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Discworld Companion Books
The Ultimate Discworld Companion
The absolute, comprehensive, from Tiffany Aching to Jack Zweiblumen guide to all things Discworld, fully illustrated by Paul Kidby.The Discworld, as everyone knows, is a flat world balanced on the back of four elephants which, in turn, stand on the shell of the giant star turtle, the Great A'Tuin, as it slowly swims through space.It is also the global publishing phenomenon with sales of over 70 million books worldwide (but who's counting?). There's an awful lot of Discworld to keep track of. But fear not! Help is at hand. For the very first time, everything (and we mean everything) you could possibly want to know has been crammed into one place.If you need a handy guide to locales from Ankh-Morpork to Zemphis . . .If you can't tell your Achmed the Mads from your Jack Zweiblumens . . .If your life depends on distinguishing between the Agatean Empire and the Zoons . . .Look no further. Updated and perfected by Stephen Briggs, the man behind The Ultimate Discworld Companion's predecessor Turtle Recall, this is your ultimate guide to Sir Terry Pratchett's beloved fantasy world.
886 pages, Kindle Edition
Published November 11, 2021
133 people are currently reading
444 people want to read
About the author
Terry Pratchett
681 books46.1k followersSir Terence David John Pratchett was an English author, humorist, and satirist, best known for the Discworld series of 41 comic fantasy novels published between 1983–2015, and for the apocalyptic comedy novel Good Omens (1990), which he co-wrote with Neil Gaiman.
Pratchett's first novel, The Carpet People, was published in 1971. The first Discworld novel, The Colour of Magic, was published in 1983, after which Pratchett wrote an average of two books a year. The final Discworld novel, The Shepherd's Crown, was published in August 2015, five months after his death.
With more than 100 million books sold worldwide in 43 languages, Pratchett was the UK's best-selling author of the 1990s. He was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 1998 and was knighted for services to literature in the 2009 New Year Honours. In 2001 he won the annual Carnegie Medal for The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents, the first Discworld book marketed for children. He received the World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement in 2010.
In December 2007 Pratchett announced that he had been diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer's disease. He later made a substantial public donation to the Alzheimer's Research Trust (now Alzheimer's Research UK, ARUK), filmed three television programmes chronicling his experiences with the condition for the BBC, and became a patron of ARUK. Pratchett died on 12 March 2015, at the age of 66.
Pratchett's first novel, The Carpet People, was published in 1971. The first Discworld novel, The Colour of Magic, was published in 1983, after which Pratchett wrote an average of two books a year. The final Discworld novel, The Shepherd's Crown, was published in August 2015, five months after his death.
With more than 100 million books sold worldwide in 43 languages, Pratchett was the UK's best-selling author of the 1990s. He was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 1998 and was knighted for services to literature in the 2009 New Year Honours. In 2001 he won the annual Carnegie Medal for The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents, the first Discworld book marketed for children. He received the World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement in 2010.
In December 2007 Pratchett announced that he had been diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer's disease. He later made a substantial public donation to the Alzheimer's Research Trust (now Alzheimer's Research UK, ARUK), filmed three television programmes chronicling his experiences with the condition for the BBC, and became a patron of ARUK. Pratchett died on 12 March 2015, at the age of 66.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
March 30, 2023
oh lordy, how is it no one has reviewed this edition yet?
Ok so yes, you have Discworld Companion and Turtle Recall: The Discworld Companion . . . So Far and The New Discworld Companion. But you NEED this book. Don't buy one, buy two and then you have a spare to gift to the improverished Terry Pratchett fan in your life.
There are too many full colour full page illustrations in this edition to list, over 100, plus all the small colour pics, and the pencil drawings. Plus it comes with a thoughtfully large sized book mark and a frameable sized discworld massif. Paul Kidby's blog gives some in progress views of the main artwork and the attention to detail that went in to this.
If this doesn't sell you on the Dunmanifestin editions, nothing will. Skip the complete works of Shakespeare, this is my desert island book.
GNU Sir Terry Pratchett
Ok so yes, you have Discworld Companion and Turtle Recall: The Discworld Companion . . . So Far and The New Discworld Companion. But you NEED this book. Don't buy one, buy two and then you have a spare to gift to the improverished Terry Pratchett fan in your life.
There are too many full colour full page illustrations in this edition to list, over 100, plus all the small colour pics, and the pencil drawings. Plus it comes with a thoughtfully large sized book mark and a frameable sized discworld massif. Paul Kidby's blog gives some in progress views of the main artwork and the attention to detail that went in to this.
If this doesn't sell you on the Dunmanifestin editions, nothing will. Skip the complete works of Shakespeare, this is my desert island book.
GNU Sir Terry Pratchett
March 6, 2022
This is, unfortunately, a disappointment. The cover declares "The Ultimate Discworld Companion - containing Everything... and more besides", which is a lie, (apart from the word 'ultimate' in its meaning as 'the last one'). First, the good stuff: Paul Kidby's illustrations are wonderful, and several included here I have not seen before. The new entries for books published since "Turtle Recall" are also covered in reasonable detail, which is good.
However, then there are all the bad points: There are many entries that seem incomplete or have not been updated since the last version of the Companion. There are far far too many typos or mistakes that indicate a lack of copy-editing or proof reading, and there are definitely missing entries for some on-page characters that are more than the one-liners (which were deliberately omitted, as Briggs indicates in his introduction). It is also disappointing that some of Briggs's illustrations of Guild coats of arms are now gone, meaning we get the description but no picture. There is also no illustration for the Trousers of Time *and yet the text still explictly refers to it* - once again, showing that not enough care has been taken. There are also several entries where the fourth wall is smashed, indicating "hey, this entry is here because I restored it from my original notes" whereas it would have been better to just include the in-world reference and not worry about which versions of the companion they appear in. This version *should* contain everything, but we don't need to know which entries are there "just because". The amount written for some characters seems less than what it should be, and then, for some Guilds, there are pages and pages of content (lifted from the diaries) which probably either don't need to be there, or could have used some further editing.
All in all, it's good to have a new edition of the Discworld Companion, covering all of the 41 Discworld Novels and some of the spin off material (although a few like Mrs Bradshaw's Guide and the Discworld Atlas were specifically excluded, which seems an odd choice for a companion containing "everything"), but the lack of care taken with what is supposed to be an "Ultimate" edition does make this feel like another cash-grab, even though I'm sure Briggs spent several years working on it. We know he cares about Terry's work and wouldn't do a shoddy job on purpose. Perhaps the publishers just didn't give him enough time or money to make sure it was truly Ultimate to contain "Everything... and more besides".
However, then there are all the bad points: There are many entries that seem incomplete or have not been updated since the last version of the Companion. There are far far too many typos or mistakes that indicate a lack of copy-editing or proof reading, and there are definitely missing entries for some on-page characters that are more than the one-liners (which were deliberately omitted, as Briggs indicates in his introduction). It is also disappointing that some of Briggs's illustrations of Guild coats of arms are now gone, meaning we get the description but no picture. There is also no illustration for the Trousers of Time *and yet the text still explictly refers to it* - once again, showing that not enough care has been taken. There are also several entries where the fourth wall is smashed, indicating "hey, this entry is here because I restored it from my original notes" whereas it would have been better to just include the in-world reference and not worry about which versions of the companion they appear in. This version *should* contain everything, but we don't need to know which entries are there "just because". The amount written for some characters seems less than what it should be, and then, for some Guilds, there are pages and pages of content (lifted from the diaries) which probably either don't need to be there, or could have used some further editing.
All in all, it's good to have a new edition of the Discworld Companion, covering all of the 41 Discworld Novels and some of the spin off material (although a few like Mrs Bradshaw's Guide and the Discworld Atlas were specifically excluded, which seems an odd choice for a companion containing "everything"), but the lack of care taken with what is supposed to be an "Ultimate" edition does make this feel like another cash-grab, even though I'm sure Briggs spent several years working on it. We know he cares about Terry's work and wouldn't do a shoddy job on purpose. Perhaps the publishers just didn't give him enough time or money to make sure it was truly Ultimate to contain "Everything... and more besides".
December 2, 2023
An absolute unit of a book! Тежи почти 5 кила това нещо. Определено най-красивата книга, която съм виждала и имам честта да притежавам. За тези, които не знаят какво представлява, това е най-луксозния справочник евър. Съдържа азбучник за всичко от Света на Диска. Хора, места, неща и камили, някои споменати само с по едно изречение, други има цели страници посветени на тях. А илюстрациите? Прекрасни. Едно единствено нещо не ми хареса: тук таме има празни пространства по страниците, които спокойно можех да поберат още някоя илюстрация...
December 1, 2022
So much fun revisiting the Discworld and enjoying its unique brand of humour. The writing and illustrations in this companion are first rate, very much of the Terry Pratchett style. Made me want to re-read all the books again.
April 2, 2024
A comprehensive and entertaining guide to all major (and minor) characters, locations and items from the Discworld.
Not sure I recommend reading from start to end like I did, but a lot of the entries definitely made me want to re-read my favourites from the series.
Not sure I recommend reading from start to end like I did, but a lot of the entries definitely made me want to re-read my favourites from the series.
April 22, 2024
This the ultimate reference book on Disc World. 423 pages of facts and details (even the obscure) liberally dispersed with black and white illustrations. Laid out as a dictionary you can find “Everything - And More Besides” … as it says on the cover.
December 23, 2021
For Discworld fans, it' s a must.Best xmas present that I bought for myself..;)
February 24, 2022
Really great and in-depth look into the world of Discworld with beautiful illustrations and the same witty writing!
April 29, 2023
For a book probably not intended to be read cover to cover it was very enjoyable to do just that. Reminders of lots of wonderful writing and ideas.
April 9, 2024
The only drawback to reading this companion is that now I want/need to go back and re-read all 41 of the proper Discworld novels.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews