The idea of writing books did not come to the mind of a student of the technical school, but the success came at the age of 13, after the first publication of a short story in a local magazine, for which the novice writer received only $14.
The flat world is the beginning of success.
In the world where Pratchet lived there was a lot of ordinary, ugly and uninteresting, something was resolutely missing. The post-war years, the surge and decline of the economy, unemployment, violence and robbery – this was the reality of the real world in which.
Fantasists around the world made the last senseless attempts to come up with something more to impress the reader, but few people succeeded. And so, among all the fuss and injustice, there was a spark – an idea consisting of a plan, followed by a goal that was realized.
The idea was to put the whole earth in a special dimension – Disk, then just the Flat World, turn it over like a pancake in a frying pan and populate with strange but quite recognisable heroes. The flat world does not appear immediately, it arises from fog and chaos and rests on the heads of three elephants, who in turn try to resist the shell of a huge turtle. This support is extremely unstable and therefore the whole world and its inhabitants are constantly shaken, those who are particularly unlucky can fall off the edge without having time to step back in time. But as the inhabitants of the Flat World themselves believe, a good shake-up has not hurt anyone yet.
After graduating from school, Terry Pratchett became a full-time journalist, having an inexorable craving for writing. Soon his fantastic novels become very popular, but not as much as the young writer would like, so he begins to work hard to eventually in 1983 bring to critics the first book from his planned cycle about the Flat World, written in a humorous way, which is almost impossible for the uninitiated to understand. However, you should not give up reading, understanding will come over time, at the same time there will be complete delight with what you have read.
A little bit about the sequence
It should be noted that you can read books in any order, but usually they are still divided into several subcycles, each of which includes from 2 to 8 books.
The beginning. A series of books about wizards and heroes of the flat world. Rinswind
Immersion in the history of the Flat World and its inhabitants should begin with the book “Color of Magic”. It was her who has been cherished with such love and reverence by the writer for a long time, it is here that the Flat World, countries, cities, villages appear for the first time. The reader is informed that one of the main cities where all further actions will take place is Ankh-Morpork and he begins to realise that the surrounding reality has changed, there are wizards talking chests filled with gold, absolutely legal guilds of thieves, murderers, robbers, and even imaginary dragons.
The cycle about wizards and heroes consists of 8 full books, on the pages of which anything can happen to the reader, so it is best to prepare and find out what really awaits everyone who intends to visit the Flat World. So, we read in order:
- “The color of magic.” The book appeared on the shelves in 1983;
- “Mad Star.” The flat world finds reality, the novel was published in 1986;
- “Stand and hat.” The book is imbued with humor and sarcasm, and more importantly, magic, published in 1988;
- “Eric.” Fantastic novel of 1990 edition;
- “Interesting times.” Published for the first time in 1994;
- “The Last Continent.” It was published in 1999;
- “The Last Hero.” Final edition of the cycle, published in 2001.
The last book ends the cycle, but not the story of the Flat World itself, each inhabitant of which can be the hero of a single book, so it was not difficult for the writer to write several dozen more stories loved by readers around the world.
Thus, the following cycles appeared: Witches, Tiffany, Death, Guardians and Von Lilvig, each of which should be considered in more detail.
“The Witches” – Feminism in the Flat World
Reading the series of books “The Witches” should begin with the book “Creators of Spells”, which should be read without illusions or looking for a utopia in which all people are happy and quite satisfied with their lives. If the reader hopes to find exactly that on its pages, he needs to immediately put the book back on the shelf and take something from Thomas More.
The flat world is as unfair as the real one, the difference is that injustice is covered by a mask of benevolent intentions and hypocritical sympathy, while in the Flat World everything is exposed, everything is explained and name found. What can be difficult in a world where everyone can witch, but in our world everyone can live in prosperity, but only a few live. This is true, just as in the Flat World, it is true that only men have the right to engage in witchcraft, against which women rebel and a surprisingly long and funny story begins, consisting of 6 books and one story:
- Creators of Spells, 1987;
- “The Wing Sisters,” 1988;
- “Witch Abroad”, 1991;
- Ladies and Gentlemen, 1992;
- Masquerade, 1995;
- “Hawag your throat,” 1998;
- “Sea and Fish”, story, 1998.
“Tiffany” is a sequel.
The cycle below, consisting of 4 books, is something like a continuation of the Witches cycle, but with its own history:
- “Free People”, 2003;
- “Hat Full of Heaven”, 2004;
- “Winter Master”, 2006;
- “I’ll dress in the color of the night,” 2010;
Death on vacation
The greatest interest is the cycle called “Death”. Strangely enough, everything is not so gloomy, death is just a skeleton in a black hoodie and with a scythe – an ordinary character in the Flat World. Death has friends, relatives, even a daughter and granddaughter. There are also quirks, one of them is leaving business on temporary leave. It is with vacation that the first story of the cycle begins, which includes 5 full-fledged and extremely exciting books:
- “The Sea is a disciple of death,” 1987;
- “Dark Reaper”, 1991;
- “Fatal Music”, 1994;
- Santa Hryakus, 1996;
- The Thief of Time, 2001.
The guards are always only the guards.
The flat world needs not only wizards, witches and Death, but also guards. Suddenly some troll, having quarreled with the dwarf, decides to kill the offender without a license – a disorder, a guard is needed. That’s what will be discussed in as many as 7 books:
- “Guards! Watches!”, 1989;
- “To armour! To armor!”, 1993;
- “Clay Legs”, 1996;
- The Patriot, 1997;
- The Fifth Elephant, 1998;
- Night Guard, 2002;
- “Boom!”, 2006;
The postman always brings letters on time.
A special place in the Flat World is occupied by the postman, it is he who is dedicated to a small cycle of “Fon Lipwig” of 2 books, on which an equally interesting film has already been shot:
- “Reverence” 2004;
- “Make Money” 2007.
Summarizing, it should be noted that in total, the writer’s collection includes more than 40 books, stories, maps, reference books and even one cookbook about the Flat World. The flat world has long been a separate story, not just a collection of books on one topic, you need to read it carefully paying tribute to the wonderful skill of the writer.
