It’s been one year and ten Pratchett books. Thud!, Snuff, Equal Rites, Wyrd Sisters, Witches Abroad, Lords and Ladies, Maskerade, Carpe Jugulum, Mort, and Reaper Man. I’ve spared everyone from me making a post about each and every one, but now I’ve decided as a final hurrah that I’m going to go through each and give a few reasons why you should read each of them. This hyperfixation isn’t going away anytime soon.
Thud!: A story about trolls and dwarves, and how religion changing causes harm between people. It’s an incredible look at how religion in the UK has affected the laws for much too long, told through a recovering alcoholic's eyes. The peace that canna’ be bracken.
Snuff: The final book in an incredible sub-series, Snuff goes about how the main character deals with his own bias both as a policeman and as a citizen of Ankh Morpork. Also his wife is awesome, long live Sybil Ramkin.
Equal Rites: The first in the Witches series, following a girl named Esk who was mistakenly given a wizard's staff at birth (clearly, a man’ job). It follows Granny Weatherwax, one of the best characters on the disc, and Esk trying to get to Ankh Morpork and get Esk into Unseen University, the wizarding school
Wyrd Sisters: A funny Macbath parody with three witches, Granny Weatherwax, Nanny Ogg, and Magrat Garlick try to remind the citizens of Lancre that witches were there long before some duke that tries much too hard to be a king. The fool is quite some help too.
Witches Abroad: Mirrors are never good, but now it’s worse. Magrat was given a fairy godmother’s wand, with the explicit orders to go against the story. Granny and Nanny are told explicitly not to come along, so of course they do. Never tell a Weatherwax what to do.
Lords and Ladies: Elves. Ironically, this is a parody of Midsummer Night's Dream, so you all can understand the jokes (Tailor the Weaver, Weaver the Thatcher, and Thatcher the Tailor). It’s great, funny, and Margat is more than a wet hen.
Maskerade: They need another witch, and Perdita “X” Nitt would be perfect. If she didn’t run off to Ankh Morpork to be an opera singer, that is. Thanks to that and a coincidence of name that ends with Nanny rich and Granny angry, they’re off to Ankh Morpork to find Perdita Nitt, and eventually stop this strange Phantom in the Ankh Morpork Opera House.
Carpe Jugulum: The final book of the witches series, this book follows the witches trying to stop a group of vampires from invading the kingdom (they were invited, though). Not only are they vampires, but they can eat garlic, bury themselves in crossroads, and cross running water! Granny uses The Quite Reverend Mightily-Praiseworthy-Are-Ye-Who-Exalteth-Om Oats, also known as the religious fanatic Mightily Oats, to defeat them.
Mort: The first in the Death series. At the stroke of midnight on the day of apprentices, death makes on his new apprentice: Mortimer. Of course, on just his third job, Mort messes up. He saves Keli, a girl he finds attractive. Now reality has changed, and Mort must learn to deal with Death’s annoying daughter Ysabella so they can figure out how to fix this mess.
Reaper Man: I’m currently reading this, about halfway through. Death has been nervous, and when his servant asks why, Death pulls out someone's hourglass to look at their time left. It’s his. It’s strange to think of the mortality of Death, as he must take every one. He becomes a farmer, simply killing instead of taking. Windall Punes is a casualty of this, being unable to reincarnate into a different body. So, of course he reincarnates into himself. We know this process as zombification.
This is insane, I need new authors. To paraphrase a reddit user on r/discworld: I don’t want to oversell Sir Terry Pratchett’s work, but his series changed my life. It's shocking how a series about a flat world, on the back of four elephants, on the back of a turtle flying through space can have so much of an affect on me.
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