Discworld is a fictional world on the back of a giant tortoise, created by Terry Pratchett. It has its own cultures, magic, and politics, with over 30 novels set in the universe. The series follows diverse citizens and subsets such as Rincewind and the Wizards, the Witches, and City Watch. The series has enjoyed enormous success, with Pratchett being the UK’s best-selling author in the 1990s.
Simply put, Discworld is a fictional world that looks like a disc carried on the backs of four elephants, who in turn rest on the pockmarked shell of a giant tortoise called Great A’Tuin. It is an invention of the famous science fiction writer and satirist Terry Pratchett.
Discworld, as you might guess, is the setting for many imaginative tales. In fact, there are more than 30 novels set in the Discworld universe to date. It is a rather complex world, with its own set of political ideologies, cultures, paradigms and general rules of physics. It is also full of magic, wizards, witches, gods, goddesses, gargoyles, politicians and an ethnically diverse police force called the City Watch who have had their fair share of various strange creatures such as trolls, zombies, vampires who don’t drink blood , werewolves who are mostly vegetarians, and six-foot-tall (adopted) dwarves.
While each book in the series could stand on its own, most fanatics would advise the new reader to read the books in chronological order if possible, as the books happen in real time and the characters age and develop as the series progresses. It should also be stated that the Discworld series tells the stories of a diverse group of Discworld citizens, some of whom do not even know that the other citizens exist. The heroes and heroines of various novels come from disparate cities, countries and continents, each with their own flavors and textures.
Most enthusiasts agree that Discworld as a series could be better understood if it were divided into its subsets: books involving Rincewind and the Wizards, books involving the Witches, books focusing on City Watch, the Tiffany Aching – a Young Adult subset — and others — a subset that includes all books that are not included in the above groups. Some readers simply pick an aspect or subset they like, such as City Watch, and only read books that focus on that story arc, arguing that the scope of the series is too broad to encompass in its entirety.
Finally, it should be noted that the series has and is enjoying enormous success, especially in the United Kingdom. Novels often top bestseller lists; indeed, Terry Pratchett was the UK’s best-selling author in the 1990s, an honor due in large part to the success of the Discworld books. Pratchett also announced plans for at least 2 more Discworld novels.
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