The Terry Pratchett Read Order

The ASCII chart was created to solve the frequently asked question "which Discworld book should I read first?"

The books can in general, be read in any order you like, but to get the most out of them and understand the running jokes you really need to read them in some sort of order.

However, reading the books in the order they were written is not the best way to do it either. The first few books, it is generally agreed, are not as good as the later ones and you may be put off the Discworld series by reading them first. Reading the books in order would mean that it would take you longer to get to the better books and/or the books you want to read (ie. "like the sound of").

The Discworld books are written by Terry Pratchett and are copyright. Cover blurbs and other information can be found in the LSpace resources.

There is also a German version of the reading order pages, which can be found at: http://www.lspace.de/dafp/reihenfolge.html

Explanations and Keys:

Books with an asterisk (*) and in pink boxes are "starter" books

The flow of books should be taken as top to bottom and left to right

Broken lines linking books mean that it is advised to read the first one shown first

Solid lines mean that it may be better to read the books in the order given, but it is not necessary

In alt.fan.pratchett and alt.books.pratchett the books are commonly referred to by abbreviations as follows:

CJ........ Carpe Jugulum                  P......... Pyramids
ER........ Equal Rites                    RM........ Reaper Man
F^HE...... Eric (Faust crossed out)       S......... Sourcery
FOC....... Feet of Clay                   SG........ Small Gods
G!G!...... Guards! Guards!                SM........ Soul Music
Hf........ Hogfather                      T5E....... The Fifth Elephant
IT........ Interesting Times              TB........ Troll Bridge (short story)
J......... Jingo                          TCOM...... The Colour of Magic
L&L....... Lords and Ladies               TLC....... The Last Continent
M......... Mort                           TOC....... Theatre of Cruelty (short story)
M!M....... Maskerade (not Mort)           TT........ The Truth
MAA....... Men at Arms                    WA........ Witches Abroad
MP........ Moving Pictures                WS........ Wyrd Sisters

The Witches Books:

The Wizards books:

The Watch Books:

Other information and conclusion:

The ideal starter books are:

The Colour of Magic
Equal Rites
Mort
Small Gods
Guards!
Guards!
Moving Pictures
Pyramids

Page last updated 13th January 2001