this post was submitted on 30 Oct 2023
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My wife got me to read the first trilogy, they're pretty good. There's also some weird writing at times that made me think it was very much "men writing women". And a weird scene at the end of book 3 where >!Fitz (nephew) and Verity (uncle) do a Freaky Friday body swap so Verity could fuck his wife while in his nephew's body and impregnate her.!< I didn't read the other books lol.
To be fair, I've read all of Wheel of Time and loved the series, and while it's not as bad as Discworld, it's still pretty weird and misogynistic at times.
You are the first person I ever know to say Discworld is bad. It's usually love, ignorance or indifference with Pratchett's work, may I ask why the hate?
It's definitely good and entertaining, but I found it almost distracting how he described women. I've been told it was actually intentional, like he was making fun of other fantasy tropes, but it sorta turned me off to it. I only read Color of Magic.
Colour of Magic is the first Discworld, and one of Pratchett's first novels. He grew into his voice a lot more over the course of the next fifty-something novels.
Most of the strongest, most unique women I've read have been of Pratchett's creation. And not just heroes that happen to be described as female, but fully fleshed out women ranging from feminists who wish to support their husband to trans females pretending to be males dressing as women in order to fight the patriarchy.
If you're willing to give the Discworld another go, and I urge you to, there's a couple of reading order guides online. 'Guards, Guards!' is generally recommended as a good starting point, but I'd also suggest Wyrd Sisters, Mort, Going Postal, or if you really want to dive into the gender thing, Equal Rites or Monstrous Regiment.