Reading orders / Discworld
Discworld reading order
Discworld has no required order. Pick a sub-series and read it straight through. Guards! Guards!, Mort, Wyrd Sisters, or Small Gods are all clean starting points. Do not start with The Colour of Magic.
Pick one. Each opens a self-contained thread you can follow for years.
- Guards! Guards!1989City Watch. The most popular entry point by a wide margin.
- Mort1987Death. Funniest first impression of the series.
- Wyrd Sisters1988Witches. Macbeth, sideways.
- Small Gods1992Standalone. The one people hand to literary readers.
- The Wee Free Men2003Tiffany Aching. Marketed as YA, is not really.
The strongest continuous arc in the whole Discworld.
- Guards! Guards!1989
- Men at Arms1993
- Feet of Clay1996
- Jingo1997
- The Fifth Elephant1999
- Night Watch2002
- Thud!2005
- Snuff2011
- Mort1987
- Reaper Man1991
- Soul Music1994
- Hogfather1996
- Thief of Time2001
- Equal Rites1987
- Wyrd Sisters1988
- Witches Abroad1991
- Lords and Ladies1992
- Maskerade1995
- Carpe Jugulum1998
- The Wee Free Men2003
- A Hat Full of Sky2004
- Wintersmith2006
- I Shall Wear Midnight2010
- The Shepherd's Crown2015
- Going Postal2004
- Making Money2007
- Raising Steam2013
All 41, in order of release. Completionist route.
- The Colour of Magic1983
- The Light Fantastic1986
- Equal Rites1987
- Mort1987
- Sourcery1988
- Wyrd Sisters1988
- Pyramids1989
- Guards! Guards!1989
- Eric1990
- Moving Pictures1990
- Reaper Man1991
- Witches Abroad1991
- Small Gods1992
- Lords and Ladies1992
- Men at Arms1993
- Soul Music1994
- Interesting Times1994
- Maskerade1995
- Feet of Clay1996
- Hogfather1996
- Jingo1997
- The Last Continent1998
- Carpe Jugulum1998
- The Fifth Elephant1999
- The Truth2000
- Thief of Time2001
- The Last Hero2001
- The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents2001
- Night Watch2002
- The Wee Free Men2003
- Monstrous Regiment2003
- A Hat Full of Sky2004
- Going Postal2004
- Thud!2005
- Wintersmith2006
- Making Money2007
- Unseen Academicals2009
- I Shall Wear Midnight2010
- Snuff2011
- Raising Steam2013
- The Shepherd's Crown2015
Why the order is argued about
Almost everyone who bounces off Discworld started with The Colour of Magic. It is the first book, it is a parody of 1970s fantasy nobody reads anymore, and it is nothing like the series it became. Pratchett found the voice around book eight.
Treat Discworld as six or seven loosely connected series sharing a world. Pick the thread whose premise appeals to you, read it in order, and jump threads whenever you want. Nothing is spoiled by skipping around at the thread level.
Settling in for all 41? A page marker you do not mind losing track of helps. We like these Magical Bookmark Co on Etsy, and the Terry Pratchett estate site is worth a look for release news.
Bookmarks for Discworld
What we use to hold our place in this series.
Grim Reaper Bookmark - Handcrafted Gothic…$8.99 on Etsy
Secret Library Bookmark - Book Lover Gift$8.99Questions readers ask
Do I have to read Discworld in order?
No. Only within a sub-series. Across threads the order barely matters.
Is The Colour of Magic a bad place to start?
It is the weakest entry point. Start with Guards! Guards! or Mort and come back to it later.
How many Discworld books are there?
Forty-one novels, from The Colour of Magic in 1983 to The Shepherd's Crown in 2015.