“Mort” or “Reaper Man”? “Pyramids” or “Small Gods”? WHICH IS THE BEST?
Not ranked: Raising Steam (2013), Snuff (2011), Unseen Academicals (2009), Making Money (2007)
I don't want to talk much about the books published after 2007, the year of Sir Terry's diagnosis with a form of Alzheimer's. They shouldn't be characterised as part of the Discworld canon: In the case of Raising Steam and Snuff, they are almost unrecognisable as Pratchett books. The dialogue is baggy and expository – especially in Raising Steam – and the characters have the right names but behave nothing like the people we know from the earlier books. The earlier two are more Pratchett-like, but still, it seems a shame to start a celebration of the Discworld by focusing on them. I'm really sorry, Sir Terry. I feel awful writing this.
Snuff cover art. Harper
Monstrous Regiment (2003)
Pratchett does good feminism. His female characters are flawed, interesting, varied, fully realised human beings: look at Nanny Ogg and especially Granny Weatherwax for proof. His books are shot through with wry anger at men forcing women into preassigned roles. But normally he weaves it in: The plot device in this book (set in an obscure country torn by religious war) makes it explicit, and therefore clunky.
Victor Gollancz
Carpe Jugulum (1998)
The most damning thing I can say about this book, in which the Witches head to Discworld Transylvania, is that it has entirely failed to stick in my memory. It has good lines (Vetinari describing the up-and-coming nations of the Hub as the "werewolf economies") and some good satire of Hammer Horror vampire films and the like, but it is not one of the greats.
Doubleday
Thud! (2005)
Some of Pratchett's political beliefs shine through in his books, of course. But in this one, in which Vimes is trying to prevent a resurgence of ancient violence between dwarfs and trolls, he's a bit heavy-handed with it. There's a "War! What is it good for?" message and a we're-all-the-same-under-the-skin message which is so front-and-centre that it gets in the way of the plot. Also, this is another later-period Vimes novel, with all the Vimes-worship that entails. The early Vimes, who hated the privilege of the rich, would have been infuriated by the Thud! Vimes shutting down several city streets just so he could get home in time to read his infant son a bedtime story. But Pratchett holds this up as something to be applauded, which feels weird.
Corgi
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