The Colour of Magic

Rincewind / The Wizards

1983

The one that started it all. Rincewind is the most incompetent wizard on the Discworld - a dropout from Unseen University who can't even cast a spell. When Twoflower, the Disc's first tourist, arrives in the city of Ankh-Morpork with a sentient, homicidal trunk full of gold, Rincewind is press-ganged into serving as his guide. What follows is a journey across a flat world balanced on the backs of four elephants standing on a giant turtle - through dragon-haunted mountains, over the edge of the world, and into the kind of trouble only the universe's unluckiest wizard could find. Terry Pratchett's first Discworld novel, a gleeful parody of fantasy fiction that lays the groundwork for one of literature's great comic creations.

The Light Fantastic

Rincewind / The Wizards

1986

A sequel that picks up exactly where The Colour of Magic left off - with Rincewind falling off the edge of the Disc. The Great A'Tuin, the world-bearing turtle, is heading toward a red star, and the only thing that might save the Discworld is one of the Eight Great Spells, which has inconveniently lodged itself inside Rincewind's head. Rincewind would very much like it out. Meanwhile, the wizards of Unseen University are turning on each other, and something ancient is stirring. Still finding its feet as a series, but the jokes are sharper and the world is starting to feel lived-in.

Equal Rites

The Witches

1987

A dying wizard passes his staff to an eighth son of an eighth son - except the baby is a girl. Eskarina Smith has wizard-level magical abilities in a world where women are witches and men are wizards, and the two traditions do not mix. Granny Weatherwax takes Esk under her wing and marches to Unseen University to demand she be admitted. The first Discworld novel to move beyond parody into something with real emotional weight, and the introduction of Granny Weatherwax - who will become one of Pratchett's greatest creations.

Mort

Death

1987

Death takes an apprentice - a gangly, awkward young man named Mort who is no good at anything else. While Death goes on holiday to experience what it's like to be alive, Mort is left to do the reaping, and promptly saves the life of a princess who was supposed to die. This introduces a crack in reality that grows wider by the hour. The first truly great Discworld novel, a story about love, duty, and the consequences of well-intentioned interference.

Sourcery

Rincewind / The Wizards

1988

The Discworld's eighth son of an eighth son of an eighth son is born - a sourceror, a wizard so powerful he could reshape reality itself. Young Coin arrives at Unseen University and promptly takes over, leading the wizards on a magical arms race that threatens to tear the world apart. Rincewind, armed only with a sentient piece of luggage and a burning desire to be somewhere else, is the Disc's unlikely last hope. A book about what happens when unlimited power meets unlimited irresponsibility.

Wyrd Sisters

The Witches

1988

Three witches - Granny Weatherwax, Nanny Ogg, and Magrat Garlick - find themselves in a story that is essentially Macbeth, and they'd rather not. A duke has murdered the king of Lancre, and the witches have hidden the infant heir. Now the duke's paranoia and the kingdom's misery are growing, and the witches must decide whether to interfere with the natural order of things. Pratchett's love letter to Shakespeare, and the book that established the witches as a trio.

Guards! Guards!

The City Watch

1989

Captain Sam Vimes of the Ankh-Morpork Night Watch is a drunk in charge of a police force that consists of a corporal, a lance-constable, and a six-foot-tall dwarf named Carrot. When a secret society summons a dragon to menace the city, Vimes and his tiny squad are the only ones who care enough to investigate. The book that transformed the Watch from a joke into the Discworld's moral centre, and Vimes from a wreck into one of the great characters in modern fiction. The best starting point for anyone new to Discworld.

Pyramids

1989

Teppic is the heir to the ancient kingdom of Djelibeybi - the Discworld's Egypt - who has spent the last few years training as an assassin in Ankh-Morpork. When his father dies, Teppic returns home to find a kingdom so obsessed with tradition and pyramid-building that it has forgotten how to do anything else. The pyramids are accumulating so much time that reality itself is buckling. A satire of tradition, priesthood, and the dead hand of the past.

Reaper Man

Death

1991

Death is fired. Given a lifetimer of his own, he retires to the countryside and takes a job harvesting wheat, learning what it means to live with an ending. Meanwhile, without Death on duty, life force is accumulating across the Disc with bizarre consequences - in Ankh-Morpork, the excess manifests as a shopping mall. A novel about mortality that manages to be both hilarious and deeply moving.

Witches Abroad

The Witches

1991

Granny Weatherwax, Nanny Ogg, and Magrat travel abroad - to the distant city of Genua, where a fairy godmother is forcing the city to live in a story. Mirrors are everywhere, pumpkins turn into coaches whether you want them to or not, and someone is going to marry the prince even if it kills her. A novel about the power of narrative, the danger of happy endings, and three old women a long way from home.

Lords and Ladies

The Witches

1992

Elves are breaking through into Lancre, and they are nothing like the kind, wise beings of legend. Pratchett's elves are beautiful, cruel, and parasitic - they glamour their victims into adoration before tormenting them. The witches must defend Lancre against an invasion that most of the population actually welcomes. Magrat gets married, Granny Weatherwax faces her oldest rival, and the book makes a compelling case that iron is more useful than magic.

Small Gods

1992

The Great God Om wakes up to discover he's been incarnated as a tortoise. His church is one of the most powerful on the Disc, but almost nobody actually believes in him anymore - they believe in the church, its hierarchy, and its Inquisition. The only true believer is Brutha, a simple novice with a perfect memory. Together, god and believer must survive the machinations of a theocratic empire. The most self-contained and perhaps the most profound Discworld novel - a book about belief, doubt, and the difference between religion and faith.

Men at Arms

The City Watch

1993

Someone has stolen the Disc's first firearm from the Assassins' Guild museum, and the bodies are piling up. Captain Vimes is about to retire and marry the richest woman in the city, but the case pulls him back. Meanwhile, the Watch is taking on new recruits - a werewolf, a troll, and a dwarf - under the Patrician's diversity initiative. A murder mystery that is also a novel about inequality, prejudice, and what it means to be a copper.

Interesting Times

Rincewind / The Wizards

1994

The Agatean Empire - the Discworld's equivalent of China - has requested a Great Wizard. The wizards of Unseen University send Rincewind, reasoning that any wizard still alive after his career must be great by definition. Rincewind arrives in a land of political intrigue, revolutionary fervour, and the Silver Horde - a band of elderly barbarian heroes led by the legendary Cohen the Barbarian. A satire on imperialism, revolution, and the collision between cultures.

The Wee Free Men

Tiffany Aching

1994

Nine-year-old Tiffany Aching wants to be a witch. When her baby brother is stolen by the Queen of the Fairies, Tiffany goes to get him back, armed with a frying pan and accompanied by the Nac Mac Feegle - six-inch-tall, blue-skinned, heavily tattooed pictsies who drink, fight, and steal everything that isn't nailed down. A Discworld novel for younger readers that doesn't talk down to them, and the beginning of Tiffany's journey from shepherd's daughter to the greatest witch on the Chalk.

Maskerade

The Witches

1995

Granny Weatherwax and Nanny Ogg travel to the Ankh-Morpork Opera House, where a ghost is murdering the staff and a young woman from Lancre has a voice that could shake the Disc. Pratchett's Phantom of the Opera - a backstage comedy about art, ambition, and the difference between talent and presentation. Also features Nanny Ogg's infamous cookbook.

The Truth

1995

William de Worde accidentally invents the newspaper. When a moveable-type printing press falls off the back of a cart, William starts writing things down and selling them, and Ankh-Morpork discovers journalism. A plot to overthrow the Patrician brings William face to face with the powerful interests who preferred the city without a free press. A novel about truth, lies, and the sentence "A dog bites a man - that's not news. A man bites a dog - that's news."

Feet of Clay

The City Watch

1996

Golems are committing suicide. Someone is poisoning the Patrician. And a new recruit to the Watch - a golem named Dorfl - raises uncomfortable questions about what counts as a person. Vimes investigates while the city's heraldry establishment tries to find him a coat of arms he doesn't want. A novel about slavery, personhood, and the right to own yourself.

Hogfather

Death

1996

It's Hogswatch Eve, and the Hogfather - the Discworld's Santa Claus - has gone missing. The Assassins' Guild has been hired to inhume him, and the job has fallen to Mr Teatime, the most unsettling assassin in a guild full of them. Death steps in to deliver the presents (HO. HO. HO.), while Susan investigates. A novel about belief, imagination, and why humans need fantasy to be human.

Jingo

The City Watch

1996

A small island rises from the sea between Ankh-Morpork and the empire of Klatch, and suddenly everyone wants a war. Vimes - promoted to Commander - must prevent a conflict driven by nationalism, racism, and the ambitions of men who will never have to fight in it. Meanwhile, the Patrician disappears, and Sergeant Colon is left in charge. A razor-sharp satire of jingoism, foreign policy, and the gap between those who start wars and those who die in them.

Carpe Jugulum

The Witches

1998

A family of modern, progressive vampires arrives in Lancre - they've conquered their weakness to garlic, holy water, and sunlight, and they intend to rule. Only the witches stand in their way, but Granny Weatherwax has been bitten. A novel about the value of tradition, the danger of adaptability, and what happens when evil learns to be reasonable.

The Last Continent

Rincewind / The Wizards

1998

Rincewind is stranded on the Discworld's last undiscovered continent - a sunburnt land of strange creatures, stranger people, and a very confused creator god who hasn't quite finished building the place. Meanwhile, the wizards of Unseen University have accidentally travelled back in time and are interfering with the continent's creation. Pratchett's affectionate parody of Australia, complete with beer, kangaroos, and existential questions about evolution.

The Fifth Elephant

The City Watch

1999

Vimes is sent as ambassador to Uberwald - a land of werewolves, vampires, and dwarfs - where a coronation is about to take place and old powers are manoeuvring for position. The Fifth Elephant of the title is a legendary beast from dwarf mythology, and its legacy has implications that reach back to Ankh-Morpork. Vimes out of his element, doing diplomacy with a clenched fist. Also the book where Angua's backstory comes into focus.

The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents

2001

A talking cat, a gang of talking rats, and a stupid-looking kid have a nice racket going - the rats infest a town, the kid plays his pipe, the rats leave, and everyone gets paid. It's the Pied Piper con. Then they arrive in the town of Bad Blintz, where something has already eaten all the real rats, and the game turns dangerous. A Discworld novel for younger readers, darker than it first appears, about stories, sentience, and the moment when being clever stops being enough.

The Last Hero

Rincewind / The Wizards

2001

Cohen the Barbarian and the Silver Horde are going to return fire to the gods - by taking a massive explosive device to the top of Cori Celesti, the mountain at the centre of the Disc where the gods live. If they succeed, it will destroy the world. Captain Carrot, Rincewind, and the inventor Leonard of Quirm are sent on a desperate mission to stop them - in a craft that flies over the edge of the Disc and underneath it. Originally published as an illustrated hardback with Paul Kidby, The Last Hero is a love letter to the idea of going out with a bang.

Thief of Time

Death

2001

The Auditors of Reality - cosmic beings who despise the untidiness of life - commission a clock so accurate it will stop time itself. Only the History Monks, who maintain the flow of time across the Disc, can prevent it. Susan and a young monk named Lobsang must find the clockmaker before he finishes his work. Pratchett's most ambitious metaphysical comedy, a novel about time, chocolate, and the things that make life worth the trouble.

Moving Pictures

2002

The Discworld discovers cinema. Holy Wood - a patch of land with strange creative properties - draws people to it, and soon the Disc has its own dream factory, complete with stars, studios, and a thousand-foot woman climbing a tower. Something ancient is using the power of moving pictures to break through from another dimension, and only a wizard dropout and a would-be leading lady stand in its way. Pratchett's Hollywood novel.

Night Watch

The City Watch

2002

A magical accident sends Vimes thirty years into the past, to the eve of a revolution he fought in as a young man. Stranded in a younger, meaner Ankh-Morpork, Vimes must guide his own younger self through the coming days - knowing how the revolution ends, knowing who dies, and knowing he can't change it. The finest Discworld novel and one of the great time-travel stories, a book about the difference between a good man and a good copper.

Monstrous Regiment

2003

Polly Perks disguises herself as a boy to join the army of Borogravia - a small, mad country at war with everyone, ruled by a duchess who may or may not be dead, and governed by an ever-growing list of Abominations Unto Nuggan (clove, the colour blue, babies, rocks). Polly's regiment turns out to have more secrets than she expected. A war novel about gender, patriotism, and the absurdity of the things nations ask their people to die for.

Going Postal

Moist von Lipwig / The Industrial Revolution

2004

Moist von Lipwig is a con man, a cheat, and a swindler who has just been hanged. Unfortunately for him, the Patrician Lord Vetinari has had him cut down alive and given him a choice: take over the moribund Ankh-Morpork Post Office or die for real this time. What follows is Moist's attempt to restore the mail against the opposition of the Grand Trunk clacks company - the Disc's version of the telegraph - run by a ruthless businessman. A novel about the romance of public services, the evil of corporate greed, and the redemptive power of wearing a really good hat.

A Hat Full of Sky

Tiffany Aching

2004

Tiffany leaves the Chalk for the first time to train as a witch under the eccentric Miss Level. But something is following her - a hiver, an ancient parasitic entity that takes over minds and burns through them. Tiffany must learn what it means to be a witch - not the pointy hat and the broomstick, but the real work of tending to the people nobody else cares for. The book where the Tiffany Aching series finds its voice.

Soul Music

Death

2005

Music With Rocks In has come to the Discworld, and it's going to change everything - or destroy it. A young musician named Imp y Celyn picks up a guitar with a life of its own, and Death's granddaughter Susan is dragged into the family business when Death goes missing. A satire of rock and roll mythology, from the doomed young genius to the merchandising, with an emotional core that sneaks up on you.

Thud!

The City Watch

2005

Tensions between dwarfs and trolls are reaching breaking point in Ankh-Morpork, as both sides prepare to commemorate the ancient Battle of Koom Valley - which each side claims the other started. Vimes must solve a murder in the dwarf community while keeping the peace, reading Where's My Cow? to his son every night at six, and resisting the influence of a dark entity that feeds on old hatreds. A novel about how violence perpetuates itself, and how the cycle gets broken.

Eric

Rincewind / The Wizards

2006

The shortest Discworld novel - originally published as an illustrated novella. Eric is a fourteen-year-old demonologist who thinks he's summoned a demon. He's actually summoned Rincewind. Together they embark on a Faust-inspired tour of the Discworld's history, visiting the creation of the world, the Trojan War (Discworld-style), and Hell itself. Brief, breezy, and unexpectedly philosophical in places.

Wintersmith

Tiffany Aching

2006

Tiffany dances with the Wintersmith - the elemental personification of winter - and he falls in love with her. Now winter won't end, the Wintersmith is trying to become human for her sake, and Tiffany must find a way to put things right before the Chalk is buried under snow forever. Granny Weatherwax watches from a distance, and the Nac Mac Feegle are as unhelpful as ever. A story about responsibility, growing up, and the gap between flattery and love.

Making Money

Moist von Lipwig / The Industrial Revolution

2007

Having conquered the Post Office, Moist von Lipwig is bored - so Lord Vetinari gives him the Royal Mint to fix. Moist must reinvent the Disc's economy while fending off the ancient Lavish banking family, a dog who legally owns the bank, and the temptation to fall back into his old criminal ways. A novel about money, trust, and the con at the heart of every currency.

Unseen Academicals

Rincewind / The Wizards

2008

Football has come to Ankh-Morpork, and Unseen University must field a team or lose its funding. The wizards - men who consider walking to the dinner table a form of exercise - must learn the beautiful game, with help from a candle-dripping night kitchen worker with a mysterious past, a fashion-obsessed cook, and the most talented footballer the city has ever seen. A novel about tribalism, identity, and the things people do for love, wrapped in Pratchett's sharpest satire of sports culture.

I Shall Wear Midnight

Tiffany Aching

2010

Tiffany is the witch of the Chalk now - doing the real, unglamorous work of looking after people who often don't want to be looked after. But something old and hateful has been awakened, a thing that turns people against witches, and it is coming for Tiffany. The darkest of the Tiffany Aching novels, dealing directly with domestic abuse, suspicion of outsiders, and the courage it takes to do the right thing when the crowd is against you.

Snuff

The City Watch

2011

Vimes on holiday - a concept that fills everyone, including Vimes, with dread. Dragged to the countryside by his wife Sybil, Vimes discovers that goblins - the most despised creatures on the Disc - are being enslaved and murdered. What follows is Vimes doing what Vimes does, but far from the streets of Ankh-Morpork and the support of his Watch. A novel about who counts as human, and what happens when the law fails the people who need it most.

Raising Steam

Moist von Lipwig / The Industrial Revolution

2013

The steam engine has arrived on the Disc, and Moist von Lipwig is tasked with bringing the railway to Ankh-Morpork. The most ambitious of the Industrial Revolution novels, following the railway's construction against opposition from conservative dwarfs, political manoeuvring, and the sheer difficulty of laying track. Terry Pratchett's penultimate novel, written as his health declined, and a celebration of progress, engineering, and the unstoppable momentum of a good idea.

The Shepherd's Crown

Tiffany Aching

2015

Granny Weatherwax dies. Tiffany must take up her mantle as the leading witch of the Disc, while an invasion of elves threatens the world. Terry Pratchett's final novel, published posthumously and unfinished in places, but containing some of his most moving writing. A book about endings, succession, and what we leave behind.