In Discworld, time is something manufactured by the Monks of History. Pratchett’s hilariously mismatched coven of witches is featured. If you’re a fan of Shakespeare, Chaucer, the theater and A Midsummer Night’s Dream, in particular, then this is the book for you. Given Discworld is a vaguely medieval/Renaissance-era fantasy world, it’d be a crime for there not to be a parody of the actual literature of those periods. He may be the most reliable character for laughs in the entire canon, so don’t fear the reaper. He’s the reaper, certainly, but grimness isn’t really his bag. It may not be one of his most renowned novels, but can you really pass up Pratchett sending up the music industry? Plus, you get a novel centered around Death, the only character in every Discworld book. It’s a bit more characteristic of straight genre fiction than a lot of the other books but the untempered zaniness contained herein is something still worth laughing out loud about decades later. The first Discworld book may not be a shining example of everything great about the series but getting to see all the elements of genius starting to shimmer here is pretty, you guessed it, magical. Here are 10 of his books you should check out.

There were always jokes, but Pratchett was an even better storyteller than he was a satirist. The Discworld books manage to satirize nearly every topic under the sun while also presenting a fully formed and innovative fantasy world a la Middle Earth or Westeros. His life was spent spinning yarns as fantastical as they were funny. The news of Terry Pratchett’s passing may be the first sad thing associated with his name.

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