Portal:Discworld/Book of the day
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- /1 - The Colour of Magic
- /2 - The Light Fantastic
- /3 - Equal Rites
- /4 - Mort
- /5 - Sourcery
- /6 - Wyrd Sisters
- /7 - Pyramids
- /8 - Guards! Guards!
- /9 - Eric
- /10 - Moving Pictures
- /11 - Reaper Man
- /12 - Witches Abroad
- /13 - Small Gods
- /14 - Lords and Ladies
- /15 - Men at Arms
- /16 - Soul Music
- /17 - Interesting Times
- /18 - Maskerade
- /19 - Feet of Clay
- /20 - Hogfather
- /21 - Jingo
- /22 - The Last Continent
- /23 - Carpe Jugulum
- /24 - The Fifth Elephant
- /25 - The Truth
- /26 - Thief of Time
- /27 - The Last Hero
- /28 - The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents
- /29 - Night Watch
- /30 - The Wee Free Men
- /31 - Monstrous Regiment
- /32 - A Hat Full of Sky
- /33 - Going Postal
- /34 - Thud!
- /35 - Wintersmith
The following will be added when they are published:
- /36 - Making Money
- /37 - I Shall Wear Midnight
Preview
The Colour of Magic is the first Discworld novel, and was published in 1983. It is also one of only six Discworld novels to be divided into sections or chapters, the others being Pyramids, Going Postal, and the three books for young readers. Each chapter is in fact a separate short story featuring the same characters. The idea of The Colour of Magic - that all that happens is due to the gods' gambling - is somewhat similar to traditional role-playing games, in that the roll of the dice determines what happens to the characters.
The main character is the incompetent and cynical wizard Rincewind, who involuntarily finds himself as a guide to the naïve tourist, Twoflower. After they are forced to flee from the city of Ankh-Morpork, they meet two barbarians, Bravd and Weasel, parodies of Fritz Leiber's fantasy heroes Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser. Both characters also have a narrow escape from Bel-Shamharoth — a monster inspired by H. P. Lovecraft, who wrote many stories in a universe where unspeakable Evil lives, and where Ancient Gods (with unpronounceable names) play games with the lives of mortals.
| Preceded by None |
1st Rincewind Story Published in 1983 |
Succeeded by The Light Fantastic |
| Discworld reading order | Full article |
The Light Fantastic is the second Discworld novel, published in 1986. The title is a quote from a poem by John Milton and in the original context referred to dancing lightly with extravagance. The events of the novel are a direct continuation of those in the preceding Discworld novel, The Colour of Magic.
After the wizard Rincewind has fallen from the edge of the Discworld, his life is mysteriously saved as he lands back on it. Meanwhile, the wizards of Ankh-Morpork discover that the Discworld will soon be destroyed unless the eight spells of the Octavo are read: the most powerful spells in existence, one of which hides in Rincewind's head. Consequently, several orders of wizards try to find Rincewind and kill him, led by Trymon, a former classmate of Rincewind's, who wishes to obtain the power of the spells for himself.
| Preceded by The Colour of Magic |
2nd Rincewind Story Published in 1986 |
Succeeded by Sourcery |
| Discworld reading order | Full article |
Equal Rites is the third Discworld novel, first published in 1987. It is the first novel where the main character is not Rincewind, and introduces the character of Granny Weatherwax who reappears in several later Discworld novels.
The wizard Drum Billet knows that he will soon die and travels to a place where an eighth son of an eighth son is about to be born. Since such a boy is destined to become a wizard (on the Discworld, the number eight has many of the magical properties that are ascribed to seven in the real world), Billet wants to pass his staff on to him as his successor. However, the child born is actually a girl, Esk (full name Eskarina Smith). Since Billet notices his mistake too late, the staff is passed on to her.
| Preceded by None |
1st Witches Story Published in 1987 |
Succeeded by Wyrd Sisters |
| Discworld reading order | Full article |
Mort is fourth Discworld novel, and also the name of its main character. Published in 1987, it is the first to focus on the Death of the Discworld, who only appeared as a side character in the previous novels. As a teenager, Mort's personality and temperament made him rather unsuited to the family farming business, resulting in his father taking him to a local hiring fair. Mort is hired by Death as an aprentice. The pressure of the job (and a crush on a princess who is due to die) forces Mort to make a few mistakes, but like all good heroes, he grows some spine, gains some self control, challenges Death to a duel and waltzes away with the girl in the end, but not the correct girl by normal fantasy standards.
| Preceded by None |
1st Death Story Published in 1987 |
Succeeded by Reaper Man |
| Discworld reading order | Full article |
Sourcery is the fifth Discworld novel, published in 1988. On the Discworld, sourcerers - wizards who are sources of magic – were the main cause of the great mage wars that left areas of the disc uninhabitable. Men born the eighth son of an eighth son are commonly Wizards. Since sourcerers are born the eighth son of an eighth son of eighth son, wizards are not allowed to marry or have children. The first few pages of the novel deal with a sourcerer's father who cheats death by making a prophecy that Death must honour; the alternative is to risk destroying the Discworld. The rest of the novel deals with the sourcerer's plan to have wizards rule the Discworld, and the efforts of a small group - including Rincewind the Wizard, Nijel the destroyer and Conina the Hairdresser, daughter of Cohen the Barbarian - to thwart those plans.
| Preceded by Light Fantastic |
3rd Rincewind Story Published in 1988 |
Succeeded by |
| Discworld reading order | Full article |
Wyrd Sisters is the sixth Discworld novel, published in 1988, and re-introduces Granny Weatherwax of Equal Rites. Essentially a parody or calque of Macbeth, Wyrd Sisters features three witches: Granny Weatherwax; Nanny Ogg, matriarch of a large tribe of Oggs, who owns the most evil cat in the world, (Greebo); and Magrat Garlick, the junior witch, who firmly believes in occult jewellery, even though none of it works.
| Preceded by Equal Rites |
2th Witches Story Published in 1988 |
Succeeded by Witches Abroad |
| Discworld reading order | Full article |
Pyramids is the seventh Discworld novel, published in 1989. The main character of Pyramids is Pteppic (pronounced Teppic), prince of the tiny kingdom of Djelibeybi (a pun on Jelly baby, a confection popular in the United Kingdom). Young Teppic has been in training at the Assassins Guild in Ankh-Morpork for several years. The day after passing his final exam he realizes his father has died and he must return home. Being the first Djelibeybian king raised outside the kingdom leads to some interesting problems, particularly when a giant pyramid constructed in honor of Teppic's father twists the dimensions and brings to existence all of the kingdom's gods.
| Preceded by None |
1st Individual Story Published in 1989 |
Succeeded by Moving Pictures |
| Discworld reading order | Full article |
Guards! Guards! is the 8th Discworld novel, first published in 1989. It is the first novel about the City Watch. The first Discworld computer game borrowed heavily from Guards! Guards! in terms of plot. The story follows a plot by a secret brotherhood, the Unique and Supreme Lodge of the Elucidated Brethren of the Ebon Night, to overthrow the Patrician of Ankh-Morpork and install a puppet king, under the control of the Supreme Grand Master (Vetinari's secretary, Lupine Wonse). Using a stolen magic book, they summon a dragon to strike fear into the people of Ankh-Morpork.
Once a suitable state of terror and panic has been created, the Supreme Grand Master proposes to put forth an "heir" to the throne, who will slay the dragon and rid the city of tyranny. It is the task of the Night Watch – Captain Vimes, Sergeant Colon, Corporal Nobbs, and new volunteer Carrot Ironfoundersson – to stop them, with some help from the Librarian of the Unseen University, an orangutan trying to get the stolen book back.
| Preceded by None |
1st City Watch Story Published in 1989 |
Succeeded by Men at Arms |
| Discworld reading order | Full article |
Eric is the ninth Discworld novel, and is a parody of the tale of Faust. It was originally published in 1990 as a "Discworld story", in a larger format than the other novels and illustrated by Josh Kirby. It was later reissued as a normal paperback without any illustrations, and in some cases, with the title given on the cover and title pages simply as Eric. (The page headers, however, continued to alternate between Faust and Eric.)
| Preceded by Sourcery |
4th Rincewind Story Published in 1990 |
Succeeded by Interesting Times |
| Discworld reading order | Full article |
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A Hat Full of Sky is the 32nd Discworld novel, and was written with younger readers in mind. It is set two years after The Wee Free Men, and features an 11-year old Tiffany Aching. The book is also a sequel to the Discworld short story "The Sea and Little Fishes", which introduced the Witch Trials and Mrs Earwig.
| Preceded by The Wee Free Men |
2nd Tiffany Aching Story Published in 2003 |
Succeeded by Wintersmith |
| Discworld reading order | Full article |
Going Postal the 33rd Discworld novel, released in the United Kingdom on September 25, 2004. Unusually for a Discworld novel (other than the children's books and the Science of Discworlds) Going Postal is divided into chapters. These chapters begin with a synopsis of philosophical themes, in a similar manner to some Victorian novels and, notably, to Jules Verne stories. This experiment was not continued with the next novel, Thud!
| Preceded by None |
1st Moist von Lipwig story Published in 2004 |
Succeeded by Making Money |
| Discworld reading order | Full article |
Thud! is the 34th Discworld novel, released in the United States of America on September 13, 2005, and the United Kingdom on October 1, 2005.
"Koom Valley? That was where the trolls ambushed the dwarfs, or the dwarfs ambushed the trolls. It was far away. It was a long time ago. But if he doesn't solve the murder of just one dwarf, Commander Sam Vimes of Ankh-Morpork City Watch is going to see it fought again, right outside his office. With his beloved Watch crumbling around him and war-drums sounding, he must unravel every clue, outwit every assassin and brave any darkness to find the solution. And darkness is following him. Oh...and at six o'clock every day, without fail, with no excuses, he must go home to read 'Where's My Cow?', with all the right farmyard noises, to his little boy. There are some things you have to do."
| Preceded by Night Watch |
8th City Watch Story Published in 2005 |
Succeeded by None |
| Discworld reading order | Full article |
Wintersmith is the 35th Discworld novel, written with younger readers in mind. It was published on the 21 September 2006.
Two years after the events of A Hat Full of Sky, Tiffany Aching, now 13 years old, is training with the witch Miss Treason. But when she takes Tiffany to witness the secret Dark Morris - the Morris dance (performed wearing black clothes and octiron bells) that welcomes in the winter, Tiffany finds herself drawn into the dance and joins in. She finds herself face to face with the Wintersmith - the winter himself - who mistakes her for the Lady Summer and falls in love with her.
| Preceded by A Hat Full of Sky |
3rd Tiffany Aching Story Published in 2006 |
Succeeded by I Shall Wear Midnight |
| Discworld reading order | Full article |
