Books by Terry Pratchett

Book Synopsis'A lie can run round the world before the truth can get its boots on.'William de Worde has somehow found himself editor of Ankh-Morpork's first newspaper. Well, with a name like that . . .Launched into the world of investigative journalism, alongside reporter Sacharissa Cripslock, William soon learns that the news is a risky business. For a start, his colleagues include a band of axe-wielding dwarfs and a recovering vampire with a life-threatening passion for flash photography.It's a big news week: the most powerful man in the city has been arrested, leaving Ankh-Morpork without a leader. And a dangerous criminal organisation will do anything to control the story . . .'An unmitigated delight . . . very, very funny' The TimesThe Discworld novels can be read in any order but The Truth is a standalone. Trade ReviewPratchett has found his own way of turning lead into gold, and by that I don't just mean that he's written 25 bestsellers in 17 years, but that every one he has written is a treasure. * Guardian *Fluent, intricately plotted and sometimes very funny. * Daily Telegraph *He would be amusing in any form, and his spectacular inventiveness makes the Discworld series one of the perennial joys of modern fiction. * Mail on Sunday *Pratchett fans are in for a treat with his 25th Discworld novel. * Daily Express *The Truth is an unmitigated delight and very, very funny . . . The pace is compelling but he never lets his tale descend into simple farce. * The Times *

Read more less

Book Synopsis'Whoever said you can't fool an honest man wasn't one.'The Royal Bank of Ankh-Morpork is facing a crisis and needs a shake-up in management. Cue Moist von Lipwig, Postmaster General and former con artist. If anyone can rescue the city's ailing financial institution, it's him. He doesn't really want the job, but the thing is, he doesn't have a choice.Moist has many problems to solve as part of his new role: the chief cashier is almost certainly a vampire, the chairman needs his daily walkies, there's something strange happening in the cellar, and the Royal Mint is running at a loss.Moist begins making some ambitious changes . . . and some dangerous enemies. Because money is power and certain stakeholders will do anything to keep a firm grip on both . . .'As bright and shiny as a newly minted coin; clever, engaging and laugh-out-loud funny' The TimesMaking Money is the second book in the Moist von Lipwig series, but you can read the Discworld novels in any order. Trade Review“You ride along on his tide of outlandish invention, realizing that you are in the presence of a true original among contemporary writers.”–The Times“Terry Pratchett is a comic genius.” –Daily Express

Read more less

Book Synopsis'The world lives between those who say it cannot be done and those who say that it can . . . it's just a matter of thinking creatively.'Moist von Lipwig is a con man turned civil servant. As head of the Royal Bank and Post Office of Ankh-Morpork, he doesn't really want or need another job. But when the Patrician Lord Vetinari gives you a task, you do it or suffer the consequences. In Moist's case, death.A brand-new invention has come to the city: a steam locomotive named Iron Girder, to be precise. With the railway's introduction and rapid expansion, Vetinari enlists Moist to represent the government and keep things on track.But as with all new technology, some people have objections, and Moist will have to use every trick in his arsenal to keep the trains running . . .'The most serious of comedies, the most relevant and real of fantasies' IndependentRaising Steam is the third and final book in the Moist von Lipwig series, but the Discworld novels can be read in any order.Trade ReviewLaugh-out-loud funny...A chuffing wonderful book.—SFXTerry Pratchett’s creation is still going strong after 30 years as Ankh-Morpork branches into the railway age…There are sly nods to the history of railways and a cheeky reference to The Railway Children. Most aficionados, however, will be on the look-out for in-jokes and references from previous novels – of which there is no shortage…It is at the level of the sentence that Pratchett wins his fans.—The TimesThe genius of Pratchett is that he never goes for the straight allegory. . .he remains one of the most consistently funny writers around; a master of the stealth simile, the time-delay pun and the deflationary three-part list. . .I could tell which of my fellow tube passengers had downloaded it to their e-readers by the bouts of spontaneous laughter.—Ben Aaronovitch, The Guardian

Read more less

Book Synopsis'That's the trouble about the good guys and the bad guys! They're all guys!'In the small yet aggressive country of Borogravia, there are strict rules citizens must follow. For a start, women belong in the kitchen - not in jobs, pubs, or indeed trousers. And certainly not on the front line.Polly Perks has to become a boy in a hurry if she wants to find her missing brother in the army. Cutting off her hair and wearing the trousers is easy. Going to war however, is not.Polly and her fellow raw recruits are suddenly in the thick of a losing battle. All they have on their side is the most artful sergeant in the army and a vampire with a lust for coffee.It's time to make a stand.'You ride along on his tide of outlandish invention, realising that you are in the presence of a true original' The TimesThe Discworld novels can be read in any order but Monstrous Regiment is a standalone.Trade Review'Not since Evelyn Waugh's novel Officers and Gentlemen has conflict faced such thoroughly cutting questioning...A great piece of writing, akin to Jonathan Swift' * Daily Express *'You ride along on his tide of out-landish invention, realizing that you are in the presence of a true original among contemporary writers - a fantasist who loves naff humour and silly names, and yet whose absurd world is, at heart, a serious portrait of the jingoistic fears that keep us at each other's throats' * The Times *'It's powerful stuff, and one of his best' * Starburst *Like Jonathan Swift, Pratchett uses his other world to hold up a distorting mirror to our own, and like Swift he is a satirist of enormous talent ... incredibly funny ... compulsively readable * The Times *The great Terry Pratchett, whose wit is metaphysical, who creates an energetic and lively secondary world, who has a multifarious genius for strong parody ... who deals with death with startling originality. Who writes amazing sentences * New York Times *

Read more less

Book Synopsis'HOLY WOOD IS A DIFFERENT SORT OF PLACE . . . HERE, THE MOST IMPORTANT THING IS TO BE IMPORTANT.'A new phenomenon is taking over the Discworld: moving pictures. Created by the alchemists of Ankh-Morpork, the growing 'clicks' industry moves to the sandy land of Holy Wood, attracted by the light of the sun and some strange calling no one can quite put their finger on...Also drawn to Holy Wood are aspiring young stars Victor Tugelbend, a wizarding student dropout, and Theda 'Ginger' Withel, a small-town girl with big dreams.But behind the glitz and glamour of the clicks, a sinister presence lurks. Because belief is powerful in the Discworld, and sometimes downright dangerous...The magic of movies might just unravel reality itself.'Funny, delightfully inventive, and refuses to lie down in its genre' - ObserverThe Discworld novels can be read in any order but Moving Pictures is a standalone.Trade Review'A true original among contemporary writers' * The Times *'Cracking dialogue, compelling illogic and unchained whimsy...Pratchett has a subject and a style that is very much his own' * Sunday Times *'Offers more entertainment per page than anything this side of Wodehouse' * Washington Post Book World *

Read more less

Book Synopsis'FOR THE ENEMY IS NOT TROLL, NOR IS IT DWARF, BUT IT IS THE BALEFUL, THE MALIGN, THE COWARDLY, THE VESSELS OF HATRED, THOSE WHO DO A BAD THING AND CALL IT GOOD ...'In the city of Ankh-Morpork, tension is rising between dwarf and troll communities.A dwarven fanatic has been stoking the flames of an old hatred born of the Battle of Koom Valley -an ancient war between the races that neither side has quite got over. When the dwarf is murdered, with a troll the only witness, Commander Sam Vimes of the City Watch must solve the case before history repeats itself.With his beloved Watch crumbling around him and war drums sounding, Vimes must unravel every clue, outwit every assassin and brave any darkness to find the solution. But darkness is following him ...And at six o'clock every day he must go home to read a bedtime story to his son. There are some things you have to do.'Consistently funny, consistently clever and consistently surprising in its twists and turns' SFXThud! is the seventh book in the City Watch series, but you can read the Discworld novels in any order. Trade ReviewImaginative, witty and consistent - as in consistently funny, consistently clever and consistently surprising in its twists and turns * SFX magazine *Pratchett too requires us to think. Whenever I read his stories I find myself thinking that he is "grown up". He may write benign comedy but he knows how horribly complicated and exciting the Universe is. * A.S. Byatt, The Times *You hardly need to review Pratchett nowadays...you know you can rely on him to be wirtty and quietly wise, and his creations have taken on a life of their own...A series that seems to re-invent itself by natural evolution every time. * Starburst *'Thud! has a serious theme: racial intolerance. That Pratchett can explore this while still making us laugh is a tribute to the integrity of his created world ... Extremely funny but it's also very near the knuckleduster.' * Scotland on Sunday *

Read more less

Book Synopsis'THE JURISDICTION OF A GOOD MAN EXTENDS TO THE END OF THE WORLD.'Commander Sam Vimes of the Ankh-Morpork City Watch is having some time off. Apparently.But crime doesn't take a break - it's a truth universally acknowledged that a policeman on holiday would barely have time to open his suitcase before he finds his first corpse.In the seemingly peaceful countryside, Vimes discovers much more than a body in the wardrobe. For the local nobles are hiding a deep, dark secret. There are many, many bodies - and an ancient atrocity more terrible than murder.Vimes is out of his jurisdiction, out of his depth and out of his mind. But never out of ideas. Where there is a crime there must be a punishment.They say that in the end all sins are forgiven. This might be the exception ...'As effortlessly, generously funny as only Pratchett can be, Snuff doesn't stint on laying bare the darker side of life either' Sunday TimesSnuff is the eighth book in the City Watch series, but you can read the Discworld novels in any order. Trade Review[Discworld is] Warm, silly, compulsively readable, fantastically inventive, surprisingly serious exploration in story form of just about any aspect of our world...Where other writers are delighted if they come up with just a handful of comic figures with self-sustaining life in them - Don Quixote and Sancho, the three men in the boat, Pooh and Piglet and Eeyore - Pratchettt breeds them by the score...There's never been anything quite like it. * Evening Standard *Pratchett is a master storyteller. He is endlessly inventive...a master of complex jokes, good bad jokes, good dreadful jokes and a kind of insidious wisdom about human nature...I read his books at a gallop and then reread them every time I am ill or exhausted. * Guardian *To keep it fresh into the 39th volume of a series deserves a knighthood...Snuff is entertaining, with all Pratchett's genius on display. He still makes you care about his creations and, amid all the funnies, he can turn on the pathos. * Sunday Express *[Pratchett] is now so good at skewering the banalities and injustices of our world through his fantasy creation balanced on the back of a giant turtle that he could probably do it in his sleep...As effortlessly, generously funny as only Pratchett can be, Snuff doesn't stint on laying bare the darker side of life either. A worthy addition to the Discworld canon. * Sunday Times *Is there any sign of a falling-off in Sir Terry's extraordinary abilities? No. Not one. This is another brilliant, bravura command performance of comic fantasy. Terry Pratchett with Alzheimer's is still up there with PG Wodehouse. Amazing. Wonderful. Fantastic. * Daily Mail *

Read more less

Book Synopsis'WELL, HE THOUGHT, SO THIS IS DIPLOMACY. IT'S LYING, ONLY FOR A BETTER CLASS OF PEOPLE.'Commander Sam Vimes of the Ankh-Morpork City Watch is a long way from home.Sent as reluctant ambassador to Uberwald, a mysterious region inhabited by dwarfs, vampires and werewolves, Vimes must learn the art of diplomacy. Fast. But when he uncovers a mystery with ties back home, the policeman in him can't help but investigate. What could possibly go wrong?Well, quite a lot actually. Vimes finds himself on the run through the frozen forests of Uberwald, armed with only his wits and the trousers of Uncle Vanya (don't ask). And if he doesn't make it, there's going to be a terrible war.But there are monsters on his trail. They're smart. They're fast. They're werewolves.And they're catching up . . .'Precisely balanced . . . a cracking comic thriller' The TimesThe Fifth Elephant is the fifth book in the City Watch series, but you can read the Discworld novels in any order. Trade ReviewPrecisely balanced . . . excellent set pieces . . . a cracking comic thriller. * The Times *He would be amusing in any form and his spectacular inventiveness makes the Discworld series one of the perennial joys of modern fiction. * Mail on Sunday *

Read more less

Book Synopsis'IT WAS SO MUCH EASIER TO BLAME IT ON THEM. IT WAS BLEAKLY DEPRESSING TO THINK THAT THEY WERE US.'War is brewing on the Discworld.An island has appeared from the ocean depths, right in the middle of the sea which separates the proud empires of Klatch and Ankh-Morpork. Of course, no one would dream of starting a war with the neighbours without a perfectly good reason . . . such as a 'strategic' piece of old rock, for instance.But when a Klatchian Prince is almost assassinated, peace talks break down and violent nationalism begins to spread. Ankh-Morpork prepares to fight. Only thing is, they don't have an army. Or much in the way of weapons.Commander Sam Vimes and the 'officially disbanded' City Watch get caught up in a deadly political game where the enemy appears to be on both sides and no one will listen to reason.And if they don't stop this absurd war, no one will . . .'Generous, amusing and the ideal boarding point for those who have never visited Discworld' Sunday TelegraphJingo is the fourth book in the City Watch series, but you can read the Discworld novels in any order. Trade Review'Pratchett's writing is a constant delight. No one mixes the fantastical and the mundane to better comic effect or offers sharper insights into the absurdities of human endeavour' * Daily Mail *'Generous, amusing and the ideal boarding point for those who have never visited Discworld' * Sunday Telegraph *'Vintage Pratchett... Perennially funny...A sharp satire on the futility of war' * Metro *'One of those rare writers who appeals to everyone... He satisfies the need for fast-moving breathtaking plots with entirely satisfying endings, and the equally primitive desire for an alternative world, full of thrills but benign, into which one can step for pleasure and enlivenment' * Daily Express *'Both his inventiveness and his moral shrewdness seem inexhaustible' * Daily Mail *

Read more less

Book Synopsis'NOBLE DRAGONS DON'T HAVE FRIENDS. THE NEAREST THEY CAN GET TO THE IDEA IS AN ENEMY WHO IS STILL ALIVE.'The city of Ankh-Morpork is in turmoil, its citizens revolting. Again.A shadowy secret brotherhood has summoned a dragon to spread terror throughout the city, intent on overthrowing the Patrician and ruling in his place. Too bad the dragon has ideas of its own ...It's up to Captain Sam Vimes and the ramshackle Night Watch to stop it. Only problem is, the Watch are more used to dealing with mobs than dragons.And if they can't bring down this fire-breathing tyrant and reinstate their own, slightly less dangerous one, Ankh-Morpork might be lost. For ever...'This is one of Pratchett's best books. Hilarious and highly recommended' The TimeGuards! Guards! is the first book in the City Watch series, but you can read the Discworld novels in any order. Trade Review'This is one of Pratchett's best books. Hilarious and highly recommended' * The Times *'Pratchett is at the peak of his powers; it's hard to think of any humorist writing in Britain today who can match him... A masterful ear for dialogue, a keen eye for the ridiculous and a real feel for language' * Time Out *'The best humorous English author since P.G. Wodehouse' * Sunday Telegraph *

Read more less

Book Synopsis'PEOPLE OUGHT TO THINK FOR THEMSELVES ... THE PROBLEM IS, PEOPLE ONLY THINK FOR THEMSELVES IF YOU TELL THEM TO.'Times are a-changing in Ankh-Morpork's Night Watch.New recruits have been hired to reflect the city's diversity, including Corporal Carrot (technically a dwarf), Lance-constable Cuddy (really a dwarf), Lance-constable Detritus (a troll), and Lance-constable Angua (a woman ... full moons aside).What's more, Captain Sam Vimes is getting married and retiring from the Watch. For good. Which is a shame, because no one knows the streets of Ankh-Morpork or its criminal underworld better than him.And someone armed and dangerous has been getting ideas about power and destiny and lost kings, committing a string of seemingly random murders across the city.The new recruits will need to learn fast ...'Funny, wise and mock heroic . . . the best-crafted book I have read all year' Sunday ExpressMen At Arms is the second book in the City Watch series, but you can read the Discworld novels in any order. Trade Review'Funny, wise and mock heroic...The funniest and best crafted book I have read all year' * Sunday Express *'Like Jonathan Swift, Pratchett uses his other world to hold up a distorting mirror to our own, and like Swift he is a satirist of enormous talent ... incredibly funny ... compulsively readable' * The Times *'His spectacular inventiveness makes the Discworld series one of the perennial joys of modern fiction' * Mail on Sunday *'The great Terry Pratchett, whose wit is metaphysical, who creates an energetic and lively secondary world, who has a multifarious genius for strong parody ... who deals with death with startling originality. Who writes amazing sentences' * New York Times *'Persistently amusing, good-hearted and shrewd' * Sunday Times *

Read more less

Book SynopsisTerry Pratchett was the acclaimed creator of the global bestselling Discworld series, the first of which, The Colour of Magic, was published in 1983. In all, he was the author of over fifty bestselling books which have sold over 100 million copies worldwide. His novels have been widely adapted for stage and screen, and he was the winner of multiple prizes, including the Carnegie Medal. He was awarded a knighthood for services to literature in 2009, although he always wryly maintained that his greatest service to literature was to avoid writing any.www.terrypratchettbooks.com

Read more less

Book SynopsisDragons have invaded Crumbling Castle, and all of King Arthur’s knights are either on holiday or visiting their grannies. It’s a disaster!Luckily, there’s a spare suit of armour and a very small boy called Ralph who’s willing to fill it. Together with Fortnight the Friday knight and Fossfiddle the wizard, Ralph sets out to defeat the fearsome fire-breathers. But there's a teeny weeny surprise in store . . .Fourteen fantastically funny stories from master storyteller Sir Terry Pratchett, full of time travel and tortoises, monsters and mayhem!‘So funny I dropped my spoon laughing!’ – King ArthurTrade ReviewFunny, action-packed . . . a rip-roaring read. * The Sun *Full of [Pratchett's] burgeoning wit and wordplay . . . A delightful romp. * Sunday Times *A splendid collection . . . rumbustious, irreverent and hilarious. * Booktrust *A good choice for the chapter-book set, this is highly recommended for reading aloud to younger children as well . . . Pratchett’s vast, all-ages fan base will be intrigued by these early offerings, while their accessibility and skillful storytelling will pull in young newcomers to the masterful author's work. * Booklist *Charming and funny . . . Accompanied by Beech’s wiry Quentin Blake–like illustrations, as well as numerous typographical flourishes, this volume will please both its intended audience and older Pratchett completists. * Publishers Weekly *

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less