I've heard great things about the series so I picked two of the books up at my local library sale (Unseen Academicals and Raising Steam). They were so cheap that I didn't do any research and now I see that they are very late in the series. I've heard that you can read the series out of order but I want to know if I'm missing too much by starting with these two. The series is so daunting and I just want to break into it somehow.
Posted Apr 7, 2018, 2:42 PM UTC
All of Sir Terry's books are written to be self-contained. You will understand the plot of both books without previous knowledge. However, both books are near the end of their respective sub-series. A whole bunch of characters have been introduced and knowing their development up to this point makes it more enjoyable. And often times events from previous books are referenced, especially in Raising Steam. You can perfectly follow the plot without understanding those references, but it is much more fun to know what is being talked about.
You absolutely can start with those two books, but you will get a skewed idea of what discworld books are as they differ somewhat in their style to earlier books.
I would suggest you look at this semi-official Discworld reading order guide and start with one of the sub-series - most suggest the Watch subseries, starting with Guards! Guards!
Or you don't start with Discworld books but with one of the actually self-contained ones, like Nation, which by the way is among my absolute favorites of his books.
As others have said, you can start anywhere you want to. However, when you're done with these I would start over closer to the beginning of the series if you can.
these are some great books that are good starting places for people new to the series.
Unseen Academicals is later on in the Wizards series, it's a sillier storyline with a lot of absurdist humor in it.
Raising Steam is part of a different story line following a character named Moist, it's the second to last book in the series - but even then it's not going to be that spoilery. If you like the character of Moist I would maybe try Going Postal next, it's one of the best books with that recurring character.
Most Discworld books stand alone but Raising Steam kind of doesn’t. It’s one of the last ones. Written by a man whose brain is slowly crumbling around him. It’s an author taking one last farewell tour around a well-loved world.
Put it away. Come back to it when you’ve read at least, oh, fifteen other Discworld books. Come back when you’re ready to be sad that there will never be any more. And once you’ve accepted that, read “The Shepherd’s Crown”.
I don't know about reading 15 books first, but I would certainly not read Raising Steam until after Going Postal and Making Money.
Yeah, man, I'm with you. The Moist books pretty much have to be read in order.
They can be read out of order, but the earliest and latest Discworld books are widely considered to not be as good as the middle chunk of the series. So, it's less that you'll be confused, and more that you wouldn't fully appreciate them for having seen the characters grow in previous books, and other Discworld books are just better books.
You can read both of those without any prior Discworld knowledge, but you will enjoy those two stories more if you did read the previous sub-series books.
Raising Steam is the 3rd book in the Moist von Lipwig sub-series. Going Postal is the first of the sub-series.
Unseen Academicals comes at the end of a lot of development amongst the wizards.
I believe the first book was “The Colour of Magik” if I am not mistaken.
Thank you everybody for the responses, they've been really helpful!
Raising Steam is dogshit. Burn it
To clarify a bit. Sir Terry was suffering from Alzheimers, and although he still managed to put together books after his diagnosis, some of the quality slipped a bit in the tail end of the series. I still enjoy them, but the best books are from books 8 - 37ish (Raising Steam is #40). I would start with Unseen Academicals, it's a happier sillier book that's more akin to the rest of the series than Raising Steam. However, many people still really like his later books, myself included, even though I see a bit of drop off
There are multiple parts of Raising Steam that simply don’t make any sense
Seriously, just start with any of the books. I don't personally feel like Discworld is a series that can be easily "spoiled", and there are very few books that need to be read in a specific order. In my experience, it's best to just throw yourself in headfirst and get a feel for the world, then do a bit of research afterwards to see which books you might want to read next, rather than worry too much about chronology right off the bat.
Thank you for posting, I'm glad to hear this. I've heard good things about Guards! Guards! So I want to check that out eventually.
I would argue that there ARE lines of continuity that run throughout many of the books, and so you might enjoy them most if you read them in order by subject (i.e. Ankh-Morpork City Watch, Witches of Lancre, Tiffany Aching, Wizards/Rincewind, Death). That said, much of the continuity is in the form of "fanservice-ish" references, so not necessary to understand the story or even the humor, but adds layers of complexity that you may appreciate if you've read what comes before.
Guards! Guards! is the earliest 'fully formed' example of what the Discworld is, in my view. It's the first book where I think Sir Terry really nailed down every single aspect of what he wanted the story, and the world as a whole, to be.
It's fantasy, it's comedy, it's a thriller, it's an old-fashioned cop story. It uses the fantasy and cop movie tropes equally well.
Don't get me wrong, the books before it are still good. But to me they all feel like they're set in a world in construction.
I'd say there are a couple that lose a lot if you haven't read the others. Night Watch is the first that comes to mind.