Is Discworld the best?

[high eight]

Aside from Discworld... hmmm. let me have a quick look on my bookshelf.

One of Terry's favourite authors is George MacDonald Fraser, one of mine too,. The Flashman Papers are really good.

Over the last couple of years I've found the Shardlake books by CJ Sansom. Great historical stuff.

In my spotty teens I discovered the Lensman series for SF, and the Eternal Champion as well as the Conan series for fantasy.

And finally only a trilogy, but a good one, Dream Park, The Barsoom Project, and The California Voodoo Game, by Larry Niven and Steven Barnes.

I'll go along with Flashman and pretty much anything by George Macdonald Fraser (His McAuslan stories are hilarious looks at a more modern military idiot).

Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey-Maturin stories. The best Napoleonic sea stories I've ever read and close to the best historical novels full stop.

Jasper Fforde's Thursday Next stories.

Robert Rankin's Brentford Trilogy (up to eight volumes and counting......)

 

[Jan Van Quirm]

That's what got me to buy the book those many years ago, as soon as I seen that passage about the two unsavoury rogues it made me laugh, I then put it back on the shelf because it had a tiny tear in the dust jacket and it was the last one.

I think it may have been that passage that got me hooked, together with the Lovecraft references. It takes a great deal of skill to take the micky like that without giving offence to fans of those books (LotR fans vs. Bored of the Rings, anyone?).

Most LotR fans I know

Bored of the Rings - my copy's almost falling to bits...

I can't name my favourite series even by genre (Discworld and Tolkien's books) because really I like them for different reasons and the comparison is therefore compromised.

I adore Discworld for Terry's humour, satire and parody (no matter what he's writing about) and sheer variety, 'draw in' factor and 'nose' for a cracking yarn. Characterisation is also mostly excellent with a memorable cast to draw on and interweave as they grow with the cumulative word count.

Tolkien - also the 'draw in' factor but in his case it's because of the sheer depth and breadth of scope of his various writings beyond TH and LotR in which he's created viable cultures, history and language and then gone on 'colouring in' with more detail and just exquisite writing that does have humour and morality and - in this he definitely exceeds Terry - consistent myth and magic (as I've been saying in the Snuff threads the magic in Discworld is definitely consigned to the background, especially in the AM influenced books).

Other series are, for the classics, Jane Austen and her visionary chick-lit :twisted: The woman was nothing short of brilliant, no question about it; truly wise and funny with it and her characterisation was sublime and always plausible (something that Tolks and Terry fall down on sometimes).

Finally another SF&F writer who's extremely underrated and manages to pull off what seems impossible with sci-fi and fantasy fusion in her series The Saga of the Exiles and it's follow-up stand-alone Intervention and sequel trilogy The Galactic Milieu. Again good characterisation, humour and compassion with a strong dash of realism in terms of the infirm nature of the human beast and, most importantly, extremely inspired research skills. Anyone who can write almost seamlessly about folklore, time travel, prehistoric geology, aliens, psychic powers, sentient inter-Galactic 'Ship' creatures, Arthurian and Celtic legend and genetics and pull off a fully rational, always coherent, engaging and exciting storyline over a 6 million year timespan has to be brilliant in anyone's book surely?

I can't choose between them because what they all do with their storytelling is to 'take me' as in take me into the tale so I'm fully engaged with plot and characters, identifying with them and the environments and situations whilst all being different in their approach and technique. They're all my favourites but for different reasons and therefore they're all incomparable.

 

[Who's Wee Dug]

Bored of the Rings! excellent book the start of it cracked me up, it was the hairy toes.

 

[Penfold]

I really enjoyed Bored of the Rings as well but at the time I remember an awful lot of my friends were up in arms about it.

 

[Who's Wee Dug]

Just like some people do with the Discworld books.

 

[high eight]

Just like some people do with the Discworld books.

If we're talking Tolkien parodies, I liked Hordes of the Things on the Beeb http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hordes_of_the_Things_(radio_series)

 

[Jan Van Quirm]

Hordes of the Things was brill! Michael Hordern was much better as Radox the Green than as Gandalf in the truly awful cartoon LotR

 

[author3]

Jan if your referring to the 197? animated cartoon
Ten i agree it was awful

 

[Jan Van Quirm]

Yeah - the Ralph Bakshi one. The animation was groundbreaking for its day (anticipating CGI in some ways with live action footage incorporated into the animation) but the casting and characterisation was very 'of it's time' and unless its Bored of the Rings psychodelia with nobby Eton accents (except for the guy who voiced Sam whose bumpkin was far worse than Sean Astin ever managed even ) it ain't doing it for anyone...

 

[Who's Wee Dug]

The animation was called rotoscoping he also done one called Wizards.

I might have to look that out,( Hordes of the Things ) thanks for that High Eight.

 

[high eight]

The animation was called rotoscoping he also done one called Wizards.

I might have to look that out,( Hordes of the Things ) thanks for that High Eight.

You can download it here for a fiver.

 

[Maura:-D]

.
the Bartimaeus-trilogy (which has 4 parts by now ) And maybe some of you didn't, but I really liked the Potter series...

Bartimaeus has four books? Yay!!!!

I love that series, and Harry Potter, and loads of vampire series (Twilight, House of Night, Vampire Academy, Morganville) and alsoA Series of unfortunate events.... In fact I love far too many books to name!

 

[yingxuy]

I bought the rest, if it is a series, because I was interested in the story. But with the Discworld, Terry's jazz style, I love, which is why I read his book ...... it is not even as if DW is a continuous series.

 

[Oberon]

it is not even as if DW is a continuous series.

Very good point. It's really more of a collection isn't it.

The only two series of books I'm a big fan of are Stephen Donaldson's "Chronicles of Thomas Covenant" (currently listening to the second chronicles for the umpteenth time on audio book) and George R. R. Martin's "A Song of Ice and Fire" series which I got into after watching the HBO TV series of "A Game of Thrones".

 

[Oggham Rune]

Re:

Aside from Discworld... hmmm. let me have a quick look on my bookshelf.

One of Terry's favourite authors is George MacDonald Fraser, one of mine too,. The Flashman Papers are really good.

Over the last couple of years I've found the Shardlake books by CJ Sansom. Great historical stuff.

In my spotty teens I discovered the Lensman series for SF, and the Eternal Champion as well as the Conan series for fantasy.

And finally only a trilogy, but a good one, Dream Park, The Barsoom Project, and The California Voodoo Game, by Larry Niven and Steven Barnes.

I'll go along with Flashman and pretty much anything by George Macdonald Fraser (His McAuslan stories are hilarious looks at a more modern military idiot).

Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey-Maturin stories. The best Napoleonic sea stories I've ever read and close to the best historical novels full stop.

Jasper Fforde's Thursday Next stories.

Robert Rankin's Brentford Trilogy (up to eight volumes and counting......)

Have to agree with MacDonald Fraser, knew a couple of McAuslans when I was in the forces, and O'Brian's Aubrey/Maturin novels are for me the high point of 20th C literature. One I haven't noticed on a brief skim of the thread is the Many Coloured Land/Galactic Milieu series by Julian May.

Was the Lensman series by E.E. 'Doc' Smith ? I got a lot of the original SF books/short stories back in the 70s when my father worked in the Merchant Navy and brought them back from the States.

 

[Mycroft Vimes]

If DW is the best might depend on your definition of best,if it's most read Terry Pratchett is very much the best in my case.

The only two series of books I'm a big fan of are Stephen Donaldson's "Chronicles of Thomas Covenant"

I've got "Against all things ending" waiting to be read,did start in it,but forgot it takes a while to really get into it.
So i've put it off,will begin again soon.
Edit later : The same didn't apply to his GAP-series btw(Stephen Donaldson),i should have mentioned them,they are great reads!
Another writer i love is Peter F. Hamilton,the Confederation/Commonwealth Universe-series is fantastic.
Also a big fan of Fritz Leiber,Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser are unforgettable caracters of course.
At the moment the only series i'm into is Dean Koontz's Frankenstein.

 

[Antiq]

As a series, or collection of novels set in the same world, I'd have to say yes - partly because of sheer numbers, none of which disappoint. That's pretty amazing to me. I do like some other series, like Bank's Cutlure novels, and Mieville's Bas-Lag books, and Song of Fire and Ice, but DW is currently heading the list.

 

[Homeless Hublander]

Personally i find that Hitch hiker and Discworld fill 2 seperate parts of my needs, while still staying linked with the witty originality of both series'. Basically they're both great!

 

[Brady]

depends on your preferences, depends on what tickles your fancy

personally I quite like the earlier books with Vimes (such as Guards, Guards), later Vimes novels are a bit weak in my opinion
most of the books with the Carrot character I enjoy
Wyrd Sisters & Witches Abroad have their moments
unseen academicals works well as a stand alone book

I find the books with Tiffany Aching and the Mac Na Feegle entertaining even though they are supposedly targeted at a younger audience

I think the first two or 3 'discworld' books can be a bit trying (until he developed his ideas fully), but after that I'd suggest you pick any of them and go read. if his style of telli9ng a story gels with you then find more, if it doesn't then move on and find another author.

in essence try any of the books and see how you go.

A word of caution however I think that many of the stories are very 'samey', not neccesarily in detaqil but in themes. I think it must always be a problem for an author writing about the same world with similar characters so don't try to read too many pratchett books sequentially, and you'll enjoy 'em more

 

[raptornx01]

Though Discworld is my favorite, there are a number of others i love.

The Maximum Ride series by James Patterson i've been into since the begining. fun and entertaining reading. the final Warning is kind of weak but never had issue with the others.

The Meg series By Steve Alten never fails to disappoint (me, anyway). Though if you get into it get the reprint of the first book. it was tweaked by the author after switching pubs and reads much better.

The Slayers series by Hajime Kanzaka is one I'd definitely recommend to DW fans. With a humor and parody of fantasy to rival TP. Plus the universe itself has a great deal of depth to it. There is an anime series that was based on the books and it does a very good job of bringing the humor and depth into it. Some of the books kind of get shafted a bit because there is an over arching storyline that fills the first 8 books (sadly all that has been released in the US). That takes the main stage over the ancillary storylines. but those stories are there, if only condensed. but if you aren't open to that kind of tv series there is still the books. and both are great.

The Warriors series By Erin Hunter is another i've gotten into. Though i got sidetracked halfway through the.... I guess you could say, second season (the stories are separated into 6 book chunks with side tales released inbetween). Very dark for a young adult series about feral cats. Think Watership down in terms of tone.

Red dwarf by Bob Grant and Doug Naylor was a bit a of a surprise. I had loved the tv series, but the books just expand on it so much. the first two essentially retell the series (up to that point anyway), but in a grander form that makes you wish the show had a bigger budget. and the differing stories of the show are woven together so well you forget they were all supposed to be stand alone stories. and I HIGHLY recommend getting the audio books of the first two books. Chris Barrie (who plays Rimmer in the series) reads them and does near pitch perfect impressions of all the actors. The ABs end up like radio dramas.

But here is where thing get odd. there are 4 RD books total, BUT there is a book one (Red Dwarf) and book two (Better than Life), and TWO book threes. after the two creators of the series (who wrote the first two books) split they still had a deal for 4 books. so they each decided to do their own versions of book three, Bob Grant felt the series should focus more on offbeat humor and his book (Backwards) reflects that. Doug Naylor felt the series should be more of an action scifi series with funny bits, and his book (Last Human) shows that. both are good, but they worked better together. I tend to like Last human more though. Bob reads his, dryly, and Craig Charles (lister in the series) reads LH. They are hugely different stories, though oddly enough, how one character ends up is similar in both books (though they go about it in different ways)