Discworld - Reading Order

Reading Order

Rather than reading the books in publication order, another approach would be to read each storyline chronologically.

The books take place roughly in real time and the characters' ages change to reflect the passing of years. The meeting of various characters from different narrative threads (e.g. Ridcully and Granny Weatherwax in Lords and Ladies, Rincewind and Carrot in The Last Hero) indicates that all the main storylines take place around the same period of time (end of the Century of the Fruitbat, beginning of the Century of the Anchovy).

Many stories (such as The Truth and Monstrous Regiment) nominally stand alone but, nonetheless, tie in heavily with main storylines. Many of these "standalone" stories deal with the development of the city of Ankh-Morpork into a technologically and magically advanced metropolis that readers will find analogous to real-world cities: for example, The Truth catalogues the rise of a newspaper service for the city, the Ankh-Morpork Times.

Some main characters may make cameo appearances in other books where they are not the primary focus; for example, City Watch members Carrot Ironfoundersson and Angua appear briefly in Going Postal and Making Money (placing those books after Guards! Guards! and Men at Arms). A number of characters, such as members of staff of Unseen University and Lord Vetinari, appear prominently in many different storylines without having specific storylines of their own.

Krzysztof K. Kietzmann has assembled a graphical suggested reading order broken down according to the various story threads and cross-thread appearances by characters.