10 Best Terry Pratchett Books

A look into the incredible imagination of fantasy fictions most loved author.

By Aaron Chandler /

Wikipedia

It's no secret to any fiction book reader that Terry Pratchett had a brilliant mind, stunning imagination and was above all, a truly incredible author. Since his rise to fame in the 70's, Pratchett's work has inspired thousands, perhaps millions thanks to its intricacy and vibrant imagery.

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Of course, Pratchett's career defining creation was the Discworld, where no less than 41 of his books were set. The details, depth and story lines within his own fictional setting of the Discworld are quite honestly mind blowing. Each Discworld book playing its own part in the bigger picture, with characters crossing over and intertwining their stories, sometimes across dozens of books. The buzzing hive of life on the Discworld is so complex and dynamic, it's a wonder how Pratchett managed to keep it so enthralling for so many years.

With well over 50 works to his name during his career, the late great Terry Pratchett wrote some all-time classic fantasy novels. Narrowing down his entire collection down to just ten books is much harder than you might expect. But from a career spanning over four decades, here are Pratchett's most engaging, innovative, convention challenging and charismatic books.

10. Raising Steam

Published in 2013, Raising Steam was the 40th and penultimate book of the Discworld series, followed only by The Shepherd's Crown, which was released posthumously by Pratchett's publishers in 2015.

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In these near 500 pages of brilliance, the story unfolds of the Discworld's first locomotion steam engine, invented by the brilliantly talented and brand new character to the series, Dick Simnel. Although the concept and idea of locomotives in the Discworld had been hinted at in Death's Domain, Raising Steam is the first and only Discworld book to feature them as a main plot focus. With help from high ranking officials in the city of Ankh-Morpork such as Moist von Lipwig and Harry King, train tracks are gradually laid across the world, but the innovators encounter resistance in the process.

Including fantastic lines and quotes such as 'a coachman of the thunderbolts', this is truly an exceptional book which proves that, even in his twilight years, Terry Pratchett was an eternally talented writer who never lost his wide-eyed, imaginative spark.

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