#I started watch subseries with Thud! because I ran out of witches books that were in the library and it had a cool cover

[justafterjericho]

If you liked that vibes you could read the Hogfather book or go with the Mort (the first in the death subseries). Then just read the read of the death books in order. Mort also has the benefit of being very good at establishing not only Death as a character, but also the worldbuilding (and not only the one surrounding Death and his function) and while you can get better book for establishing how gods on the discworld work (I'll get to that one), if I remember correctly, this one still gives you some basic idea.

I would also recommend Guards! Guards! (starting point for the city watch books, late enough that Pratchett figured out his voice and what he wanted to do, early enough that there are not many references or cameo characters from earlier books (except Death, but there are very few books that don't have that cameo and if you loved Hogfather, I doubt you mind)), Truth (stand-alone, some cameos from the city watch characters), Going postal (starting point for Moist von Lipwig subseries, cameos from the city watch characters and the Truth, being quite late into the series it's one of the best books in the starting points category, but while it and it's sequel Making money can be read as stand-alones without problems, third book in the subseries - Raising steam - concludes arc about dwarf society, that starts in the city watch books and you should probably read them too before going into it, but Going postal alone can be read before any previous books) and I would say also Monstrous regiment (stand-alone, cameos from the city watch books and the Truth, also quite late into the series) can be good starting point. While these series can be read withou each other and you can choose any of those starting points, if you start with the Guards! Guards! I would definitely recommend taking all of those books (and the subseries they belong to) I've talked in this paragraph and read them as if they were from the same subseries (by that I mean chronologicaly). It's definitelly not necessary for understanding but (with the exception of Monstrous regiment) they're all set in the Ankh-Morpork and do influence the city quite a lot. On the top of that the characters interact with each other and it's both interresting and hilarious to see what each of them think of the others (lets just say that Vimes, William and Moist do not like each other very much for most of the time). Monstrous regiment just adds good outside perspective of some of those characters on the top. Like I said it's not necessary and you can start with any other of those starting points, but if you decide to start with Guards! Guards! I feel it would be missed opportunity to not do this.

Other than that from the earlier starting points there's also Small gods (stand-alone, quite early into the series, gives one a good grasp about some of the worldbuilding, expecially about how the gods work) and Wyrd sisters (generally recommended starting point for the Witches series, there's technically Equal Rites, but that's more of a prequel, it has quite a different tone from the rest of the witches books, it's mixed with the Wizards and Granny Weatherwax is the only character that will appear in the other Witches books and it's also quite apparent that some, probably not all that small, amount of time had passed between Equal Rites and Wyrd sisters, still good though, firts discworld book I've read through and I loved it).

The Wee Free Men (the first book in the Tiffany Aching subseries) is technically aimed towards younger audience, but in true Terry Pratchett fashion is also in lots of its aspects one of the darker discworld books and this subseries as a whole contains probably the darkest book in the discworld (it's been some time since I've read I Shall Wear Midnight but from what I remember it beats Night Watch, Thud! and Sniff (later Watch books) on how dark it was). Even with cameos from the Witches books (which are in every Tiffany books from what I remember) they should be okay to read without any previous books except for the last two ones (the aforementioned I Shall Wear Midnight and The Shepherd's Crown). For those two you should also read at least all of the Witches books (this time including Equal Rites) - although in the case of I Shall Wear Midnight it's mostly for one very satisfying cameo which in my oppinion deserve to be experience in the fullest. It is definitely necessary for The Shepherd's Crown though.

The last starting point I will recommend is The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents. Like the Tiffany Aching books it's aimed at a younger audience, like the Tiffany Aching books it's also one of the darker books xD. It is stand-alone and one, where the only cameos are of the Death and the Death of Rats. For all its insularity from the others books it does introduce enough of the discworld and it's tone to be a good starting point. There's actually quite recent animated adaptation of this one that can be considered quite good, definitelly one of the better discworld adaptation. Sadly it could have been great if they didn't decided to make it more "kid-friendly" by erasing most of the darkness by, for example, making the villian less scary and (which angered me more) erasing a whole fucking character just so they wouldn't die because kids apparently just can't handle death (lets just ignore the Lion King). They were other changes that felt kinda unecessary but if you have any younger kids I feel they would probably like it.

I never really got into any of the wizards books (excluding Unseen Academicals and the Last Hero, but the former is pretty late into the discworld (and Rincewind isn't the main character) and the later is basically a crossover with the Watch and none of them can be counted as more of the typical wizards books), never finished the Colour of Magic and while I later read other wizards books that I finished and even somewhat liked they just never really clicked for me so I don't feel like someone who should recommend them. And there's also the Pyramids and Moving Pictures that could probably also serve as starting points but I've never read Pyramids and while I've read Moving Picture it was a long time ago and while I remember liking it just fine, it wasn't all that memorable for me and I feel they are probably much better starting points there. Although it should be noted that while Moving Pictures is a stand-alone if you've decided to go with the wizards books this one should probably be read among them, because while the wizards aren't the main characters froim what I remember (or at least not the main main) this book introduces the new Archchancellor of the Unseen University Munstrum Ridcully who becomes the permanent ficture of the University going foward and basically starts a new era for the wizards there. He does also appear in the non-wizards books, but I'd wager that if someone read the whole wizards subseries his sudden appearance could have maybe feel a little jarring (but idk).

I would generally advise against starting with reading in the publication order, at least not from the beginning (I'd call that my bias against Wizards books as a whole and CoM in particular, but there exist enough people who were put off when they started with this book to warrant it). If you really want to experience the publication order reading (which can have some benefits) I would firstly start with some stand-alone or even starting point in some of the subseries you like the synopsis of and read that and then decide to try to read the whole discworld from the start. Or you can just start with either Equal Rites or Mort and go from there, of course. Generally if you don't like some starting point in some of the subseries it's probably a good idea to just switch to some different subseries or stand-alone and not just continue within the same subseries and then decide discworld isn't for you - I'm not saying discworld is necessary for everyone, but there are quite a lot of books and a few subseries in there so trying different ones if you don't like some book (and subseries) in it before giving up on it as a whole might be a good idea.

So where does one start reading Discworld?

So, this post hove across my dash, and I need these vibes in my life immediately.