Terry Pratchett is proof that even great authors can have very bad first novels. So take heart, internet.
Terry Pratchett is one of the most influential and fondly remembered fantasy authors in the English language, with good reason. That’s why we set out to read his worst book, to prove that sometimes really good authors flower from really terrible novels.
Or, there is a very good reason why the first piece of advice Discworld fans give is “don’t start with the first book.”
Strap in for a parody that only works if you have an encyclopedic knowledge of fantasy novels from the 80s, and even then it’s touch and go. With special guest appearances by the astonishing amount of bullshit in Anne McCaffrey novels.
CONTENT WARNING for discussion of sexual assault
1:00 Inroads to Pratchett, and Gaiman
6:30 Seriously the Later Books Thouggh
9:00 The Real World Drunk Book Club
17:00 Uncanny Valley Ankh-Morpork
23:00 Rincewind and Twoflower
31:00 Conan of Argon
38:00 Tent Peg Dragons
46:00 Something with Space
52:00 Editing Issues
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Just something from a colossal Pratchett geek to throw in: this book is so weird compared to the others not just because it’s the first, but because its central subject of parody is something that few people even remember nowadays: the Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser-novels, which center around a fantasy city called Lankhmar (sound familiar?). Death is such a nasty character in this book, because a more metaphoric Death is a sinister presence in those stories, and PTerry wanted to make that figure into an actual character.