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See the Discworld books in order, with short summaries, subseries reading paths, and where to start in Terry Pratchett’s comic fantasy universe.

Last updated: December 26, 2025

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Publication Order

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41 books

1

The Shepherd's Crown

by Terry Pratchett

2015

Tiffany steps into bigger responsibilities after a loss shakes the witching world. With old threats stirring and new allies to guide, she must protect the Chalk and decide what kind of witch she wants to be.

2

Raising Steam

by Terry Pratchett

2013

A new steam railway is about to link Ankh-Morpork to the wider world, and not everyone wants progress arriving on schedule. With politics, sabotage, and old prejudices in play, the city faces a noisy new era.

3

Snuff

by Terry Pratchett

2011

On a rare holiday in the countryside, Sam Vimes runs into a crime that polite society refuses to name. His investigation pulls him into the ugly reality of exploitation, and the law has to reach beyond the city for once.

4

I Shall Wear Midnight

by Terry Pratchett

2010

Tiffany is older now, and witchcraft means making hard choices in a world that doesn’t always want a witch. When fear turns people against her, she faces a growing darkness that feeds on suspicion and hate.

5

Unseen Academicals

by Terry Pratchett

2007

Unseen University is forced to take football seriously, and that means training wizards, students, and a very unlikely team. As the game grows into a civic obsession, old rivalries and new business schemes collide.

6

Making Money

by Terry Pratchett

2007

Moist von Lipwig is pushed into running the city’s bank, a job that sounds respectable until you meet the people who benefit from keeping money mysterious. He has to stop a financial disaster while learning what “trust” means.

7

Wintersmith

by Terry Pratchett

2006

Tiffany accidentally draws the attention of the Wintersmith, a force of winter that misunderstands what it means to be human. As the cold deepens, she has to put the seasons back in balance before everything freezes.

8

Thud!

by Terry Pratchett

2005

An ancient grudge between dwarfs and trolls is about to erupt in the streets of Ankh-Morpork. Sam Vimes races to stop a riot while solving a murder, and he has to do it before the city tears itself apart.

9

Going Postal

by Terry Pratchett

2004

Con man Moist von Lipwig is given a choice: hang or rebuild Ankh-Morpork’s broken Post Office. He takes the job, and immediately finds himself fighting sabotage, greedy rivals, and the city’s stubborn love of chaos.

10

A Hat Full of Sky

by Terry Pratchett

2004

Tiffany begins training as a witch and learns that caring for people is real work. When a hungry spirit latches onto her mind, she has to survive jealousy, fear, and a battle that no one else can see.

11

The Wee Free Men

by Terry Pratchett

2003

Nine-year-old Tiffany Aching’s brother is kidnapped by fairy folk, and she refuses to accept it. With a frying pan, sharp common sense, and help from the rowdy Nac Mac Feegle, she heads into a dangerous otherworld.

12

Monstrous Regiment

by Terry Pratchett

2003

A young woman disguises herself as a man to join the army and find her missing brother. In a war full of bad leadership and stranger secrets, her squad discovers that the “rules” of gender and patriotism are built on lies.

13

Night Watch

by Terry Pratchett

2002

Sam Vimes is thrown back in time to the Ankh-Morpork of his youth, just as a revolution is about to turn violent. Trapped in the past, he has to protect the city he hasn’t built yet, and become the legend he once followed.

14

Thief of Time

by Terry Pratchett

2001

A plot to control time threatens reality itself, and the History Monks are drawn into a fight they may not understand. Susan Sto Helit and a very unusual apprentice must untangle the scheme before the world stops.

15

The Last Hero

by Terry Pratchett

2001

Cohen the Barbarian and his Silver Horde head on a final, glorious mission that could destroy the Disc. A desperate rescue party follows, and the fate of heroes, gods, and the world rides on the outcome.

16

The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents

by Terry Pratchett

2001

Maurice is a talking cat running a scam with a crew of unusually smart rats and a naive boy piper. When they reach a town that already has a rat problem, the con turns into a fight for survival and something like conscience.

17

The Truth

by Terry Pratchett

2000

William de Worde starts a newspaper in Ankh-Morpork and learns that truth is messy, especially when powerful people prefer lies. With help from strange coworkers and a new printing press, he uncovers a conspiracy that could shake the city.

18

The Fifth Elephant

by Terry Pratchett

1999

Sam Vimes is sent as an ambassador to Uberwald, where dwarfs and werewolves are on the edge of conflict. A missing royal artifact and a city full of assassins turn diplomacy into a dangerous investigation.

19

The Last Continent

by Terry Pratchett

1998

Rincewind lands on a mysterious continent that looks a lot like Discworld’s Australia, and nothing behaves sensibly. As the wizards try to fix time itself, Rincewind stumbles into survival, folklore, and a very odd destiny.

20

Carpe Jugulum

by Terry Pratchett

1998

A modern, well-organised vampire family moves into Lancre and assumes it can take over politely. Granny Weatherwax and her fellow witches meet a new kind of predator, and old methods may not be enough.

21

Jingo

by Terry Pratchett

1997

A long-lost island rises between two nations, and suddenly everyone wants a war. Sam Vimes is sent abroad to keep the peace, but politics, propaganda, and old grudges make that job nearly impossible.

22

Hogfather

by Terry Pratchett

1996

Discworld’s version of Santa has gone missing, and Death decides to cover his shift. Susan Sto Helit races to find out who is erasing belief itself, before the world wakes up without its stories.

23

Feet of Clay

by Terry Pratchett

1996

A series of murders points toward the city’s golems, and the City Watch has to work out who is really pulling the strings. Sam Vimes investigates a case where prejudice is a weapon and “human” isn’t a simple category.

24

Maskerade

by Terry Pratchett

1995

The Lancre witches go to the opera, where a ghostly figure is causing trouble backstage. As murders pile up and masks start slipping, Granny Weatherwax and Nanny Ogg dig into the business of showmanship and secrets.

25

Soul Music

by Terry Pratchett

1994

Music with a capital M arrives on the Disc, and it comes with strange echoes and dangerous momentum. Susan Sto Helit, Death’s granddaughter, gets pulled into the chaos as a band accidentally becomes a phenomenon.

26

Interesting Times

by Terry Pratchett

1994

Rincewind is kidnapped by mysterious agents and sent to the Agatean Empire, where revolution is brewing. Caught between warring factions and a powerful “great wizard” myth, he tries to survive another impossible trip.

27

Men at Arms

by Terry Pratchett

1993

The City Watch starts recruiting outsiders, a troll, a dwarf, and more, just as a new weapon hits the streets. Sam Vimes must solve a murder while the city’s tensions threaten to boil over.

28

Small Gods

by Terry Pratchett

1992

In a desert land where religion is power, the great god Om finds himself stuck in the body of a tortoise, with only one true believer left. Together, Om and the novice Brutha stumble into a struggle over faith, fear, and control.

29

Lords and Ladies

by Terry Pratchett

1992

Lancre is hosting a royal wedding, and something ancient is trying to slip back into the world. Granny Weatherwax and the witches face the elves, beautiful, cruel, and dangerously persuasive.

30

Witches Abroad

by Terry Pratchett

1991

Granny Weatherwax, Nanny Ogg, and Magrat travel far from Lancre to stop a fairy tale from locking a young woman into a bad ending. Along the way they discover that stories fight back when you mess with them.

31

Reaper Man

by Terry Pratchett

1991

Death is fired and forced to live as an ordinary laborer, with only a scythe and a new name. Meanwhile, in Ankh-Morpork, life is getting crowded as the dead refuse to stay dead, and something in the universe is breaking.

32

Moving Pictures

by Terry Pratchett

1990

Hollywood comes to Ankh-Morpork when “moving pictures” start appearing, and the city falls in love with the new craze. Victor Tugelbend and his friends discover that the movies have a mind of their own, and it’s hungry.

33

Eric

by Terry Pratchett

1990

A teenage demonologist tries to summon a demon and gets Rincewind instead. What follows is a chaotic tour through mythic destinations, with a magical mishap at every stop and a very confused would-be Faust.

34

Pyramids

by Terry Pratchett

1989

In the desert kingdom of Djelibeybi, the dead don’t stay politely dead, and time starts behaving strangely. Teppic, newly trained as an assassin, returns home to discover his family business is literally history.

35

Guards! Guards!

by Terry Pratchett

1989

The Ankh-Morpork City Watch is down to a few tired men and a lot of paperwork, until a secret society summons a dragon. Captain Sam Vimes has to solve a conspiracy in a city where crime is usually organized.

36

Wyrd Sisters

by Terry Pratchett

1988

Three witches in Lancre get caught up in a royal murder, a missing heir, and a flood of theatre-style drama. Granny Weatherwax and Nanny Ogg find that stories can be as dangerous as swords.

37

Sourcery

by Terry Pratchett

1988

A true sourcerer arrives with raw, reality-bending magic, and the Disc starts slipping into a war of spells. Rincewind is dragged back into danger as magic itself becomes the problem.

38

Mort

by Terry Pratchett

1987

Mort is an awkward farm boy who becomes apprentice to Death. Learning the job sounds simple until Mort starts making personal choices, and those choices threaten to tangle time, fate, and the lives he was meant to leave alone.

39

Equal Rites

by Terry Pratchett

1987

A wizard’s staff chooses the wrong kind of child, a girl named Esk. With the help of the formidable witch Granny Weatherwax, she heads for Unseen University to challenge rules that were never meant to be fair.

40

The Light Fantastic

by Terry Pratchett

1986

Rincewind and Twoflower are back, and the Disc itself is in trouble. With a rogue spell, a looming cosmic collision, and the Unseen University in chaos, survival is suddenly everyone’s problem.

41

The Colour of Magic

by Terry Pratchett

1983

Rincewind, a would-be wizard with no talent for staying alive, gets stuck guiding the Disc’s first tourist, Twoflower. Their trip across Discworld turns into a chain of disasters, run-ins with magic, and narrow escapes.

Series background & context

Discworld is set on a flat planet that rides through space on the backs of four elephants standing on a giant turtle, Great A’Tuin. That absurd idea is the joke you see first, but it’s mainly there to give Terry Pratchett room to build a whole working world, with its own politics, folklore, and everyday problems. The earliest books lean into big parody, then the series gradually becomes more character-driven without losing the punchlines.

The series isn’t one long quest with a single hero. Instead, it’s a shared setting where different groups take turns in the spotlight, and the books hop between them as the world changes. You can follow the hapless wizard Rincewind, the witches of Lancre, the City Watch of Ankh-Morpork, Death and his odd extended family, or later, characters who turn up when the world starts modernising. The threads overlap, characters reappear in unexpected places, and the world keeps moving even when the cast changes.

It’s fantasy, but it’s also a running commentary on real life.

Ankh-Morpork is the loud, smoky heart of the series, a city where guilds are organised like unions and crime can be strangely bureaucratic. The City Watch books begin with Guards! Guards! and follow Commander Sam Vimes as policing collides with dragons, diplomacy, and the messy reality of power. They read like mystery and police stories, just with trolls, dwarfs, and a Patrician who always seems five moves ahead. The city itself is a character, a place where money, paperwork, and tradition can be as dangerous as magic.

The witches books, starting with Wyrd Sisters, lean into fairy tales and community drama, with Granny Weatherwax’s stubborn sense of what’s right at the centre. The Death books, starting with Mort, take on big topics like grief, duty, and belief, usually by making Death do a job he isn’t quite meant for. For younger readers, Tiffany Aching enters the picture in The Wee Free Men, where growing up is treated as a serious adventure. If you prefer standalones, books like Small Gods and Pyramids drop you into a complete story with minimal baggage.

Under the jokes, there’s a lot of heart.

As the series goes on, the world picks up newspapers, post offices, banks, and even railways, and Pratchett has fun with the way “progress” solves some problems while creating new ones. Most books stand alone, but there are clear character arcs, so reading in order within a subseries can be especially satisfying. This page’s reading paths help you choose a lane, catch recurring characters, and figure out where to jump in without feeling like you’ve missed a secret handshake.

Edited by

Richard Reis

Software engineer whose passion for tracking book recommendations from podcasts inspired the creation of MRB.

Anurag Ramdasan

Lead investor at 3one4 Capital whose startup expertise and love for books helped shaped MRB and its growth.

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All 41 Discworld Books in Order (Complete List 2026)