Discworld by Terry Pratchett

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Submitted by Jason Ogg 
(Jul 27, 2010)

This isnt really a fantasy book. Discworld is what you would get if you dropped a contemporary PG Wodehouse into middle earth and had him tell the story, sort of. i was just annoyed because all the reviews here are critically positive yet it has only 2 globes.

Anyway, Discworld is a fantasy parody/satire series and overall the funniest thing to be put on paper.

I found this book both extremely funny and terribly funny. The relationship between the Luggage (scary) and Rincewind has reached new depths! While the ending is a bit weird but still rib splitting, you'll enjoy the opening sequences of Rincewind better :Note the diary. Overall a truly hilarious book you wont be able to put down!

Terry Pratchet is a perceptive author who appears to be able to look dispassionately at the ways of mankind as if he were from another wiser and more stable universe. The world he has created in his Discworld series is not a more sensible or just place, it is a warped reflection of our own world, whose inhabitants mirror our behaviour in all its glory and folly. Each novel has a central theme which allows Pratchett to point out the beauties and absurdities of the equivalent phenomenon on our own planet Earth. Whether focussing his satirical searchlight on the outlandish antics of tourists (“The Colour of Magic”), the absurdities of Hollywood (“Moving Pictures”) or the contradictions of belief (“Small Gods”) – to name but a few – he manages to illuminate his subject for the reader, while giving them an enjoyable and often hilarious roller coaster ride through his intricate plots.

Few fantasy authors have been able to sustain interest in their imaginative world with the ease with which Pratchet has. His hoards of loyal fans devour each new edition as soon as it rolls off the press and are seldom disappointed. Of course, in such a broad canvas, there are always details that are open to criticism. He has been accused of veering towards repetitiveness and auto-plagiarism, especially in having produced several novels in the series with DEATH as a main character. However, if Pratchett returns to a theme, it is probably because he has felt that his previous works on a subject have still not yielded all the juice that his wit can squeeze out of them, rather than due to a lack of ideas.

Pratchett is the latest in a long line of comic authors, stretching back to Aristophanes, who have the ability to examine the human race under a microscope and point out the absurdities of so much that we take for granted as normal. Few, however, have matched the breadth of his imagination or the depth of his humanity. I would have no hesitation in recommending Pratchett’s "Discworld Series" to any reader, not just the fantasy fan.

What can I say that has not already been said about Terry Pratchett's Discworld series? All I can do is write the adjectives that describe his work. Brilliant, hilarious, interesting, swarthy, colloquial, blessed, etc. etc. etc. The first Discworld book I read was Jingo, and I was so astounded by it that I had to buy the rest. It is sublimely clever and I often find myself laughing out loud in public while reading it (receiving some very odd looks from spectators). Quite simply it is a collection of the best books I have ever read. I strongly recommend these books to anyone who is interested in intelligent and somewhat insightful reading.

The whole series is amazing! Anyone who wants an intelligent yet fantastically funny read should buy, borrow or steal one of his books! They're all great!