Top 5 Discworld Novels

Getting into the Discworld series by Terry Pratchett can be a daunting task for new fans.  I’ve assembled this handy list of my favorite novels of the series.  Here, in no particular order, are my top 5 Discworld novels:

 

 

Guards! Guards! is a classic of Discworld.  Essentially it’s responsible for starting one of the biggest and most popular books series in the setting, the City Watch books.  The novel follows Captain Samuel Vimes, a burned out, drunken, misanthropic member of the Ankh-Morpork Night Watch.  At this point, the Night Watch is little more than a joke and is essentially on its way out.  But the arrival of Carrot, an enthusiastic new member, and a deadly dragon may change that.  This is a great book to get started with as it’s an early novel in the series, and is the beginning of one of the major storylines.

Going Postal is one of the newer novels and features the newest lead character of Moist von Lipwig.  Moist is a conman sentenced to death for his various crimes.  Rather than waste good talent, Lord Vetinari decides to put Moist in charge of the failing Ankh-Morpork post office and try to get it back in shape.  Trust it’s much better than it sounds.  Moist is a fantastic new character with a lot of depth and hilariously witty.  He’s charming, funny, and quite the loveable rogue.  It’s a later novel so you may need some background, but it works as a standalone novel as well.

Reaper Man is one of the books in the series that really makes you think.  Essentially Death is fired for being perceived as too attached to mortal concerns.  What follows is a really hard look at life and death.  It’s funny to be sure, but it also has some really heart-warming moments as Death struggles to find meaning without his duty.  It also has one of the greatest moments in the series that makes you love Death’s character if you didn’t already.  It’s thought-provoking, funny, and a great novel.

Next up we have Monstrous Regiment.  This is one of those wonderful standalone novels that crop up in Discworld from time to time.  Monstrous Regiment tells the story of Polly Perk, a young woman who fakes being a man to join the army of the small but belligerent nation of Borogravia.  This is a great novel that combines the satirical comedy the series is known for, with some really dark subjects.  For example you have cannibalism being discussed light heartedly next to inferences of abuse, and scenes of horrific war.  It’s funny, dark, and thought provoking.  Monstrous Regiment is clearly one of the novels Pratchett wrote with some message in mind.  This trend has continued with more recent novels, but not necessarily in a bad way.

Finally with all that talk of war and dark themes, it’s time to move onto something a little more light-hearted: Death.  Well, Death’s granddaughter, Susan.  It’s a long story.  Our last but not least book is Soul Music.  Here we’re introduced to another very important character in the Discworld universe, Susan Sto Hielt Death’s mostly human granddaughter.  The novel follows her trying to be Death’s replacement after he decides to take a holiday and reflect on life.  But that’s only half the story.  The other half follows a young musician Imp y Celyn, as he discovers the Music with Rocks In, essentially Rock and Roll.  What follows is an epic number of puns and shout outs to rock from its early days up until the nineties with more band references than you can shake a stick at.  It’s a great novel, especially for music lovers, and introduces an important new character.  It’s also got some great characterization of Death and addresses some very interesting aspects of our skeletal friend.

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