[Oliver_W]

I'd always recommend Terry Pratchett's Discworld books for fantasy! Especially ones with Granny Weatherwax and the other witches <3

[user104658]

Originally Posted by Oliver_W

I'd always recommend Terry Pratchett's Discworld books for fantasy! Especially ones with Granny Weatherwax and the other witches <3

I think if you're recommending Discworld you need to be selective about what to offer up as "starter books" because (in my opinion) the earliest ones aren't a good starting place because they aren't the best of the books, but some of the later ones (some of the best ones) are basically unreadable as a standalone read and pretty much require having read earlier books to have a clue what's going on. e.g. I liked "The Fifth Elephant" but it's indecipherable without reading earlier City Watch books. Likewise, Hogfather is one of my favourite reads but (while readable) you have to have read earlier Death books to get the most out of it.

[Oliver_W]

Originally Posted by Toy Soldier

I think if you're recommending Discworld you need to be selective about what to offer up as "starter books" because (in my opinion) the earliest ones aren't a good starting place because they aren't the best of the books, but some of the later ones (some of the best ones) are basically unreadable as a standalone read and pretty much require having read earlier books to have a clue what's going on. e.g. I liked "The Fifth Elephant" but it's indecipherable without reading earlier City Watch books. Likewise, Hogfather is one of my favourite reads but (while readable) you have to have read earlier Death books to get the most out of it.

True! I wouldn't quite say I don't "get" Colour of Magic and Light Fantastic, but ... I prefer the films I think those two are very "of the time" and don't have the universal accessibility the later ones do.

The Witch series can be read pretty much in order, with Equal Rites being an optional starting point. ER had shaken the dust off its feet a bit, but the characterisation of Granny and setting of Lancre are both quite different to even Wyrd Sisters. I still love it though.