I'm one of those heathens that read through for the first time in publication order. The ancient civilization side trips were a bit disorienting at first but I managed.
You can do whatever I think, either read them by series (rincewind, witches, city guard, etc.) or by publishing order, starting with the colour of magic.
It's good right up until the last two books or so (thinking specifically of Snuff, but also Raising Steam here), where Vimes becomes a complete parody of himself, and there is also a large drop in quality.
Maybe Pratchett's disease had something to do with it.
raising steam was disjointed and its second half felt like a farewell to the discworld. and yeah, snuff is just a rambling mess.
I was the weird one and started with The Color of Magic and didn't regret it. Weird Pratchett advised to skip 2 of his own books.
I think starting with Color of Magic is just fine, IF you know and enjoy classic heroic fantasy. Otherwise it's very hard to enjoy without understanding what tropes it's mocking.
Funny how you made this post now. I decided to get into Discworld very recently and finished Mort just the day before.
@aihorde@lemmy.dbzer0.com draw for me Lemmy the Discworld novel, cover art by Josh_Kirby
Did Pratchett really recommend starting with sourcery? I've been stumped for years on where to start
