Maskerade by Terry Pratchett (Discworld 18)

"Dedication: My thanks to the people who showed me that opera was stranger than I could imagine. I can best repay their kindness by not mentioning their names here."

Agnes Nitt, AKA Perdita X Dream, is off to the big twin cities of Ankh-Morpork to join the opera, but the witches back home have other ideas for the young woman, whether she agrees with them or not.

Interesting Times by Terry Pratchett (Discworld 17)

"There is a curse. They say: May you live in interesting times."

We're finally going to see the Agatean Empire of the counterweight continent. It was mentioned all the way back in The Colour of Magic, and occasionally since then, but this is the first Discworld book that shows us the empire directly.

Soul Music by Terry Pratchett (Discworld 16)

"A voice said: One. One. One, two. One, two. Then the footsteps went back into the distance. After a while, another voice said: One, two, three, four– And the universe came into being. It was wrong to call it a big bang. That would just be noise, and all that noise could create is more noise and a cosmos full of random particles. Matter exploded into being, apparently as chaos, but in fact as a chord. The ultimate power chord. Everything, all together, streaming out in one huge rush that contained within itself, like reverse fossils, everything that it was going to be. And, zigzagging through the expanding cloud, alive, that first wild live music. This had shape. It had spin. It had rhythm. It had a beat, and you could dance to it. Everything did."

What happens when the Disc is once again exposed to an idea of our world? In this case, it's rock'n'roll music. Nothing that involves Discworld is ever quite what we would consider normal, and the idea of rock music is no exception.

Men At Arms by Terry Pratchett (Discworld 15)

"And visitors say: how does such a big city exist? What keeps it going? Since it's got a river you can chew, where does the drinking water come from? What is, in fact, the basis of its civic economy? How come it, against all probability, works?"

Book fifteen of the Discworld saga sees us return to the world of Ankh-Morpork's night watch. It's been expanded to include a more diverse roster and just as a new wave of murders is popping up in the twin cities.

Lords and Ladies by Terry Pratchett (Discworld 14)

"Elves are wonderful. They provoke wonder.

"Elves are marvelous. They cause marvels.

"Elves are fantastic. They create fantasies.

"Elves are glamorous. They project glamour.

"Elves are enchanting. They weave enchantment.

"Elves are terrific. They beget terror.

"The thing about words is that meanings can twist just like a snake, and if you want to find snakes look for them behind words that have changed their meaning.

"No one ever said elves are nice. Elves are bad."

For the fourteenth book of Discworld, and the fourth witches book, that also features the faculty of UU, we have to deal with the return of the elves. Discworld elves are not the same ones that many lovers of high fantasy are used to. They owe far more of their nature to historical depictions of fay beings that are genuinely horrifying.

Small Gods by Terry Pratchett (Discworld 13)

"Right," said Om. "Now... listen. Do you know how gods get power?"
"By people believing in them," said Brutha. "Millions of people believe in you."
Om hesitated. All right, all right. We are here and it is now. Sooner or later he'll find out for himself...
"They don't believe," said Om. "But—"
"It's happened before," said the tortoise. "Dozens of times. D'you know Abraxas found the lost city of Ee? Very strange carvings, he says. Belief, he says. Belief shifts. People start out believing in the god and end up believing in the structure."

Discworld's thirteenth book is widely considered to be one of the best of an already spectacular series, and a good starting point for new readers due to its subject matter and standalone nature. It's highly amusing as always for Sir Terry but also touches upon the serious subjects of religion and belief, both on the Disc and our roundworld as well. It takes many of the ideas of Pyramids and then expands upon them.

Witches Abroad by Terry Pratchett (Discworld 12)

"Stories don't care who takes part in them. All that matters is that the story gets told, that the story repeats. Or, if you prefer to think of it like this: stories are a parasitical life form, warping lives in the service only of the story itself."

Our favorite coven of witches is back, and they're going to be dealing with the most terrifying thing they've ever encountered, traveling to foreign lands!

Reaper Man by Terry Pratchett (Discworld 11)

"No one is finally dead until the ripples they cause in the world die away, until the clock wound up winds down, until the wine she made has finished its ferment, until the crop they planted is harvested. The span of someone's life is only the core of their actual existence."

Discworld book eleven is also the second book in the Death arc. What happens when Death is fired by the auditors of reality? This book answers that question, while being funny and thought provoking about such things as Sir Terry always is.

Moving Pictures by Terry Pratchett (Discworld 10)

"The whole of life is just like watching a film. Only it's as though you always get in ten minutes after the big picture has started, and no-one will tell you the plot, so you have to work it out all yourself from the clues."

The tenth book of the Discworld novels is considered to be a part of the Unseen University (UU) arc, but it also feels like its own thing as it addresses what happens when movies are made on the Disc, and the consequences of those Holy Wood* dreams.

Faust Eric by Terry Pratchett (Discworld 9)

“Come on. Let's run away."
"Where to?"
Rincewind sighed. He'd tried to make his basic philosophy clear time and again, and people never got the message.
"Don't you worry about to," he said. "In my experience that always takes care of itself. The important word is away."

The ninth book of Discworld! The title varies between Faust Eric and simply Eric, but it is largely a parody of Faust, who sold his soul for knowledge and pleasure. But it also brings back a main character on the way.

Guards! Guards! by Terry Pratchett (Discworld 8)

"They may be called the Palace Guard, the City Guard, or the Patrol. Whatever the name, their purpose in any work of heroic fantasy is identical: it is, round about Chapter Three (or ten minutes into the film) to rush into the room, attack the hero one at a time, and be slaughtered. No one ever asks them if they want to.

"This book is dedicated to those fine men."

In the eighth Discworld book, the first of the watch arc, and one of the books many recommend as a starting point for reading the wonder that is Discworld, we meet the night watch of Ankh-Morpork just as things are heating up, both figuratively and literally.

Pyramids by Terry Pratchett (Discworld 7)

Djelibeybi really was a small self-centered kingdom. Even its plagues were half-hearted. All self-respecting river kingdoms have vast supernatural plagues, but the best the Old Kingdom had been able to achieve in the last hundred years was the Plague of the Frog*.

*It was quite a big frog, however, and got into the air ducts and kept everyone awake for weeks.

The seventh Discworld book is another book that doesn't neatly belong to any of the arcs, although it shares some similarities with the later Small Gods. It focuses on the ancient but tiny kingdom of Djelibeybi (jelly baby); its traditions, rulers, gods, and most especially as one can infer from the title of the book, its pyramids.

Wyrd Sisters by Terry Pratchett (Discworld 6)

“The wind howled. Lightning stabbed at the earth erratically, like an inefficient assassin. Thunder rolled back and forth across the dark, rain-lashed hills. The night was as black as the inside of a cat. It was the kind of night, you could believe, on which gods moved men as though they were pawns on the chessboard of fate. In the middle of this elemental storm a fire gleamed among the dripping furze bushes like the madness in a weasel's eye. It illuminated three hunched figures. As the cauldron bubbled an eldritch voice shrieked: 'When shall we three meet again?'

"There was a pause.

"Finally, another voice said, in far more ordinary tones: 'Well, I can do next Tuesday.'"

For the sixth Discworld novel and the second book in the witches arc, Sir Terry combines MacBeth, Hamlet, and his wondrous way with words into a most enjoyable romp through our beloved Discworld.

Sourcery by Terry Pratchett (Discworld 5)

"Once upon a time, there was an eighth son of an eighth son who was, of course, a wizard. As if that wasn’t complicated enough, said wizard then had seven sons. And then he had an eighth son — a wizard squared (that’s all the math, really) — who, of course, was a source of magic, a sourcerer."

The fifth Discworld book sees the return of Rincewind, whether he likes it or not, along with the Luggage, as they have to deal with the return of Sourcery after it being absent from the Disc for centuries, and for very good reason it turns out.

Mort by Terry Pratchett (Discworld 4)

I? KILL? said Death, obviously offended. CERTAINLY NOT. PEOPLE GET KILLED, BUT THAT'S THEIR BUSINESS. I JUST TAKE OVER FROM THEN ON. AFTER ALL, IT'D BE A BLOODY STUPID WORLD IF PEOPLE GOT KILLED WITHOUT DYING, WOULDN'T IT?

Book four of the Discworld series is about Death (the character), while also going into a bit of detail about death (the experience). While not as deep as some of his later works, it still has some interesting philosophical points to make while also being funny as Discworld always is.

Equal Rites by Terry Pratchett (Discworld 3)

"This is a story about magic and where it goes and perhaps more importantly where it comes from and why, although it doesn’t pretend to answer all or any of these questions.

"It may, however, help to explain why Gandalf never got married and why Merlin was a man. Because this is also a story about sex, although probably not in the athletic, tumbling, count-the-legs-and-divide-by-two sense unless the characters get totally beyond the author’s control. They might."

The third Discworld book not only has a pun in the title, since it covers gender roles and how they are perceived on the Disc, and especially in regard to magic, but also introduces us to one of the best characters of all the books: Granny Esmerelda Weatherwax.

The Light Fantastic by Terry Pratchett (Discworld 2)

"Radiating from the book was the light that lies on the far side of darkness, the light fantastic. It was a rather disappointing purple colour."

A rare direct sequel for the Discworld books, we begin this volume where The Colour of Magic left off.

The Colour of Magic by Terry Pratchett (Discworld 1)

"It was octarine, the colour of magic. It was alive and glowing and vibrant, and it was the undisputed pigment of the imagination, because wherever it appeared it was a sign that mere matter was a servant of the powers of the magical mind. It was enchantment itself.

"But Rincewind always thought it looked a sort of greenish-purple."

It all begins here. Over forty books and several decades of Pratchett's wondrous creations start with this volume. While often considered not the best place to start, and with some sound reasoning behind that, it's still a joy to read all these years later. Without this book, we'd not have the delight that is Discworld in all its glory to enjoy.

Terry Pratchett's Discworld: Introduction and Hub

From The Colour of Magic: "In a distant and second-hand set of dimensions, in an astral plane that was never meant to fly, the curling star-mists waver and part...

"See ...Great A’Tuin the turtle comes, swimming slowly through the interstellar gulf, hydrogen frost on his* ponderous limbs, his* huge and ancient shell pocked with meteor craters. Through sea-sized eyes that are crusted with rheum and asteroid dust he* stares fixedly at the Destination.

"In a brain bigger than a city, with geological slowness, he* thinks only of the Weight.

"Most of the weight is of course accounted for by Berilia, Tubul, Great T’Phon and Jerakeen, the four giant elephants upon whose broad and star-tanned shoulders the Disc of the World rests, garlanded by the long waterfall at its vast circumference and domed by the baby-blue vault of Heaven."

*Note that some philosophers and fans believe that A’Tuin is female.

Terry Pratchett, 1948-2015

Sir Terry Pratchett, author and campaigner, has died at home aged 66.