Discworld Reading Order: All 41 Books + Where to Start

The Discworld reading order can look intimidating because Terry Pratchett wrote 41 core novels set on the same extraordinary world. The books mix comic fantasy, mystery, satire, folklore, and social commentary, with recurring characters whose stories often overlap.

You can read a single novel, follow one character-focused subseries, or work through the complete sequence. This guide keeps the 41 novels separate from the short fiction and companion books, so it is clear what belongs to the main series and what is optional.

Jump to:

• How to Read the Discworld Books in Order
• Discworld Books in Publication Order
• Discworld Reading Order by Subseries
• Discworld Standalones
• Discworld Short Stories
• The Science of Discworld Books in Order
• Optional Discworld Companion Books
• What is Discworld About?
• About Terry Pratchett

How to Read the Discworld Books in Order

There is no single required way to read Discworld. I recommend publication order if you want the fullest sense of how the world, characters, and Pratchett’s style develop. If 41 novels feel like too much at once, choose a subseries and keep that smaller sequence in publication order.

Where to Start with Discworld

The first Discworld novel is The Color of Magic, but it is not the only sensible starting point. I’d choose your first book based on what sounds most appealing:

• For the complete series from the beginning: The Color of Magic
• For crime, investigations, and Ankh-Morpork: Guards! Guards!
• For Death, humanity, and philosophical comedy: Mort
• For Granny Weatherwax and the familiar witches’ coven: Wyrd Sisters
• For a largely self-contained introduction: Small Gods or The Truth
• For Moist von Lipwig and Ankh-Morpork’s modernization: Going Postal
• For a younger-reader entry point: The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents or The Wee Free Men

The Color of Magic and The Light Fantastic form the clearest direct two-book continuation, so I recommend reading those together. Most other novels tell a complete central story, but recurring characters and institutions still change across the series.

Discworld Books in Publication Order

There are 41 core Discworld novels. Publication order is the simplest complete reading order because it preserves the development of the recurring characters, Ankh-Morpork, and the wider Disc.

The numbering below follows the original Discworld sequence. The years in parentheses are the first U.S. publication years, which is why several early books do not appear in strict year order.

1. The Color of Magic (1983)
2. The Light Fantastic (1987)
3. Equal Rites (1988)
4. Mort (1989)
5. Sourcery (1989)
6. Wyrd Sisters (1990)
7. Pyramids (1989)
8. Guards! Guards! (1990)
9. Eric (1995)
10. Moving Pictures (1992)
11. Reaper Man (1992)
12. Witches Abroad (1993)
13. Small Gods (1994)
14. Lords and Ladies (1995)
15. Men at Arms (1996)
16. Soul Music (1995)
17. Interesting Times (1997)
18. Maskerade (1997)
19. Feet of Clay (1996)
20. Hogfather (1998)
21. Jingo (1998)
22. The Last Continent (1999)
23. Carpe Jugulum (1999)
24. The Fifth Elephant (2000)
25. The Truth (2000)
26. Thief of Time (2001)
27. The Last Hero (2001)
28. The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents (2001)
29. Night Watch (2002)
30. The Wee Free Men (2003)
31. Monstrous Regiment (2003)
32. A Hat Full of Sky (2004)
33. Going Postal (2004)
34. Thud! (2005)
35. Wintersmith (2006)
36. Making Money (2007)
37. Unseen Academicals (2009)
38. I Shall Wear Midnight (2010)
39. Snuff (2011)
40. Raising Steam (2014)
41. The Shepherd’s Crown (2015)

Discworld Reading Order by Subseries

The Discworld subseries follow recurring characters and institutions. These routes overlap, so they are better understood as character arcs than as completely separate series. My advice is to pick the group that interests you and read its books in the order below.

Rincewind and the Wizards

This route follows Rincewind and the wizards of Unseen University. Rincewind is central to most of the books, while Unseen Academicals focuses more broadly on the university and its staff.

1. The Color of Magic
2. The Light Fantastic
3. Sourcery
4. Eric
5. Interesting Times
6. The Last Continent
7. The Last Hero
8. Unseen Academicals

The Last Hero is an ensemble adventure involving Rincewind, Cohen the Barbarian, Carrot, and other established characters. Some publisher guides classify it as a standalone, but I include it here because Rincewind and the wizards are central to the story.

City Watch and Sam Vimes

The City Watch books follow Sam Vimes, Carrot, and the expanding Ankh-Morpork Watch. Across the series, the Watch grows from a neglected night patrol into a larger and more diverse civic institution while its members investigate crimes, political conflicts, and threats far beyond the city.

1. Guards! Guards!
2. Men at Arms
3. Feet of Clay
4. Jingo
5. The Fifth Elephant
6. Night Watch
7. Thud!
8. Snuff

Witches

Equal Rites is the earliest Granny Weatherwax story and follows Eskarina Smith, a girl who inherits wizard magic. The familiar coven of Granny Weatherwax, Nanny Ogg, and Magrat Garlick begins with Wyrd Sisters.

1. Equal Rites
2. Wyrd Sisters
3. Witches Abroad
4. Lords and Ladies
5. Maskerade
6. Carpe Jugulum

Death

Death appears in The Color of Magic, but Mort is the first Death-centered novel. These books also develop Death’s family, especially Susan Sto Helit, and explore what it means to be human from a distinctly Discworld perspective.

1. Mort
2. Reaper Man
3. Soul Music
4. Hogfather
5. Thief of Time

Moist von Lipwig

Moist von Lipwig is a con man whom Lord Vetinari forces into public service after a staged execution. His books follow the revival of the Ankh-Morpork Post Office, the city’s banking system, and its railway.

1. Going Postal
2. Making Money
3. Raising Steam

Tiffany Aching

Tiffany Aching is a young witch from the Chalk who grows into her responsibilities across five connected novels. This is one of the most sequential Discworld arcs, so I strongly recommend reading it in order.

1. The Wee Free Men
2. A Hat Full of Sky
3. Wintersmith
4. I Shall Wear Midnight
5. The Shepherd’s Crown

After the novels, Tiffany Aching’s Guide to Being a Witch (2025) is an optional illustrated companion by Rhianna Pratchett and Gabrielle Kent, with illustrations by Paul Kidby. It is not a sixth Tiffany Aching novel or a continuation of the 41-book series.

Discworld Standalones

These six novels are not assigned exclusively to one of the principal continuing character subseries. They can generally be read independently, although recurring Discworld characters, institutions, and events still appear in several of them.

1. Pyramids
2. Moving Pictures
3. Small Gods
4. The Truth
5. The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents
6. Monstrous Regiment

For a first standalone, I prefer Small Gods if you want philosophy and religion, or The Truth if you want an Ankh-Morpork story about journalism and public life.

Discworld Short Stories

The simplest way to read Terry Pratchett’s Discworld short fiction is through A Blink of the Screen: Collected Shorter Fiction (2015). The collection includes non-Discworld fiction as well, but its principal Discworld stories are:

1. Troll Bridge (1992) (Short Story) (found in A Blink of the Screen)
2. Theatre of Cruelty (1993) (Short Story) (found in A Blink of the Screen)
3. The Sea and Little Fishes (1998) (Short Story) (found in A Blink of the Screen)
4. Death and What Comes Next (2004) (Short Story) (found in A Blink of the Screen)
5. A Collegiate Casting-out of Devilish Devices (2005) (Short Story) (found in A Blink of the Screen)
6. Minutes of the Meeting to Form the Proposed Ankh-Morpork Federation of Scouts (2007) (Short Story) (found in A Blink of the Screen)

The collection also includes shorter in-world pieces such as the Ankh-Morpork National Anthem, medical notes, and material connected to Unseen University. I’d read these as optional additions rather than insert them into the 41-novel sequence.

The Science of Discworld Books in Order

Terry Pratchett wrote the four Science of Discworld books with mathematician Ian Stewart and biologist Jack Cohen. Each volume alternates a fictional Unseen University story with nonfiction chapters about science, history, and the development of Roundworld. They are companion collaborations, not Discworld novels 42 through 45.

1. The Science of Discworld (2014)
2. The Globe: The Science of Discworld II (2015)
3. Darwin’s Watch: The Science of Discworld III (2015)
4. Judgment Day: The Science of Discworld IV (2015)

Optional Discworld Companion Books

Discworld has many maps, diaries, adaptations, art books, and novelty publications. I would not treat those as required reading. The following companions add meaningful story or reference material without turning this guide into a catalog of every Discworld product:

1. Where’s My Cow? (2005)
2. The Folklore of Discworld (2014)
3. The World of Poo (2015)

Where’s My Cow? works best after Thud!, while The World of Poo is the in-world book mentioned in Snuff. The Folklore of Discworld, written with Jacqueline Simpson, is a reference companion that connects Discworld’s myths and customs with folklore from our world.

What is Discworld About?

In the beginning, there was a turtle. Great A’Tuin swims through space with four enormous elephants on its shell, and the flat, circular Discworld rests on their backs.

Pratchett uses that impossible setting to tell stories about people, institutions, power, belief, prejudice, work, family, and social change. The series moves between cities, kingdoms, deserts, mountains, and rural communities, but Ankh-Morpork becomes one of its most important recurring settings.

Most Discworld novels were written for adults. The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents and the Tiffany Aching books are the clearest younger-reader branches, although they still contain the wit, moral complexity, and emotional weight found throughout the series.

About Terry Pratchett

Terry Pratchett was an English fantasy author best known for creating Discworld. He published the first novel, The Color of Magic, in 1983 and completed 41 Discworld novels before his death in 2015.

Pratchett was known for comic storytelling that examined serious subjects without losing its warmth or humor. He was knighted for services to literature in 2009, and The Shepherd’s Crown was published after his death as the final Discworld novel.

Looking for more books in order?

If you want more fantasy authors and reading-order guides like this one, start with my Fantasy Books in Order index.

• Books in Order (Full Index)
• The Lord of the Rings Books in Order
• The Chronicles of Narnia Books in Order
• The Dresden Files Books in Order