There’s a reason that many people who suggesting a starting point for Discworld suggest people start with the City Watch subseries and Guards! Guards! in particular. It’s hilarious.

They may be called the Palace Guard, the City Guard, or the Patrol. Whatever the name, their purpose in any work of heroic fantasy is identical: it is, round about Chapter Three (or ten minutes into the film) to rush into the room, attack the hero one at a time, and be slaughtered. No one ever asks them if they want to. This book is dedicated to those fine men.

In a nutshell, the Night Watch of Ankh-Morpork are badly understaffed and only a shadow of what they once were. Then Carrot arrives. A human orphan raised by Dwarves with a sense of how things ought to be a mile wide. And then a book is stolen. And a dragon is summoned. Things go from bad to worse. Hilarity ensues.

It’s a wonderful book. A good place to start Discworld. I’m really curious where we’ll go from here.