworld series which is supposed to be somewhat of similar type, but its a really big series, can anyone suggest if its worth starting

its very different in style compared to harry potter, but its a great fantasy. most of the books stand on their own, or are contained in small series of no more than 5, so it shouldn't discourage you.
Actually the very first book of the series would be a good starting point for you, since its the beginning of the wizards series with Rincewind.

You might also like The Dresden Files or Artemis Fowl, which are also fantasy series settled in our modern world like Harry Potter is.
Especially Artemis Fowl is often considered as a similar type to Harry Potter, but it definitely has a very different plot. There are some similarities in the magic worlds though.

I didn't read Harry Potter, but I can recommend Discworld. You can choose as a first book some book in the middle also. It's true that books are logically connected, but few of them are about almost independent on the rest of serie. Prachet is always giving explanation to really and strange and unknown things, which have their origin in previous book or were mentioned earlier.

Kindly reccomend a book among them to start the series,

I would recommend that you don't start with The Colour of Magic - in my opinion his worst book. Equal Rites (the Witches series), Mort (Death series) or Guards! Guards! (Watch series) are the best places to start. But Terry Pratchett is my favourite author.

This series is so funny and amazing. And don't let the amount of books in the series overwhelm you, most of the books are less than 200 pages. I started with Colour of Magic, but any of the suggestions here are good.

I started with moving pictures, but Cally's suggestions sound good. The color of magic is the first book of the wizard series though, and I liked it too. Given my nick, I wonder why I didn't recommend Guards Guards? Well, no wizards in it, so no connection to HP.

Thanks fellows I guess i'll be trying the witches series next, If you can tell about any other similar series or books , kindly suggest
thanks

The first two books of the Discworld series are the weakest, in my opinion, and Pratchett doesn't really hit his stride until book four, "Mort." "Equal Rites," the third book, is interesting, but it has a lot of characters who aren't fully formed and become very different in later books.

I would recommend starting with "Wyrd Sisters" or "Guards! Guards!"

I started with Discworld when I was about 13. The first book I read was Mort and I was hooked ever since. I would Start wih Mort, then Guards Guards. Maybe follow with Pyramids which is fun and a stand alone book. This will get you into the stride of pratchetts writing. Afetr this initial introduction, I would then go to the very first in the series and read them in order. There is no real plot line that connects all of the books, but the evolution of the discworld does occur and I think it would be more enjoyable to read them in the order they were written.

You might try starting with one of Pratchett's YA/Children's discworld offerings like "The Amazing Maurice" or "Wee Free Men" - they might be a bit easier to get into.

I love this series. The first one I read was 'going Postal'. It was diffucult at first but once I decided to set aside my thoughts of what is true in the world, I enjoyed it. The most important step to begin any book in this series is to decide to just go with it. don't try to figure it out. I have a friend that is an English Teacher and she is always trying to figure out the entire story in the first chapter.. YOu can't do that here. Just read any one of them for fun.

My favorite Discworld books are "Going Postal", and "Unseen Academics". But you will find them all delightful. My two favorite characters are Weatherwax and Carrot. I am currently reading "Snuff".

I started with "Going Postal," followed by "Making Money." I eventually read almost all of the Discworld books, and the Rincewind character is the one I liked the least. Some of the books are much better than others, but everybody has preferences, so just jump in anywhere.

It was clear to me that Pratchett got better as he wrote more stories, so the books written in the 1990's and 2000's are better (IMO) than those written earlier in his career.

Thanks for the advice, although i started with one of its initial installments but couldn't really get myself to like it, had to leave somewhere in middle , may i'll try reading it from one of its 90's installments

Vaibhav wrote: "Kindly reccomend a book among them to start the series,"

Start with Colour of Magic and than read The Light Fantastic. The Light Fantastic picks up where Magic ends. These give you an overview of the world and introduces you to many reoccuring characters. Equal Rites introduces you to the witches and Guards, Guards introduces you to Commader Vimes and the nightwatch. They're all great reads.

I was given the book Mort first and liked it instantly.
Maybe you can let us know which of his book you've chosen in the end and what you thought of it :)

I don't think of the Discworld series in a linear order. There are some books more closely connected as a group, of course. They don't appeal to everyone (I've been trying to get my friend to read them for the past 20 years and she just can't get into the series!). I, of course, cannot comprehend why she doesn't 'get it'. I adore the City Watch group of books (Guards! Guards!) and totally love the witches (Witches Abroad). Just pick any of them up and give it a go!

Agree. Start with the Colour of Magic, and then the Lights Fantastic. Both books are excellent. My favourite after that is Small Gods - hilarious. Sometimes you need to read his books a few times to catch all the jokes buried within the writing :)

katy wrote: "I don't think of the Discworld series in a linear order. There are some books more closely connected as a group, of course. They don't appeal to everyone (I've been trying to get my friend to read ..."

That is me also. All the city watch books are my absolute favorite with Going Postal and Making Money second. Guards Guards is the first city watch book, although I have to say that Nightwatch is my absolute favorite Discworld book of all. However, it is a little ..."different" than the usual discworld book.

There are some things that happen before other things in the Discworld series, as well as characters who are introduced in one book and developed in others. If that doesn't bother you, start where you want. The whole great thing is screamingly funny. Recently I started re-reading from the beginning and enjoy it even more. Be warned. If you are one of the strange folk who do not care for puns, avoid the Discworld like the plague because it is riddled with them. I, of course, love them, and Pratchett:)

BTW, except for the fact that they both take place in a world where magic works, I don't think Discworld is very much like Harry Potter. The Discworld characters are almost all adults, many of them older adults. The whole point is a satire on our world, particularly UK and English society.

Also, rather than one long series, Discworld is more a number of series that take place in the same world and time with characters that sometimes cross over. There are books about the wizards, books about the City Watch, those about DEATH and his daughter and granddaughter (it's a complex story), and a whole group of books about a group of witches who live in a separate area. Pratchett's website - http://www.terrypratchett.co.uk may help you sort it out.

There is also a website http://www.lspace.org/books/reading-o... which has an awesome reading order for his books with several different starting points.
Personally I recommend that you start with Guards! Guards! or Going Postal. I also highly recommend the audio book versions on audible.com, though for some reason audible doesn't have Guards! Guards! right now...
Going Postal-
http://www.audible.com/pd/ref=sr_1_1?...

Thank you, Steven! That is beautiful and I had not seen it before.

thanks guys, i tried to start with colour of magic but was unable to build intrest in it. Maybe i'll try with a diffrent starting point

I will be honest, I have never been able to read The Color of Magic all the way through, in fact all the Rincewind books just do not hold my attention like the Guard books. Not really sure why. In fact I have the BBC movies and I love Going Postal and Hogfather, but don't like the color of Magic even as a movie with Sean Austin as Twoflower. **shruggs**

Vaibhav wrote: "thanks guys, i tried to start with colour of magic but was unable to build intrest in it. Maybe i'll try with a diffrent starting point"

Pratchett really didn't find his real discworld "voice" for quite some time. A lot of people seem to think Mort is the best place to start. It's still got the feel of one of his early books, but is easier to get into and has some genuinely funny moments. Personally, if you know Macbeth, I'd start with Wyrd Sisters it satirises Shakespeare but feels like it's laughing with it rather than at it. If not, I'd start at Guards! Guards!.

I'd find a "sub-series" or two that you like and read through them in order (Tiffany Aching, Death and his family, The City Guard or The Witches are the obvious ones, since Rincewind is an aquired taste) first then if you get comfortable with Pratchett go back to the beginning and start from scratch, they all have merit.

If you loved Harry Potter and you are looking for something similar in flavour - I would suggest you start reading Diana Wynne Jones books

In particular the Chrestomanci series starting with The Lives of Christopher Chant These books came way before Harry Potter was even a twinkle in J.K. Rowling's eye and they are in my opinion wonderful introductions to Wynne-Jones' many many amazing books. She was by the way a mentor of Neil Gaiman and also wrote the book Howl's Moving Castle which the film of the same name was based upon.

I love Terry Pratchett with a passion but if you are looking for a Harry Potter substitute I think you may be disappointed - he is completely different. That said I would reccommend you read his Truckers about a race of tiny people living unobserved amongst the Big People. There are three in this series and they are wonderful fantasy creations.

Also Only You Can Save Mankind is another fantastic read. I think Pratchett's childrens books are better if anything than his 'grown-up' offerings.

READ IT! It's not really super similar to HP, but I discovered it afterwards and I personally prefer it (Shock!Horror!) to HP. Definitely try Colour of Magic and the Light Fantastic. If you don't like it (I will hunt you down) then those two don't necessarily lead onto any others.

Ken E wrote: "Agree. Start with the Colour of Magic, and then the Lights Fantastic. Both books are excellent. My favourite after that is Small Gods - hilarious. Sometimes you need to read his books a few times t..."

Agreed, those are the best three books he has written in some time.

Thanks for the reply. I gues i will be starting colour of magic some time soon

IMO, The Colour of Magic is an awful book (compared to the rest of the Discworld series, that is), and The Light Fantastic isn't much better. I read these two books only after I was already a hardcore Pratchett fan, and even then, I could barely get through them. They are a really bad place to start reading the Discworld series.

As others have suggested, Mort, Wyrd Sisters or Guards! Guards! make for a better first book. I'd personally recommend Guards! Guards!, as it was my own first Discworld book, and the first book of my favourite sub-series, the City Watch sub-series.

Some of the standalone books make for good introductions too. Pyramids and Moving Pictures are both fairly good books (though far from the best), and the latter, especially, is a nice introduction to Ankh-Morpork as well (the most important city on Discworld ... at least according to the people who live there).

The YA books, like the Tiffany Aching sub-series, are also very good. The Wee Free Men would make a very good introduction as well.

The Truth is a good one. It's a standalone, so you won't miss anything if you put it down, and it's typical of Pratchett's style.

Steven wrote: "There is also a website http://www.lspace.org/books/reading-o... which has an awesome reading order for his books with several different starting po..."

Victoria wrote: "BTW, except for the fact that they both take place in a world where magic works, I don't think Discworld is very much like Harry Potter. The Discworld characters are almost all adults, many of them..."

This is a fantastic chart Steven, thanks.

With an author like Sir Terry it's hard to recommend a starting point. I love all of the Ankh-Morpork books but my friend Jack likes the Witches books better. But we both Love the Nac Mac Feegle (the Wee Free Men). I even made a one-shot RPG adventure featuring them a few years ago.

Well, everyone seems to have a different opinion here. I've only read the first 4 so far, but I haven't noticed that much difference so far from the first two that everyone seems to think is there. I've liked them all so far, but I don't think as highly of Mort as most people do.

I did notice that there are several jokes and references in Equal Rites and Mort that you would miss if you don't start from the beginning in publishing order.

The difference becomes highly obvious the more books you read. Equal Rites is a sort of transitional book, and while Mort is good, it's far from the best. The fifth book, Sourcery, is almost as bad as the first two. So if you insist on reading in the publishing order, you're unlikely to fall in love with Discworld.

Pratchett, like many great writers, improved his skill and his vision the more he immersed himself into the world he had created. He created more complex characters like Vimes and Vetinari, honed the ones he had already created, like Granny Weatherwax (who is very different in the rest of the Witches books than she is in Equal Rites), and introduced a vast number of new characters, locations, situations, etc. The city of Ankh-Morpork, for example, is a work in progress, both within the books and in Pratchett's mind. The Ankh-Morpork seen in more recent books like Going Postal or Thud! is very different from that seen in The Colour of Magic, or even Guards! Guards! In fact, this is underlined in Night Watch (one of the best books in the series), when Vimes goes back in time 30 years, and realizes how much the city has changed in his lifetime - to a large extent, due to his own efforts.

Mort was the one that introduced me to the series. An inspired 16th birthday present - many many moons ago. All the rest I've bought as they've come out in paperback.

I'd say that you could read any of the first 10 or so as a first book (up to Reaper Man). Start with one after that and I feel you'd miss too many of the jokes and references to previous books featuring the characters.

It doesn't, to me, seem at all similar to the Potter series. This is very much holding a mirror up to life - only its one of those distorting mirrors you find at the fair! Then he takes great delight in pointing out all the quirks and foibles that people have and stretching just that bit further. That the characters aren't all human in shape doesn't make them any less convincingly real.

I'd agree that it took a good few books to really get into his stride; while Mort was my first, I think Reaper Man might be my favourite - although Night Watch is the one that makes you run the whole gamut of emotion - it's the only one of the canon that's reduced me to tears. Every so often I read them all in sequence and it's amazing how often you spot something that you missed before.

The first Terry Pratchett book I ever read was Good Omens, which is not a Discworld book but it was enough to get me interested in the author. So I went searching. I found Wyrd Sisters, and then proceeded to read anything and everything pertaining to Discworld that I could find. I think that once you meet Granny Weatherwax and Nanny Ogg it will be all over for you and you will be totally in love :-)

Mitali wrote: "So if you insist on reading in the publishing order, you're unlikely to fall in love with Discworld."

I just don't agree with this assessment at all. I haven't read enough to know if the books later on are that much different or not, but I do know that the first two are really enjoyable. I fell in love with Discworld about 2 chapters into The Color of Magic. I remember quoting a passage out loud to a friend and I had him rolling with laughter, and he didn't know a thing about Discworld. The humor is witty right off the bat, and the characters (specifically Rincewind and Luggage) are endearing. I think Rincewind's observations are some of the funniest parts.

I would even go so far as to say that 5 books in now, The series has actually slowly declined up to where I'm at now (granted, not that far in and I'm expecting that this trend does not continue).

Will wrote: I just don't agree with this assessment at all. "

I agree with everything you've said.

And don't worry, it picks up again with Guards! Guards!

A friend of mine introduced me to the series with "Mort". It was the book that got me hooked. I also got a huge kick out of "Soul Music".

I won't rehash what has already been said by the other posters but I will say that it's a good enough series to give it a shot. You won't know if you like it until you pick one up and try it.

Will wrote: "Mitali wrote: "So if you insist on reading in the publishing order, you're unlikely to fall in love with Discworld."

I just don't agree with this assessment at all. I haven't read enough to know i..."

Oh well, it's subjective, I suppose. All I can say is that, having read all but 4 books in this series, IMO the first two are by far the least enjoyable, and that if I had started the series with those two, I might not have bothered to read the rest. I also have a friend who did start with The Colour of Magic, and gave up on it (and on the Discworld series) halfway through, though I know she would love several of the later books if only she would give them a try.

I'm extremely glad that I started with Guards! Guards!, as it was purely coincidental that I picked up that one - I had no idea about Discworld at all when I read it.

I started the series with Color of Magic and have been hooked since. And given that this book pretty much made Terry Pratchet's career, it's safe to say I'm not the only one. So, for anyone starting the series, I say, pick up the first. If you don't like it, try one of the other 30 or so.

But to be fair, except for the first two books, Rincewind isn't really in the series a lot. He's been relegated to 3rd tier status. And when he does show up, I tend to mentally groan "ugh, not this guy again."

"Oh well, it's subjective, I suppose."

Definitely. I can't wait to keep reading the series, though!

Harry Potter is small fry compared to Discworld. but whoever told you it was similar was lying to you. Pratchett can write in a way that Rowling can only dream about, even now, when he's suffering from Alzeimers.

Pratchett is the most shoplifted author in Britain, a fact of which he's immensely proud.

Ayesha wrote: "But to be fair, except for the first two books, Rincewind isn't really in the series a lot. He's been relegated to 3rd tier status. And when he does show up, I tend to mentally groan "ugh, not this guy again." "

Me too. Rincewind is one - perhaps the only - Discworld character I can't stand. That said, he's not too obnoxious when surrounded by funny supporting characters, such as the rest of the wizards from Unseen University or the Silver Horde.

Try having rincewind talk like Eric Idle, it will make it all better :D

I adore Rincewind. His observations are hilarious.

Contrary to other posters here - Start with the Colour of Magic! It's hilarious, a great adventure with highly enduring characters.
It's not like Harry Potter at all, though. It doesn't have anything to do with the 'real' world. You want a wizard in training, try Earthsea by Ursula le Guin. Or for somethign heavier, Magician by Raymond Feist.

I think the Discworld series is awesome. In scope it just isn't in the same league as Potter, being mcuh more worldly (despite being a totally fantasy setting), much deeper, much wiser.

But then I did find Mort to be not that funny and one of the weaker Discworld novels (but I think it is totally not the best Death story, so what do I know?), even though I have read every single book writen by Sir Terry, bar one? ;-)

Colour of Magic... I agree with Richard. It's the beginning... a very good place to start!