Paul’s Nearly Complete Guide to Discworld, Part Three

A revised version of this post, with improved formatting, is available in my collection The Books That Wrote Me Collection 1, here.

This is the third and final part of my guide.

The Discworld Books in chronological order by release, with my ratings, and an asterisk for the ones I recommend:

1. The Color of Magic
2. The Light Fantastic
3. Sourcery
4. Mort*
5. Equal Rites
6. Wyrd Sisters*
7. Pyramids
8. Guards! Guards!*
9. Faust Eric
10. Moving Pictures
11. Reaper Man
12. Witches Abroad*
13. Small Gods*
14. Lords and Ladies
15. Men at Arms
16. Soul Music
17. Feet of Clay*
18. Interesting Times* (the best Rincewind book, so you should read at least one)
19. Maskerade*
20. Hogfather
21. Jingo*
22. The Last Continent
23. Carpe Jugulum*
24. The Fifth Elephant*
25. The Truth*
26. Thief of Time*
27. Night Watch
28. Monstrous Regiment
29. Going Postal*
30. Thud*
31. Making Money
32. Unseen Academicals

The City Watch sequence:

• Guards! Guards!
• Men at Arms
• Feet of Clay
• Jingo
• The Fifth Elephant
• Night Watch
• Thud

The Witches sequence:

• Equal Rites
• Wyrd Sisters
• Witches Abroad
• Maskerade
• Lords and Ladies
• Carpe Jugulum

The Death sequence:

• Mort
• Reaper Man
• Soul Music
• Hogfather
• Thief of Time

The Rincewind sequence:

• The Color of Magic
• The Light Fantastic
• Sourcery
• Eric
• Interesting Times
• The Last Continent
• Unseen Academicals

Miscellaneous Discworld novels:

• Pyramids
• Moving Pictures
• Small Gods
• The Truth
• Monstrous Regiment
• Going Postal
• Making Money (the story is a sequel to Going Postal)

Discworld Novels in Ratings Order:

The best (5/5):

• The Truth (the best standalone)
• Thief of Time (single best Discworld novel, but not a good introduction to the series)
• Thud (first read the other City Watch books in order, or at least the top few of them)

The good (4/5):

• Mort
• Wyrd Sisters
• Guards! Guards!
• Witches Abroad
• Small Gods
• Feet of Clay
• Interesting Times
• Maskerade
• Jingo
• Carpe Jugulum
• The Fifth Elephant
• Going Postal
• Making Money
• Unseen Academicals

Dig deeper if you find yourself becoming a dedicated fan (3/5):

• The Light Fantastic
• Equal Rites
• Eric
• Moving Pictures
• Reaper Man
• Lords and Ladies
• Men at Arms
• Soul Music
• Night Watch
• Monstrous Regiment

The Bottom of the Barrel (2 or fewer stars):

• The Colour of Magic
• Sourcery
• Pyramids
• Hogfather
• The Last Continent

Year Index • All Years Index • Writing Archive