For me, 2026 has been a year of re-reading Discworld,1,2 reading Terry Pratchett: A Life with Footnotes,3 meeting fellow Discworld fans4 at a Pórtico5 meetup in Spain during Celsius 2326, and encouraging people I know to try reading Discworld for the first time!

All of these experiences have made me reflect on how I got into Discworld, particularly because my own experiences have me at odds7 with where my friends seem to start with their choice for first Discworld book to try (i.e., Mort, The Colour of Magic, Guards, Guards!,8 or Wyrd Sisters9, 10).

Discovering Discworld

I discovered Discworld at my local public library branch: I picked up a magazine about the forthcoming film Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, and in it, there was an interview with Daniel Radcliffe where Daniel said his favorite book was the Discworld series by Terry Pratchett. I remember thinking, Terry Pratchett? Who is this author? How have I never heard of this series before?

I hurried over to the library catalog computer, looked Terry Pratchett, and found myself wandering the adult fiction stacks trying to find some of books. I had to grab a kik-step and climb atop it to reach the shelf where F PRA awaited, and started pulling down the Discworld books. There weren’t many, but the US paperback cover of Thief of Time caught my eye11, 12 and the back cover blurb pulled me in.

I plowed through Thief of Time, annoying my classmates along the way as I kept insisting on showing them particularly entertaining passages of wordplay or hilarious Prattchett-ian footnotes. When I was done, I returned to the library and within a month or two had also devoured Small Gods, Pyramids, and The Last Hero. The snark and irreverence of Small Gods delighted me (a student who spent K-12 in Catholic school), and Pyramids was obviously a good fit for me because we’d just mummified chickens in history class13, 14 the previous year (and Pyramids was a fast-paced adventure set in Discworld’s version of Ancient Egypt). I read Mort on the back seat of my family’s Econoline van as we drove home from Pennsylvania one cold wintry day.

Over the next few months, I working my way through the ~10 Discworld books my library had on the shelf, and though I didn’t enjoy all of them,15 I found a section called “The World of Terry Pratchett” at the end of the paperbacks intriguing. I liked how it highlighted different Discworld characters and told me more about other Discworld books published so far. I loved Death as a character, so of course I placed holds at my library for more books about him. I also loved the Librarian, and desperately wanted to read the book explaining how he ended up stuck as an Orangutan (The Color of Magic), but my library didn’t have any copies, so I had to request that one from another branch, too. I awaited the release of Monstrous Regiment (and every subsequent Pratchett book) eagerly, placing pre-order holds at my library, while saving my money to build out my own personal Discworld collection.1617

At some point, I tried to go chronologically through the Discworld books, but due to lack of availability in bookstores and my local library, I don’t think I’ve ever read them all in publication order.

My Recommended Reading Order for Discworld

Choose chaos! Don’t read chronologically! Pick up one of the semi-stand-alone Discworld novels or read a random Discworld book to see if it’s right for you!

If you’ve never read a Discworld book before, I recommend you start with one of these books (presented to you here in reverse alphabetical order, with summaries written from bottom to top)18:

  • Thief of Time:19 The mysterious Auditors task a clever young clockmaker to build a perfectly precise clock that will measure time so precisely as to stop it and end the chaos humanity wreaks on the Auditors’ efforts to audit the universe… unless someone thwarts them! Featuring the Auditors,20 History Monks, Death’s granddaughter Susan, and the Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse!
  • Small Gods:21 The Great God Om is in dire straits: he has only one True Believer left, Brutha. Om, in the form of a tortoise, requires Brutha’s assistance (as his Chosen One) to restore his divine powers, stop the Inquisition from perverting Om’s holy words, and restore peace, justice, and brotherly love to the world.
  • Soul Music:22 Death decides he needs a break and leaves the job of scythe-wielding and soul-collecting to his granddaughter, Susan. Things get a bit complicated when she starts to fall in love with a boy who’s dedicated to his band that makes “Music with Rocks In”…
  • Pyramids: The teenage heir to the throne Djellibeybi is studying to be an assassin in Ankh-Morpork’s Assassin’s Guild when his father dies. The prince (named Teppic) must return home and navigate his new role as pharoah despite the best efforts of his ancient-yet-ageless Head Priest, Dios. Oh, and because Dios forced him (and to spite Dios), Teppic has decided to build the biggest, bestest pyramid of all to honor his deceased father… regardless of the consequences…
  • Monstrous Regiment:23 Polly Perks runs away from home (in a very gender-role focused society) to find out what happened to her missing brother at war. Polly disguises herself as a boy, goes to war, and joins a rather… unusual regiment of other secretive recruits (including a vampire addicted to coffee instead of blood) under the leadership of a crotchety, clever sergeant. (This book works really well because Pratchett clearly *gets* feminism in a way that Teenaged Me usually only encountered being talked about by female writers.)
  • The Last Hero: A gorgeously-illustrated,24 full-color, novella-length adventure following the elderly, hard-of-hearing Cohen the Barbarian as he goes off to meet the gods, while at the Unseen University, wizards devise a daring way to travel off the edge of the Discworld (which is flat) to investigate the gender of the turtle carrying four massive elephants and the Disc on its back. (Seriously, Paul Kidby’s illustrations are A M A Z I N G!)
  • Going Postal:25 A con man is given a second chance at life, and realizes that in his new role as Postmaster General, he can con Ankh-Morpork’s denizens out of their money by getting them to buy a newfangled invention: stamps! Also, the postal system has to figure out how to compete with a newer, faster-paced communication method: the Clacks!26
  • The Color of Magic:27 Featuring the color octarine, a bumbling wizard, a very enthusiastic tourist, a Luggage (with hundreds of feet and made of sapient pearwood), an orangutan librarian,28 and magic gone very wrong at the Unseen University!

Discworld Books I’ve Re-Read in 2026

A list of Discworld & Discworld-adjacent books29 I’ve recently re-read (in alphabetical order):

Extensive Footnotes33

  1. Not *all* of 41 of the Discworld books, of course (because sometimes my brain needs a dose of graphic novels or dark fantasy or weird science fiction instead)… but I did re-read a bunch of them! ↩︎
  2. 2026 has been an extremely trying year, particularly the second half of it. I’ve barely been able to write anything at all until recent days, and I’m so behind on my translation queue that it’s appalling. T-T (I am catching up now, though!) ↩︎
  3. This book is based on Terry’s notes toward his autobiography plus experiences, anecdotes, and insights from his long-time assistant, Rob Wilkins. It was phenomenal, made me feel like I knew Terry myself, and it also made me ugly cry because it’s not fair that Terry died so young. GNU Sir Terry Pratchett. ↩︎
  4. Spain has a lot of Discworld fans! When Sir Pterry died, Spanish Discworld fans created a Spanish-language tribute anthology of stories inspired by, but definitely not set in, Discworld. The anthology is called Para el Maestro: Homenaje a Terry Pratchett and was funded by a Kickstarter campaign. I’m currently shopping around a translation of 1 story from this anthology, and trying to finish 2 or 3 others, because they are delightful! ↩︎
  5. Pórtico is Spain’s association for fans, readers, and writers of science fiction, fantasy, horror, and speculative fiction in general. Pórtico publishes a themed Visiones anthology (in addition to other anthologies and RPG magazines!) each year, gives out the Ignotus Award (among others), and hosts its annual fan-run HispaCon in a different city in Spain each year! Think of it as the Spanish version of SFWA, except you don’t have to be a published creator to join – you just need to speak Spanish!
    (PS: The annual Visiones anthologies also feature a translation swap: award-winning Italian speculative fictions stories get translated into Spanish and included in the anthology, and they very much make me wish I was also an Italian-English translator)!     ↩︎
  6. Celsius 232 is an annual fan-run Spanish-language speculative fiction book convention held in Avilés, Spain (about half an hour west of Gijón) on Spain’s northern coast. Celsius 232 features panels with authors, directors, artists, and other creatives in addition to tons of indie publishers selling their books on the plaza and streets outside the venue. All of the cafes, bars, and restaurants around the venue are filled with con-goers, effectively serving as constant meetups for friends and fans during the entire con weekend. 2026 was my first year attending, and I absolutely loved it! (Bonus, I got to meet most of my Spain-based friends IRL for the first time, plus make some new ones!) ↩︎
  7. I’m also at very much at odds with the current paperback covers for the Discworld series, because I really loathe their aesthetic and miss the old US paperbacks covers (see the 1st 2 rows in this image!) or even the very unique, busy original UK covers (thankfully still available from UK retailers!). ↩︎
  8. There is a board game adaptation of Guards, Guards! (I haven’t played it): https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/92776/guards-guards-a-discworld-boardgame ↩︎
  9. I enjoy Wyrd Sisters now, but it wasn’t initially one of my favorites. As I read other books in the Witches subseries (Equal Rites, Lords and Ladies, Interesting Times, etc.), I came back around on liking Wyrd Sisters. (Getting older also helped… I can relate a lot more to Granny Weatherwax and Nanny Ogg in my 30s than I could when I was a teenager!). Also, there’s a delightful animated film-length adaptation of Wyrd Sisters available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HGKP2vVwcDg ↩︎
  10. There’s a related board game that features the Witches from Wyrd Sisters and the Tiffany Aching sub-series of Discworld books. The board game is called (unsurprisingly) The Witches (and I still have not played it… T-T) ↩︎
  11. See, isn’t the old US paperback cover superior to the current one? Look how much more attractive it is! How effective the simple graphic design! ↩︎
  12. I am EXTREMELY annoyed, by the way, that HarperCollins went through a phase of issuing odd-bodied US paperbacks of the Discworld books (by which I mean, instead of the standard mass market paperback (MMPB) size editions, they decided to issue Discworld paperbacks that were an inch or so taller than the MMPBs (but still the same width!). What a terrible design choice… and I still find it infuriating as I try to acquire US paperback editions to my Discworld collection, only to find out I’ve accidentally purchased the odd-body size of a book… >:E ↩︎
  13. Oh god, the smell… It was… memorable… and horrific… ↩︎
  14. HOW TO MUMMIFY A CHICKEN: 1) Buy a whole chicken in the grocery store. 2) Take out the bag of gizzards. 3) Pack the chicken’s central cavity full of salt. 4) Completely and utterly coat the chicken in salt. 5) Wrap the chicken in many, many yards of muslin or cheesecloth until it is so thoroughly swaddled it will never move again. 6) Let it sit on a shelf for at least a week. 7) Toss the mummified chicken into a trash can or dumpster far away out when the smell becomes unbearable. ↩︎
  15. I distinctly remember not really enjoying Guards, Guards!, Feet of Clay, The Fifth Elephant, or Jingo (although I did like learning more about the characters and Discworld itself). ↩︎
  16. I still don’t own every Discworld book, but I have acquired many of them. Recently, I stumbled across a bunch of UK first-edition paperbacks for 5 of them in my local thrift store!!! ↩︎
  17. It should come as no surprise to you that I volunteered at the library to earn my middle school community service hours (during which I stamped thousands of cards, put hundreds of CDs and DVDs into security cases, and shelved them meticulously) before swearing off ever working in libraries again. Of course, when I graduated from college, it turned out this very public library system paid quite well, had generous leave policies (you started with 3 weeks of leave a year, plus all federal holidays, plus 2 floating holidays, PLUS an extra day you could take off in the 2 weeks surrounding your birthday!), AND was the only salaried non-retail employer willing to hire me (and I was desperately applying to be a waitress, but not even Pizza Hut would hire me!). How ironic… Ain’t that just the way! ↩︎
  18. Because why not? ↩︎
  19. The graphic novel adaptation of Thief of Time will be released in September 2027!!! ↩︎
  20. Obviously. ↩︎
  21. The graphic novel adaptation of Small Gods is a fun read and available on Amazon here. (sorry, it’s not available via Bookshop.org T-T) ↩︎
  22. If you enjoy Soul Music, check out the delightful animated film adaptation of it! The whole thing’s available on youtube, here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rRhzClMa7qs&list=PLKUYzVK1GpPR8VQj7lyzx6_e2QLlLGROX ↩︎
  23. Graphic novel adaptation of The Monstrous Regiment coming soon!!! ↩︎
  24. And when I say gorgeously-illustrated, I mean jaw-dropping (in a happy way). Paul Kidby is a master, and captures Discworld, its people, its settings, and its gods in full-color amazingness. ↩︎
  25. If you enjoy Going Postal, check out the live-action film adaptation of it – it’s great, and really well done! ↩︎
  26. There’s actually a board game about this competition, called Clacks: A Discworld Board Game. I still haven’t played it before, but hope to… some day…
    Other Discworld board games include Discworld: Ankh-Morpork (truly delightful to play, I love it! It’s hard to find right now, but I believe a re-issue is coming soon…), Guards, Guards! (haven’t played), and The Witches (also haven’t played).     ↩︎
  27. If you enjoy The Color of Magic, check out the live-action film adaptation of it (which combines The Color of Magic and The Light Fantastic *AND* features Sean Astin as an overly eager and gullible Discworld tourist!) ↩︎
  28. OOK! ↩︎
  29. Without summaries, because I must walk my dog and get on with my chores for the day! ↩︎
  30. I picked up a copy of this from Akademska Kniga. This bookstore is excellent, stocks English-language books, and its speculative fiction section is impressive, featuring some unique out-of-print book editions! ↩︎
  31. There is a live-action television “adaptation” of Night Watch, and I tried to watch it, but it’s so horribly NOT Pratchettian that I couldn’t bear it (and will not link to it here). I gave the first episode a try, cringed a ton, and gave the second episode a try only to DNF it within the first few minutes. In my humble opinion (and the general consensus of the rest of the Internet): Don’t waste your time on it. (It’s so bad that it’s not even included in the “Adaptation” section of the Wikipedia page about the book… :E ) ↩︎
  32. This is a hilarious children’s book tie-in to the Discworld novel THUD! I think I know it by heart at this point. ↩︎
  33. Because no one can truly pay homage to Sir Pterry without them. GNU. ↩︎

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Published by molo writes

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