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Discworld Reading Order: All 41 Books in Order

Co-founder & Creative Director, Surprise Castle

Last updated Oct 20263 min

The Discworld reading order lists all 41 Terry Pratchett novels in publication order, from The Color of Magic in 1983 to The Shepherd's Crown in 2015. You don't need to start at book one: almost every novel stands on its own, and most belong to one of six threads. Those threads are the City Watch, Death, the Witches, Rincewind and the wizards, Tiffany Aching and Moist von Lipwig, and the table tags every book with its thread.

New to Discworld?Try book 8, Guards! Guards!, which opens the City Watch series.New to Discworld? Start with book 8, Guards! Guards!

Jump to book 8

The reading order

#	Book	First publishedPublished
1	The Color of MagicRincewind · 1 of 8	1983
2	The Light FantasticRincewind · 2 of 8	1986
3	Equal RitesWitches · 1 of 6	1987
4	MortDeath · 1 of 5	1987
5	SourceryRincewind · 3 of 8	1988
6	Wyrd SistersWitches · 2 of 6	1988
7	PyramidsStandalones · 1 of 6	1989
8	Guards! Guards!City Watch · 1 of 8Recommended start	1989
9	EricRincewind · 4 of 8	1990
10	Moving PicturesStandalones · 2 of 6	1990
11	Reaper ManDeath · 2 of 5	1991
12	Witches AbroadWitches · 3 of 6	1991
13	Small GodsStandalones · 3 of 6	1992
14	Lords and LadiesWitches · 4 of 6	1992
15	Men at ArmsCity Watch · 2 of 8	1993
16	Soul MusicDeath · 3 of 5	1994
17	Interesting TimesRincewind · 5 of 8	1994
18	MaskeradeWitches · 5 of 6	1995
19	Feet of ClayCity Watch · 3 of 8	1996
20	HogfatherDeath · 4 of 5	1996
21	JingoCity Watch · 4 of 8	1997
22	The Last ContinentRincewind · 6 of 8	1998
23	Carpe JugulumWitches · 6 of 6	1998
24	The Fifth ElephantCity Watch · 5 of 8	1999
25	The TruthStandalones · 4 of 6	2000
26	Thief of TimeDeath · 5 of 5	2001
27	The Last HeroRincewind · 7 of 8	2001
28	The Amazing Maurice and His Educated RodentsStandalones · 5 of 6	2001
29	Night WatchCity Watch · 6 of 8	2002
30	The Wee Free MenTiffany Aching · 1 of 5	2003
31	Monstrous RegimentStandalones · 6 of 6	2003
32	A Hat Full of SkyTiffany Aching · 2 of 5	2004
33	Going PostalMoist von Lipwig · 1 of 3	2004
34	Thud!City Watch · 7 of 8	2005
35	WintersmithTiffany Aching · 3 of 5	2006
36	Making MoneyMoist von Lipwig · 2 of 3	2007
37	Unseen AcademicalsRincewind · 8 of 8	2009
38	I Shall Wear MidnightTiffany Aching · 4 of 5	2010
39	SnuffCity Watch · 8 of 8	2011
40	Raising SteamMoist von Lipwig · 3 of 3	2013
41	The Shepherd's CrownTiffany Aching · 5 of 5	2015

How the series works

Rincewind and the Wizards · 8 books · start with The Color of Magic

Rincewind is a failed wizard from Unseen University whose one real talent is running away. The Color of Magic and The Light Fantastic are one story, so read them together. After that he is dragged across the Disc, to the Agatean Empire in Interesting Times and the sunburnt continent of XXXX in The Last Continent. The early books are closer to parody than later Pratchett.

The Witches · 6 books · start with Equal Rites

Granny Weatherwax and Nanny Ogg, two witches from the small mountain kingdom of Lancre, solve problems with headology, which mostly means knowing people better than they know themselves. Equal Rites introduces Granny. Wyrd Sisters forms the coven with young Magrat and plays with Macbeth, and the later books take on fairy tales, elves, the opera and vampires.

Death · 5 books · start with Mort

Death speaks in capital letters, rides a white horse called Binky and is oddly fond of humans. Mort gives him an apprentice. Later books retire him to a farm, put him in the Hogfather's red suit for Hogswatchnight and bring in his granddaughter Susan, who carries the last three. The links between them are loose, so any order works, but Mort sets everything up.

The City Watch · 8 books · start with Guards! Guards!

Sam Vimes runs the Night Watch of Ankh-Morpork, a squad of three tired men when Guards! Guards! opens and a city-wide force by Snuff. The books read like crime novels with jokes: a dragon loose in the city, a string of murders, a war with Klatch. New recruits such as Carrot and Angua grow with every book, so read these eight in order. Night Watch means most after the five Watch books before it.

Tiffany Aching · 5 books · start with The Wee Free Men

Tiffany Aching is nine when she takes on the Queen of Fairyland armed with a frying pan and helped by the Nac Mac Feegle, tiny blue men who love a fight. Her five books follow her into her teens as the working witch of the Chalk. They were written for younger readers, read just as well for adults, and The Shepherd's Crown, Pratchett's last novel, closes her story.

Moist von Lipwig · 3 books · start with Going Postal

Moist von Lipwig is a con man who gets a choice from Lord Vetinari: revive the city's dead Post Office or die. Going Postal is the result, Making Money moves him to the Royal Bank, and Raising Steam brings the railway to Ankh-Morpork. Fast, funny and full of schemes, these three suit readers who like a caper and work well as a first Discworld.

Does the order matter?

Publication order is the safe default, and the table above follows it. Most novels stand alone, so you can start almost anywhere and lose little. Two exceptions are worth knowing. The Color of Magic and The Light Fantastic are one story split across two books, so read them back to back. Within a thread, order matters more: the City Watch and Tiffany Aching books follow characters who change from book to book, and later titles assume you know what came before. Read each thread in the order the table lists it.

Editions and extras

Short storiesThe list covers the 41 novels. The short stories are collected in A Blink of the Screen (2012).
ExtrasThe four Science of Discworld books, the maps and the companions are extras, not part of the order.
For younger readersThe Tiffany Aching books and The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents were written for younger readers. They sit in the order where the table lists them.

Frequently Asked Questions

Start with what you enjoy. Crime fans do well with Guards! Guards!, readers who like a coming-of-age tale with dark jokes with Mort, Shakespeare fans with Wyrd Sisters, and anyone who wants one self-contained book with Small Gods. Book 1 reads more like a parody than the novels that followed, so it is rarely the best first pick.

No. Only the first two books share a plot. Elsewhere, keep each thread's books in sequence and read the rest in any order you like.

There are 41 Discworld novels, published between 1983 and 2015. Some lists give a higher count because they add the short story collection, the picture books, the Science of Discworld series, the maps and the companion guides.

Six were written with younger readers in mind: the five Tiffany Aching novels, beginning with The Wee Free Men, and The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents, which won the Carnegie Medal. Teens and adults enjoy them too, and they count as full Discworld novels.

Any complete edition has the same text. US editions spell the first title The Color of Magic and UK editions The Colour of Magic, but it is the same book. If matching spines matter to you, stay with one publisher's line; the books on this page are the Harper paperbacks.