Discworld Novels

'Whoever said you can't fool an honest man wasn't one.'

The Royal Bank of Ankh-Morpork is facing a crisis and needs a shake-up in management. Cue Moist von Lipwig, Postmaster General and former con artist. If anyone can rescue the city's ailing financial institution, it's him. He doesn't really want the job, but the thing is, he doesn't have a choice.

Moist has many problems to solve as part of his new role: the chief cashier is almost certainly a vampire, the chairman needs his daily walkies, there's something strange happening in the cellar, and the Royal Mint is running at a loss.

Moist begins making some ambitious changes . . . and some dangerous enemies. Because money is power and certain stakeholders will do anything to keep a firm grip on both . . .

'As bright and shiny as a newly minted coin; clever, engaging and laugh-out-loud funny' The Times

Making Money is the second book in the Moist von Lipwig series, but you can read the Discworld novels in any order.

'That's the trouble about the good guys and the bad guys! They're all guys!'

In the small yet aggressive country of Borogravia, there are strict rules citizens must follow. For a start, women belong in the kitchen - not in jobs, pubs, or indeed trousers. And certainly not on the front line.

Polly Perks has to become a boy in a hurry if she wants to find her missing brother in the army. Cutting off her hair and wearing the trousers is easy. Going to war however, is not.

Polly and her fellow raw recruits are suddenly in the thick of a losing battle. All they have on their side is the most artful sergeant in the army and a vampire with a lust for coffee.

It's time to make a stand.

'You ride along on his tide of outlandish invention, realising that you are in the presence of a true original' The Times

The Discworld novels can be read in any order but Monstrous Regiment is a standalone.

'The world lives between those who say it cannot be done and those who say that it can . . . it's just a matter of thinking creatively.'

Moist von Lipwig is a con man turned civil servant. As head of the Royal Bank and Post Office of Ankh-Morpork, he doesn't really want or need another job. But when the Patrician Lord Vetinari gives you a task, you do it or suffer the consequences. In Moist's case, death.

A brand-new invention has come to the city: a steam locomotive named Iron Girder, to be precise. With the railway's introduction and rapid expansion, Vetinari enlists Moist to represent the government and keep things on track.

But as with all new technology, some people have objections, and Moist will have to use every trick in his arsenal to keep the trains running . . .

'The most serious of comedies, the most relevant and real of fantasies' Independent

Raising Steam is the third and final book in the Moist von Lipwig series, but the Discworld novels can be read in any order.

'A lie can run round the world before the truth can get its boots on.'

William de Worde has somehow found himself editor of Ankh-Morpork's first newspaper. Well, with a name like that . . .

Launched into the world of investigative journalism, alongside reporter Sacharissa Cripslock, William soon learns that the news is a risky business. For a start, his colleagues include a band of axe-wielding dwarfs and a recovering vampire with a life-threatening passion for flash photography.

It's a big news week: the most powerful man in the city has been arrested, leaving Ankh-Morpork without a leader. And a dangerous criminal organisation will do anything to control the story . . .

'An unmitigated delight . . . very, very funny' The Times

The Discworld novels can be read in any order but The Truth is a standalone.

'Humans need fantasy to be human. To be the place where the falling angel meets the rising ape.'

'Twas the night before Hogswatch and all through the house . . . something was missing.

Superstition makes things work in the Discworld and undermining it can have consequences. When Death realizes that belief in the Hogfather is dangerously low, he decides to take on the job. But it's just not right to find a seven-foot skeleton creeping down your chimney and trying to say 'ho, ho, ho'.

It's the last night of the year, the time is turning, and if Susan, gothic governess and Death's granddaughter, doesn't sort everything out by morning, there won't be a morning. Ever again . . .

'Has the energy of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and the inventiveness of Alice in Wonderland' Sunday Times

Hogfather is the fourth book in the Death series, but you can read the Discworld novels in any order.

'YOU CANNOT INTERFERE WITH FATE. WHO ARE YOU TO JUDGE WHO SHOULD LIVE AND WHO SHOULD DIE?'

Death comes to us all. When he came to Mort, he offered him a job.

Death is the Grim Reaper of the Discworld, a black-robed skeleton with a scythe who ushers souls into the next world. He is also fond of cats and endlessly baffled by humanity. Soon Death is yearning to experience what humanity really has to offer, but to do that, he'll need to hire some help.

It's an offer Mort can't refuse. As Death's apprentice he'll have free board, use of the company horse - and being dead isn't compulsory. It's a dream job - until Mort falls in love with Death's daughter, Ysabell, and discovers that your boss can be a killer on your love life . . .

'Incredibly funny, compulsively readable' The Times

'Cracking dialogue, compelling illogic and unchained whimsy' Sunday Times

Mort is the first book in the Death series, but you can read the Discworld novels in any order.

'Inside every living person is a dead person waiting to get out.'

Death has been fired by the Auditors of Reality for the heinous crime of developing . . . a personality. Sent to live like everyone else, Death takes a new name and begins working as a farmhand. He's got the scythe already, after all.

And for humanity, Death is just . . . gone. Which leads to the kind of chaos you always get when an important public service is withdrawn. If Death doesn't come for you, then what are you supposed to do in the meantime?

You can't have the undead wandering about like lost souls - there's no telling what might happen. Particularly when they discover that life really is only for the living . . .

'One taste, and you'll scour bookstores for more' Daily Mail

Reaper Man is the second book in the Death series, but you can read the Discworld novels in any order.

'This didn't feel like magic. It felt a lot older than that. It felt like music.'

Being sixteen is always difficult, but it's even more so when there's a Death in the family. Susan hasn't exactly had a normal upbringing, with a skeletal grandfather who rides a white horse and wields a scythe.

When Death decides he needs a well-earned break, he leaves Susan to take over the family business. The only problem is, everyone mistakes her for the Tooth Fairy . . .

Well, not the only problem. There's a new, addictive music in Discworld. It's lawless. It changes people. It's got a beat and you can dance to it.

It's called Music With Rocks In. And it won't fade away . . .

'Genius . . . deals with death with startling originality' New York Times

'His spectacular inventiveness makes the Discworld series one of the perennial joys of modern fiction' Mail on Sunday

Soul Music is the third book in the Death series, but you can read the Discworld novels in any order.

'The universe is, instant by instant, recreated anew . . . The perfect moment is now. Be glad of it.'

Time is a resource. Everyone knows it must be managed. You can let it move fast or slowly, but what you mustn't do is allow it to stop.

On the Discworld, the History Monks have the important job of ensuring that tomorrow always comes. But the construction of the world's first truly accurate clock starts a race against, well . . . time.

Monk Lu-Tze, his apprentice Lobsang Ludd and Death's granddaughter Susan must stop the clockmaker before he completes his task. Because a truly accurate clock will stop time completely.

And then, there really will be no tomorrow . . .

'This is the best Pratchett I've read' Sunday Telegraph

Thief of Time is the fifth book in the Death series, but you can read the Discworld novels in any order.

*The book that inspired the big-hit new film starring Hugh Laurie, Emilia Clarke, Himesh Patel, David Tennant and Joe Sugg, coming 16th December. Read before you see! With amazing content, from scripts to film art*


Join the world of The Amazing Maurice, the Carnegie Medal winning novel by Terry Pratchett.

Even wizards produce leftovers.

But a wizard's rubbish is laced with magic, and for the rats that forage this rubbish, the magic has changed them - they can speak and read, and have rather grand ambitions for a comfortable retirement.

Which is perfect for a con-cat like Maurice. He has his own magical talents, and wants to get rich quick. Together with the rats, and young Keith, the 'piper', they work the towns to create their very own plague of rats - then lure them away for cash.

But in the run-down town Bad Blintz, this little con goes wrong, and suddenly these educated rodents aren't playing to the piper's tune . . .

'An astonishing novel' Financial Times

NAMED AS ONE OF THE BBC'S 100 MOST INSPIRING NOVELS

'It was octarine, the colour of magic. It was alive and glowing and vibrant and it was the undisputed pigment of the imagination . . .'

Somewhere between thought and reality exists the Discworld, a magical world not totally unlike our own. Except for the fact that it travels through space on the shoulders of four giant elephants who in turn stand on the shell of an astronomically huge star turtle, of course.

Rincewind is the world's worst wizard who has just been handed a very important job: to look after the world's first tourist, upon whose survival rests the peace and prosperity of the land. Unfortunately, their journey across the Disc includes facing robbers, monsters, mercenaries, and Death himself.

And the whole thing's just a game of the gods that might send them over the edge . . .

'If you've never read a Discworld novel, what's the matter with you?' Guardian

'Pratchett uses his other world to hold up a distorting mirror to our own' The Times

The Colour of Magic is the first book in the Wizards series, but you can read the Discworld novels in any order.

'There is a curse. They say: may you live in interesting times . . .'

This is the worst thing you can wish on a citizen of Discworld. Especially for the magically challenged Rincewind, who has already had far too much excitement in his life.

Unfortunately, the unlucky wizard always seems to end up in the middle of, well, absolutely everything. So when a request for a 'Great Wizzard' arrives from the faraway Counterweight Continent, it's obviously Rincewind who's sent. For one thing, he's the only one who spells wizard that way.

Once again Rincewind is thrown headfirst into a dangerous adventure. For the oldest empire on the Disc is in turmoil and Chaos is building. And, for some reason, someone believes Rincewind will have a vital role in the coming war . . .

'Pratchett is a comic genius' Daily Express

'Funny, delightfully inventive, and refuses to lie down in its genre' Observer

Interesting Times is the fifth book in the Wizards series, but you can read the Discworld novels in any order.

'Anything you do in the past changes the future. The tiniest little actions have huge consequences. You might tread on an ant now and it might entirely prevent someone from being born in the future.'

Rincewind, inept wizard and reluctant hero, has found himself magically stranded on the Discworld's last continent.

It's hot. It's dry. There was this thing once called The Wet, which no one believes in any more. Practically everything that's not poisonous is venomous. But it's the best bloody place in the world, all right?

And in a few days, it will die. The only thing standing between the last continent and wind-blown doom is Rincewind, and he can't even spell wizard. Still . . . no worries, eh?

'A minor masterpiece. I laughed so much I fell from my armchair' Time Out

'A master storyteller' A. S. Byatt

The Last Continent is the sixth book in the Wizards series, but you can read the Discworld novels in any order.

'Darkness isn't the opposite of light, it is simply its absence . . . what was radiating from the book was the light that lies on the far side of darkness, the light fantastic.'

The Discworld is in danger, heading towards a seemingly inevitable collision with a malevolent red star, its magic fading. It needs a hero, and fast.

What it doesn't need is Rincewind, an inept and cowardly wizard who is still recovering from the trauma of falling off the edge of the world. Or Twoflower, the well-meaning tourist whose luggage has a mind (and legs) of its own.

Which is a shame, because that's all there is . . .

'His spectacular inventiveness makes the Discworld series one of the perennial joys of modern fiction' Mail on Sunday

'Incredibly funny, compulsively readable' The Times

The Light Fantastic is the second book in the Wizards series, but you can read the Discworld novels in any order.

'It's vital to remember who you really are . . . it isn't a good idea to rely on other people or things to do it for you, you see. They always get it wrong.'

An eighth son of an eighth son is born, a wizard squared, a source of magic. A sourcerer.

Unseen University, the Discworld's most magical establishment, has finally got its wish: the emergence of a wizard more powerful than ever before. You'd think they would have been a little more careful what they wished for . . .

As the sourcerer takes over the University and sets his sights on the rest of the world, only one wizard manages to escape his influence. Unfortunately for everyone, it's Rincewind.

Once again the cowardly wizard must embark on a quest: to deliver a precious artefact - the very embodiment of magic itself - halfway across the Disc to safety. If he doesn't make it, the death of all wizardry is at hand.

And the end of the world, depending on who you listen to.

'One of our greatest fantasists, and beyond a doubt the funniest' George R.R. Martin

'May well be considered his masterpiece . . . Humour such as his is an endangered species' The Times

Sourcery is the third book in the Wizards series, but you can read the Discworld novels in any order.

'We play and are played and the best we can hope for is to do it with style.'

Football has come to the ancient city of Ankh-Morpork. And now the wizards of Unseen University must win a football match without using magic . . . so they're in the mood for trying everything else.

To do this, they recruit an unlikely group of players: Trev, a street urchin with a talent for kicking a tin can; Glenda, the night chef who makes a mean pie; Juliet, the kitchen hand turned world's greatest fashion model; and the mysterious Mr Nutt, who has something powerful, and dark, locked away inside him . . .

And the thing about football - the important thing about football - is that it is not just about football. Here we go, here we go, here we go!

'This isn't just football, it's Discworld football. Or, to borrow another phrase, it's about life, the Universe and everything' The Times

'No one mixes the fantastical and mundane to better comic effect' Daily Mail

Unseen Academicals is the seventh book in the Wizards series, but you can read the Discworld novels in any order.