Rincewind is kind of dull but the Unseen Academy is fun. But I probably do like the books about the Watch more than the rest. I really don’t care for the witches all that much, they’re probably my least favorite.
I’m a big fan of the Moist von Lipwig books, personally, along with The Truth. Both really get at the heart of later Discworld, where the world is developing away from its fantasy/Renaissance-ish roots.
Yeah I didn’t really mention the books with one-off, non-recurring characters but those have tended to be pretty strong. I also didn’t mention Vetinari, mainly because he’s never the main character of any books, but I enjoy when he has a part to play.
Agree that earlier novels are weaker, but they’re all worth reading in published order and I intend to do just that shortly. Even the Tiffany Aching ones.
I’d say the middle 20 (approx books 7-27) are peak Pratchett. He takes a while to find his groove initially and its not just a sequence of gags and witty wordplays. The latter novels left me pretty cold unfortunately. The humor wasn’t really there anymore and he tried to weave more complex stories, but those never quite came together for me in the end.
The “Watch” tv show has been in and out of development hell for at least 6 years (if not longer), so I’m not going to hold my breath. The TV landscape has changed quite a bit though, so here’s hoping it works out and is better than the 3 TV movies that did make it to our screens over the years.
What?! I loved the TV versions of Hogfather, Colour of Magic, and Going Postal.