Terry Pratchett
What Douglas Adams did for Science Fiction, Terry Pratchett has done to fantasy. His books are, in one way, parodies of life. His main technique is to take common themes and cast them in his own imaginary place -The Discworld -to show how ridiculous they really are. He makes you re-evaluate things, and reading his books will equip you with new ways of filtering the world.
His mainstay are the Discworld books. There are four 'streams', which should be read in particular order, (though all his books are relatively self-contained, you'll probably get more enjoyment if you do it this way) and a couple of unordered books. They are:
|
The Rincewind Stream |
The Death Stream Mort Reaper Man Soul Music Hogfather |
The Witches Stream Equal Rites Wyrd Sisters Witches Abroad Lords and Ladies Masquerade |
The Watchmen Stream Guards! Guards! Men at Arms Feet of Clay Jingo The Fifth Elephant |
The Unordered Ones Moving Pictures Pyramids Small Gods |
Yes, there are a lot. My favourite is Witches Abroad, and therefore my opinion is that you should start that stream first. Historically, the Ricewind stream is the main introduction to the world, and you should do the first two books from that fairly early. A wonderful stand-alone story is 'Small Gods' to get a feeling for how Pratchett writes with depth. 'Moving Pictures' is pretty good for a light read. If I were to pick two books which you should not read first, they would be 'Eric' and 'Soul Music'. They are, to be blunt, not as good as the rest of them. They're still pretty good, but most people rank them at the bottom of their lists. For everyone else, they're good. For Pratchett, they're mediocre. Read them for completeness.
Also, do not read the Watchmen stream without having first done a couple from Rincewind. You really need some background flavour on the city of Ankh-Morpork to get the full impact of Gaurds! Guards!
Before the Discworld series, Pratchett wrote two little-known science fiction books: 'Dark Side of the Sun' and 'Strata'. Both are exceptionally good Sci-Fi. 'Strata' in particular is interesting because it foreshadows the Discworld, you can see him playing with the concepts of a flat world.
He also co-wrote a book with Neil Gaiman called 'Good Omens', and two other series:
| The Nomes Series Truckers Diggers Wings |
The Johnny Series Only You can Save Mankind Johnny and the Dead Johnny and the Bomb |
Other Books Dark Side of the Sun Strata Good Omens The Carpet People The Science of Discworld |
Two deserve mention. 'The Carpet People' was co-written by Terry Pratchet with himself. It is special. If I had to pick one book that summed up, in one go, what makes him different, it would be The Carpet People. Actually, ignore my previous advice, and read this one first.
'The Science of Discworld' is not at all like those other, similarly named books. Determined scientists on the Discworld tend to get eaten by dragons or smitten by Gods. Science just doesn't work there, and everything runs on 'narritive imperative'. So, it provides an excellent lens to view our world through. The book has two threads, one narritive thread in which the Wizards of Unseen University accidentally create a pocket universe in which magic doesn't work, and try to come to grips with it. Of course, this is our universe, as seen from the outside. This is interspersed with chapters which explain what the wizards are seeing, and why. We watch our universe born, stars and planets form, and life arise, to the perplexment of wizards who know that a flat world is the only good kind.
One last note, most ofthe cover art of his books (in their current editions) has been done by one artist, Josh Kirby. One suspects that Kirby's art has been intrumental in the success of the books. You can tell a Pratchett at ten paces just by the cover. Too many books have covers that are done by artists who get called into publisher's offices and get told 'Do a cover. It's for a fantasy book. Put dragons on it, and maybe a guy with a big sword, and probably some shapely lass who's in danger of falling out of her ripped clothes. It needs to be done by noon.' Kirby reads the books, carefully. They somehow contain the whole story. He still has shapely lasses who are in danger of falling our of their leather, but you know he's being sarcastic.
Actually, another artist with the confusing name of Josh Kidby seems
to be doing a lot of recent artwork. Kirby is a cartoonish watercolor
man. Kidby goes for portrait photorealism, and was the main instrument
behind 'The Discworld Portfolio', meant to be the final word on what all
the characters look like.