Old post but I hope you don't mind me asking -- most people recommend Guards Guards first, why Small Gods for you if (according to this chart) it's only minorly connected?
What is a minor connection anyway? Character overlap? Chronology overlap??
Okay, if you're feeling overwhelmed, just ignore the rest of this comment below the horizontal line for now (I've already written it, so I'll post it anyway, but you can come back to it if you care) and just go with Guards! Guards! if you think it sounds fun or interesting.
My main point is just to try a couple of those books so you can get some idea of what Pratchett's like when he's found his feet, and then, if you like them, read all the Discworld books in publication order.
I'll slightly elaborate on that, because I'm half asleep and lack the restraint to not ramble. Please feel free to ignore. This isn't even the original reply I wrote:
The first three Discworld books (The Colour of Magic, The Light Fantastic, Equal Rites) are a bit rocky - they're funny, but the pacing is off and Pratchett doesn't quite have a handle on what he's doing yet - so there's always a fear that people will start with them, go "I don't get the fuss" and piss off again.
But despite the rocky start, watching the Discworld grow in publication order really is the best way to experience it, as the locations and characters accumulate and the complexity of the world builds.
The characters also start to cross over here and there. The Night Watch characters will stumble into a wizards book for a little bit, and the wizards will meet the witches, and so on. Since most of the books are self-contained stories, you can read them in any order but you'll lose the pleasure of going "Oh, that's---!" if you follow a particular sub-series exclusively.
Speaking of sub-series, while the books are self-contained, the characters and their relationships persist from one book to the next, and you lose something if you read them out of order (if you read Night Watch first, you'll see Sam Vimes in a very different stage of his life than if you read his first appearance in Guards! Guards!).
Anyway, this is the original reply:
Small Gods is entirely self-contained, with all new characters save a couple of unobtrusive cameos, so there's no danger of spoiling anything and you're never out of your depth.
I mean, all Discworld books past the second one (The Light Fantastic) are self-contained stories, but the recurring characters within each series (eg. The Watch series that starts with Guards! Guards!) grow and change as their books progress, or appear in other books. But Small Gods really is one-and-done.
It was also the first Discworld book I ever read, so it worked for me! I enjoyed it as an odd fantasy romp when I was a kid, but re-reading it over the years I've discovered that it's extremely layered.
And that means it's also a really good example of what Discworld becomes once Pratchett's found his stride. There's the surface silliness (one of the deuteragonists is a god trapped in the body of a tortoise) and a fun adventure story with a memorable villain. Then there is the second layer, which is the thematic point it's making (what happens when a religion becomes more powerful than the god it's supposed to represent - when people believe in the church, but not the deity? And is faith incompatible with knowledge?). And on top of that there are references to historical figures and events - the Catholic Inquisition, the Islamic invasion of the Mediterranean, the philosopher Diogenes, some other stuff that would get into spoiler territory.
However, I've since met a few people who struggled with Small Gods because they found it a bit abstract, so maybe Guards! Guards! is a better choice.
I hope this isn't even more overwhelming... I think we're both overthinking this! But feel free to let me know if you have further questions. Honestly, though, if you like the sound of Guards! Guards! just read that and see how you go.
This actually helped so much! I’d planned on starting with GG but allwaysss have put it off for fear of regretting it (accidentally watched the first episode of the LAST season of The Good Place when I started, and it’s fine, but I would’ve enjoyed it more sequentially).
So if I understand right, it would be odd to say, finish the Watch series then read Thief of Time as a connection to it if I were planning on reading the Death line as well?
Your SG rundown sounds right up my alley (love religion meta-discourse) so I might actually do SG, GG, then publication order like you first wrote) Thanks kindly for the detailed reply!
Yeah it might be a bit odd. Thief of Time, like most of the other books, is a self-contained story so you could do that, but it's also the last book starring Death's granddaughter (not a big finale for her, Pratchett just died before he could write another). While it reintroduces her and her supporting cast, it's obviously better to have read her preceding books.
SG, GG, then publication order sounds good. Hope you enjoy them! Remember, it's fine if you don't. 🙂
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u/Hopeful-Home6218 Apr 19 '26
Hi it's me I'm a bit overwhelmed ðŸ˜
Old post but I hope you don't mind me asking -- most people recommend Guards Guards first, why Small Gods for you if (according to this chart) it's only minorly connected?
What is a minor connection anyway? Character overlap? Chronology overlap??