One for any US-based readers, today! The Discworld series by Terry Pratchett is one of my favourites. I grew up reading these books and they mean a lot to me. This ebook bundle from Humble Bundle is a great chance for US readers to hop right in with the whole series for a really fantastic price.
Just $18 will get you the whole series. Here are the 39 items in the bundle:
Before we even get into the books themselves, I have to ask; why are the covers so ugly? The UK covers were always gorgeous, but these are awful. They’re also nowhere near consistent. Some look like Robert Rankin’s books. That’s fine, I love Robert Rankin, but they’re not Pratchett.
America, take a long, hard look at yourselves.
Okay, the series as a whole is excellent, but there’s a tonal shift after the first two books that you should really be made aware of. The first two books feel like fantasy novels with a twist of humour. After that, the tone shifts, the fantasy tropes are downplayed and they essentially become satirical novels with a fantasy setting. Make sense? It will.
It’s perfectly acceptable to read the series as a whole, all the way through, but it will possibly feel a bit disjointed. There are really several subseries in here, including:
- Wizards and Heroes
- Witches
- Death
- The Watch
- City services
Each series follows its own set of character, themes, etc. There are reading guides to help you choose a good reading order:
My favourite of the series is The Watch. This series deals with the city watch in the city of Ankh Morpork as it builds itself up from essentially nothing to a proper metropolitan police service. These are among my favourite novels, with Jingo, Feet of Clay, and Night Watch being my highlights in this grouping. I cannot recommend these novels enough, and Sam Vimes as the main character is fantastic.
Maybe avoid the TV show, though…
Terrible.
BBC Studios, take a long, hard look at yourselves.
Anyway, my next favourite series is the city services one. This series sees the advance of technology and civil services in and around Ankh Morpork. Highlights there are probably Moving Pictures, which was an early favourite for me as a kid, and The Truth, which came out when I was probably at peak Discworld-fervour. I also really loved Going Postal, which is a good example of a Discword TV show done right:
Fantastic.
The Death series is beloved by a lot of fans, with the titular character of this series being a really fantastic take on the Grim Reaper. I’ve always thought that Mort, the tale of Death’s first apprentice, was a bit overrated, but I really love Reaper Man and Hogfather.
Some other highlights for me are Unseen Academicals (the reintroduction of football to Ankh Morpork), Wyrd Sisters (Discworld meets Shakespeare), Thief of Time (monks of history!), and The Last Continent (Australia is pretty odd). There’s not a bad book among them, though.
$18 for the whole series is a fantastic offer. Thankfully they are ebooks, so nobody will see your awful, ugly, terrible, hideous covers. Yeah, go buy it. It’s great.
No Rerolls 
We have the whole discworld in hardback. Currently reading equal rites. The American covers are ugly you are right!
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Equal Rites is an interesting one. It’s where the series expanded beyond who had been, until that point, the main character to show it was going to be a wide-ranging series, and it’s the first where satire and social commentary was more prominent than the fantasy elements that dominated the first two books.
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