The Great Discworld Read-Along
In 2022, I began The Great Discworld Read-Along, a publicly-available chronological read-through of Terry Pratchett’s entire Discworld series from start to finish. One book is read each month with few exceptions, giving everyone plenty of time to read through a Discworld novel (or catch up on the read-along). Before every video post in which I provide an overview and my thoughts on the most recently-read book in the Discworld series, I open up a discussion post on my YouTube community tab where people can vote and leave their thoughts on this most recently-read novel! Those thoughts will also be included in the next video and are a huge part of why I’m doing this; I learn so much from my fellow readers!
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The Colour of Magic
The very first Discworld novel, The Colour of Magic, is also my least favorite of the series. It felt like a series of short stories that were loosely connected. It’s still funny and the writing is still excellent, but the strengths of this book only barely outweigh its weaknesses. I initially gave this novel four stars, but I think I was just excited to be back in Discworld. In retrospect, I’m giving The Colour of Magic three stars.
☆☆☆
The Light Fantastic
This story picks up right at the end of The Colour of Magic and is a significant improvement over its predecessor. Instead of being a collection of short stories, The Light Fantastic is a singular, cohesive fantasy adventure. While it plays into some classic fantasy tropes, it also subverts expectations in fun and interesting ways. It’s a big step up from the first Discworld Novel and I gave it four stars.
☆☆☆☆
Equal Rites
The first Discworld novel I ever read was The Wee Free Men, the first book in the Tiffany Aching series and one of many Witch books in the Discworld series. Equal Rites was a lot of fun for the first chunk of it, but the ending felt abrupt and incomplete. The “big bad” of this story was not adequately established, and the way it was defeated didn’t feel terribly impressive. I gave this one four stars.
☆☆☆☆
Mort
Holy Death, Mort is a massive step up from the three prior books! It’s well known that I adore the Death collection above all others, and that Reaper Man is my favorite Discworld novel (though I fully expect this to change as I continue my chronological read-along). Mort is a prime example of why the Death collection is so incredible. It’s about finding joy in the mundane, it’s about personifying something that we as humans fear tremendously, and it’s about life despite being focused on Death. an amazing story from beginning to end, and an easy five star rating.
☆☆☆☆☆
Sourcery
After how incredible Mort was, I thought we were finally out of the disappointing Discworld novels, but Sourcery, unfortunately, didn’t live up to the standards set by Mort. This novel felt like reading The Light Fantastic all over again, albeit with slightly better writing. All told, it should be better than The Light Fantastic, but I had just read that one, so I wasn’t ready to read it all over again. I wound up giving Sourcery three stars, though I feel I’d give it a higher rating if I weren’t reading it so closely to The Light Fantastic.
☆☆☆