[Brujah]

I only read Color of Magic, but even so I was able to realize the unparalleled genius of his mind. Sadly, I never journeyed any further into Discworld, and I hate to use such a generic phrase, but we lost another Beautiful Mind.

I once tried to describe Pratchett's brilliance to my wife, but to have even tried would have fallen short. He was a master of words and phrases, and anything I could have said would have been akin to me trying to describe the Sistine Chapel by drawing it for you with crayons and napkins.

Bon Voyage sir.

[Andorion]

I read the first part of Hogfather to my girlfriend yesterday. She hasn't read Pratchett before, but by the time I finshed the first few pages she was giggling helplessly.

Quote

"Everything starts somewhere, although many physicists disagree"

Lord Downey was an assassin, or rather, an Assassin. The capital letter was important. It separated those curs who went around murdering people for money from the gentlemen who were occasionally consulted by other gentlemen who wished to have removed, for a consideration, any inconvenient razor blades from the candyfloss of life.

Priceless

[Tiste Simeon]

D, on 13 March 2015 - 06:46 PM, said:

@Tiste, this might be handy:

Spoiler

Thank you! So judging by that I could just start with Colour of magic and work off that, but if I started with say Guards! Guards! and worked through that thread of novels I wouldn't need to know anything that happened before? It's a same world, different set of stories kind of thing?

[amphibian]

Tiste Simeon, on 17 March 2015 - 11:31 AM, said:

Thank you! So judging by that I could just start with Colour of magic and work off that, but if I started with say Guards! Guards! and worked through that thread of novels I wouldn't need to know anything that happened before? It's a same world, different set of stories kind of thing?

Yes.

Pratchett doesn't demand that you read all of Discworld, but particularly after the first couple of books, he started to use and refine recurring characters and developed the skill of turning background characters in one book into genuinely interesting main and side characters in other books.

[Andorion]

amphibian, on 17 March 2015 - 12:26 PM, said:

Tiste Simeon, on 17 March 2015 - 11:31 AM, said:

Thank you! So judging by that I could just start with Colour of magic and work off that, but if I started with say Guards! Guards! and worked through that thread of novels I wouldn't need to know anything that happened before? It's a same world, different set of stories kind of thing?

Yes.

Pratchett doesn't demand that you read all of Discworld, but particularly after the first couple of books, he started to use and refine recurring characters and developed the skill of turning background characters in one book into genuinely interesting main and side characters in other books.

But note that Pratchetts world changed and evolved rapidly, both in technology as well as socio-economic factors. Therefore reading chronologically outside a particular arc gives you a better overall picture.....Even though when I started reading I had no idea about any of this whatsoever so I just read in any random manner

[Tiste Simeon]

So probably start with book 1 and work through that "sub series" then do the same for the next one is probably best.

[Andorion]

Tiste Simeon, on 19 March 2015 - 11:08 PM, said:

So probably start with book 1 and work through that "sub series" then do the same for the next one is probably best.

You could do that. But don't expect books 1 and 2 to have things like plot or coherence. Random stuff just happens. Pratchett was experimenting a lot before he settled down.

[Gorefest]

Still funny though. Very Monty Python-esque.

[Tiste Simeon]

Yeah I think if I only liked books that were instantly easy to get into and understand what was going on immediately I would be on the wrong forum...

[amphibian]

Tiste Simeon, on 20 March 2015 - 09:16 PM, said:

Yeah I think if I only liked books that were instantly easy to get into and understand what was going on immediately I would be on the wrong forum...

Heh, it's a great point.

The tone of early Malazan is more of a deep complexity involving very serious things like the wars between nations, betrayals of the elite and ancient horrors reviving, while Pratchett's early tone is "everything is set up for a laugh". That's a different proposition for a long series to accept as a reader.

I quasi-know you through this form, Tiste Simeon, and I'm confident you will like this series - especially the coppers that come in as a group.

[Tiste Simeon]

I'm going on holiday in a couple of weeks and this will be my choice of books.

[Andorion]

Tiste Simeon, on 21 March 2015 - 10:28 AM, said:

I'm going on holiday in a couple of weeks and this will be my choice of books.

Good choice. Especially as they are tiny and easy to carry

[Whisperzzzzzzz]

I bought Nation, despite the blurb sounding a bit lame. But, even if it's not Discworld, it's still Pratchett. Hope it's as good as y'all say it is.

[Andorion]

Whisperzzzzzzz, on 21 March 2015 - 03:43 PM, said:

I bought Nation, despite the blurb sounding a bit lame. But, even if it's not Discworld, it's still Pratchett. Hope it's as good as y'all say it is.

Its awesome. The awesomeness takes some time to sink in. But its awesome

[Tiste Simeon]

Andorion, on 21 March 2015 - 02:22 PM, said:

Tiste Simeon, on 21 March 2015 - 10:28 AM, said:

I'm going on holiday in a couple of weeks and this will be my choice of books.

Good choice. Especially as they are tiny and easy to carry

On Kindle they're even easier to carry...

[Andorion]

Tiste Simeon, on 21 March 2015 - 06:30 PM, said:

Andorion, on 21 March 2015 - 02:22 PM, said:

Tiste Simeon, on 21 March 2015 - 10:28 AM, said:

I'm going on holiday in a couple of weeks and this will be my choice of books.

Good choice. Especially as they are tiny and easy to carry

On Kindle they're even easier to carry...

yeah best for travel. But I read them when we had the funny illustrated covers ( I am sure lots of people here remember those) and I got all the funny looks in college when I suddenly took out three of the books form my bag.

[QuickTidal]

I don't know if this was posted yet, but here is Michael Chabon interviewing Neil Gaiman on the day Terry passed about his friend.

Worth a watch.

[worry]

http://www.themarysu...chett-research/

[Tiste Simeon]

I started reading the Colour of Magic. Figured I might as well go from the beginning.

[bubba]

Tiste Simeon, on 10 April 2015 - 05:12 PM, said:

I started reading the Colour of Magic. Figured I might as well go from the beginning.

I did the same thing and have read the first eight already.