Discworld Recommendation?

[sraun]

What Discworld book would you recommend we give to Katie? Ambitious, college student, Air Force ROTC - the youngest step-daughter, the one that keeps injuring herself. She does like at least some science-fiction and fantasy - she originally got involved in fandom via a Star Trek club. Katie firmly believes that there is always one right answer.

Irene thinks The Colour of Magic would be a good starter - any other suggestions, and if so, why?

Comments

[azurelunatic]

Perhaps Monsterous Regiment? Because, sometimes, the status quo is ... different than you thought it was. It's also relatively stand-alone...

[kalmn.livejournal.com]

um. monstrous regiment. it's the only one i've read, and it's very funny and good. it's about a woman who dresses up as a man to join the army. (then, the wacky hijinks.)

[dlacey.livejournal.com]

I liked Small Gods a lot. It's pretty much a stand alone, it's one of the funniest in my opinion, and I've used it successfully in the past to get others hooked on Pratchett. Other than that Night Watch is probably my favorite but that one may require more familiarity with the discworld series to really appreciate.

[selenite.livejournal.com]

Equal Rites. Granny Weatherwax and a young woman trying to make her way in a traditionally male institution.

Others--Monstrous Regiment has the same theme taken to the extreme, gets a bit over the top for someone not used to Discworld logic. Guards! Guards! also has a young adult starting out in a sorta-military situation. So all of those would work well for a ROTC cadet.

Wyrd Sisters and Mort are the other usual starting points I suggest. For Katie I think I'd recommend ER, GG, MR, WS, and M in descending order.

[kd5mdk.livejournal.com]

I think once they've gotten to college student age they're less concerned with young adults as character necessities. How about the series that has Soul Music in it, or Pyramids?

[dd-b.livejournal.com]

Anybody who *really* loves _The Color of Magic_ probably *won't* like most of the books after about #4 (I'm having trouble remember exact sequences here). And as for "one right answer" -- pfui!

[thebluerose.livejournal.com]

Mort is my personal favourite, and I think more approachable, and has the young Susan in it. Then either Equal Rites or Sourcery, both about young women doing their thing

[windtear.livejournal.com]

Definitely NOT CoM! Not that I don't love it, but it is so obviously a pastiche of the SF genre that it is very difficult as a lead-in for the rest of the series.

I tend to give people Guards! Guards! first, and I do that this time too. Considering her career, Monstrous Regiment would probably also be a good starter. I might also try The Truth, as it features a group of people who fit in nowhere finding themselves creating a niche where they do fit, which is something a lot of people around that age sympathise with.

[erik]

I was wondering that same question at LoneStarCon for myself ("which Diskworld book should I start with?"), and so I asked the authority.
Mr. Pratchet said I should start with Mort.

[daveamongus.livejournal.com]

Guards! Guards!, I think. Great place to start.

[stoutfellow.livejournal.com]

If the intent is to proceed chronologically, Mort is definitely it. The three that precede it - CoM, The Light Fantastic, and Equal Rites - are, to my mind, inferior. In the first two, TP was still groping for his voice. In ER, he began to find it, I think, but it wasn't quite there (and the version of Granny Weatherwax presented in that book is very different from the later version). Mort is where he hits his stride.

Otherwise, either of Guards, Guards! or Wyrd Sisters would be good; those are the launch points for two of the three main subseries (GG for the Watch, WS for the Lancre Coven). (The Death subseries begins with Mort.)

One other negative recommendation: don't give her Eric. Please.

[mareklamo.livejournal.com]

Guards, Guards! or Mort would be my recommendation. Monstrous Regiment would also be good since she's ROTC.

[hornedhopper.livejournal.com]

I'm really glad you asked this question, sraun. Kipper had given me CoM last Christmas, and I just got around to starting it. It's rare that I start a book and don't have enough interest to keep going. I will try Pratchett again with one of these recommendations. It's also possible that the humor in his books are similar to P.G. Wodehouse's works. In that case, I'm a lost cause! :)

[adina-atl.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't start with Monstrous Regiment. It's a decent book, and by any other author I might think it a really good one, but for a Pratchett book it's mediocre. "Soul Music" might be good one to start with, but that could just be because I'm re-reading it now (and Susan is my all-time favorite character). One advantage of it is that Susan is starting out from a position of ignorance about the world and her own past, so the reader can sort of learn along side her.

I'd also avoid "The Truth"--I had a friend who started out on that one and she is frankly puzzled why I like Pratchett at all.