Today I'm introducing you to a series that will keep you giggling and entertained for quite a long time. After all, the Discworld series has nearly 40 books already! The 39th to be published this October.
You might be thinking that a series comprised of so many books can be too daunting to even try to start, or that it would get boring and dragging for so many books, but I can assure you nothing is further from the truth!
First of all, as its own name reflects, it's a series of books based on the Discworld (a flat round world, riding in the back of a giant turtle, supported by four elephants, yeah, you read that right), but they are not the kind of books you need to read one after the other, they're actually divided into different story arcs, so they can be grouped into smaller series if you may, and even so, each book can be read as a story on its own, though of course, there are references to previous novels here and there. Here is a lovely scroll where you can see what I mean, and also, you can check the Wikipedia article (but be warned, there are spoilers!).
So far, I've read all the Night Watch novels, except for the graphic novel "Where is my Cow?" and by checking the Wikipedia article, I just got excited since the next novel to come out, it'll be a Watch novel! Sam Vimes, Captain Carrot and the rest of the Watch are, so far, my favourite set of characters. Sam Vimes, his Excellency, is a copper, an old style copper, not the brightest one ever, but one that is hell bent on doing what's right, and has no regard for politics. Captain Carrot is a six-foot-tall dwarf, and the Watch as an equal opportunities policy, so there are dwarves, werewolves, zombies, vampires and even a Nobby Nobbs. Also, a very present character in this books is Lord Vetinari, the tyrannical ruler of Anhk-Morpork (the biggest city in the Discworld). I'd recommend you start with them, the first novel being "Guards! Guards!".
My second fave series so far are the stories featuring Death, yes, the anthropomorphic personification of death, and his interesting family. Yes, Death has a family. Even though Death appears in almost all books in the Discworld series, with his speaking in CAPS, there's a series where we meet his adopted daughter, his apprentice, his butler and his granddaughter. Oh, and Death is quite partial to cats too. Lots of irony and lots of comedy in these books. The first one of this arc is "Mort".
I've also read on of the "Ancient Civilizations" books, called Pyramids, that for an Egypt & history fan & an atheist like myself, was absolutely hilarious! If you want to try a book that is not part of a bigger story arc to see if you like the writing style and the general feel of the entire series, I recommend you start with this one.
Starting now with the Wizards & Rincewind series, I've read so far three of the books, "The Colour of Magic", "The Light Fantastic" & "Sourcery", and I've also started reading "Eric". So far, they're also a lot of fun, but the wizard characters are changing quite often, since wizards ascend in the hierarchy by stepping into their dead predecessors empty shoes, so there's a certain short life span for wizards of certain ranks.
Also, I've just started reading the Witches arc. I'm really digging this books too, cause even if they're about witches, and witches do magic, it's not all about crazy mumbo jumbo, but more about headology and common sense, and well, magic when you just have to. So far I've read "Equal Rites", the first book, and I'm half way with "Wyrd Sisters".
As you can see, I fairly like this series, it's chock full of references to world history & events, fantasy books, superstitions, fairy tales, and even Shakespeare! They're the kinda books that make you giggle and laugh out loud; and one of our fave parts when G & me are reading them, is reading hilarious passages to each other from whatever book the other is reading. Terry Pratchett really is well deserving of being Sir Terry Pratchett.
Wossaname and Music With Rocks In It!!
This sounds really interesting! I may have to check these out!
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