@Thousand:
Stories with the witches were always my least favorite (especially the Tiffany Aching ones) yet Weatherwax was always one of my favorite characters. I much prfer the Rincewind, Sam Vimes and Moist von Lipwig ones.
Aside from Equal Rites which is relatively weak, I had good fun with the "main" witches books. Now I love Tiffany and the Wee Free Men as characters, but yeah, her books were just a little too slow for me (except the first one, that was damn excellent, also the most adventurous). I haven't read I Shall Wear Midnight yet, though.
@Thousand:
Hell yeah, I'm doing a readthrough. I've been reading all over the place for years but finally I'm going to dedicate myself to reading everything from beginning to end even the ones I've already read.
Its quite fun to see the evolution of the characters and concepts over the books. Weatherwax became far more realized as the series went on (and Pratchett repurposed the "old wizard boyfriend" angle from Rites with Ridcully later, to much greater effect), whereas Rincewind became a bit more caricaturized. And Death in the first books is an almost totally different character.
@Thousand:
Once I finish Dan Brown's Inferno, I get to read the first Sam Vimes novel (one I haven't read before), Guards Guards, so there's that to look forward to. Think my favorites are Fifth Elephant, Going Postal, Pyramids, Nightwatch and Colour of Magic.
The watch books are all great, but aside from the Death books (Reaper man and Hogfather will propably always be my favourites), I've found a growing appreciation for the standalones. Pyramids, Small Gods, the truth, Monstrous Regiment. The Amazing Maurice, dear lord, look forward to that if you haven't read them already.
Ridcully is propably my overall favourite character. Vimes and Weatherwax are surely more dynamic protagonists, but I find it literally impossible not to be entertained by Ridcully.
@Thousand:
Though I've yet to read Jingo which I've heard is one of his best. God, that's been on my shelf for a year and I've yet to touch it but in due time since I've successfully gathered every Discworld book these past two months (except the new one coming out this month).
Jingo is fine, though not my favourite, certainly not my favourite Watch novel. But it does have one of the best endings in the entire series. Its just…picture perfect.
On my personal To Read list is, to my shame, Making Money, Wear Midnight, Snuff and Raising Steam. And I still need to get the last Johnny maxwell book, The Long Earth books, Dodger, and Wheres My Cow as well.
@Thousand:
As someone who's read both early and late works of Terry Pratchett, I agree they have a different feel but prefer the later stuff as there feels like the wackiness was more creative and clever. Like how he starts the stories with a weird prologue which has nothing to do with the story following it until it becomes super relevant out of nowhere. I love that shit, it's so clever.
Like the ones in Postal and Academicals you mean? I see your point, but in Postal especially, it always irked me how plot points of the early part of the story was abandoned (the Mail Avatar, and the post office in general, mostly). As for the creativeness, its mostly the scale thats been cranked way down; climaxes such as the ones found in Pyramids or Reaper Man just don't pop up anymore, the offbeat fantasticness is more sidepoints than main story focuses now.
@Panda:
WHERE. IS. MY. COW!
Vimes has soooooo many good scenes. His final confrontation with Carcer in Night watch, the werewolf hunt in Fifth Elephant…Another personal fave of mine is the Salary Breakdown of Men at arms, where he's not even awake!
@Thousand:
Oh DUUUDE, you won't believe the chills you gave me just now. That is up there with some of the best scenes this series has ever given. I'm a 100 pages into the first Sam Vimes novel, Guards Guards. It's kinda painful to read. Not because it's bad (quite the opposite, it's really freakin' good) but because I had no idea the Watch started as such a shitty organization. I've read Sam Vimes stories all over where the Watch was at the peak of its power with tons of officers and with a lot of clout and respect. To think it started as such a nothing organisation with Vimes as a washed up drunkard. I really hope it's turned around by the end of this book. I don't think my heart can take anymore T_T
Duuuude, you have no idea how envious I am. Guards Guards is fucking A-MAZING, the best introduction to the watch you can hope for, and seeing the development of the watch over this and subsequent books is just so…uplifting. And don't worry about your heart, its going to get warmed up real good by this book.