Guards! Guards!
Guards! Guards! by Terry Pratchettby Terry Pratchett
Shares rank 14 of 41 fantasy novels by recommenders
People recommend it as an easy entry point into Terry Pratchett's Discworld series, with sharp satire and memorable characters that work well for newcomers and reading aloud.
People recommend it as an easy entry point into Terry Pratchett's Discworld series, with sharp satire and memorable characters that work well for newcomers and reading aloud.
5 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 5
- criticize it
- 0
- approval share
- 100%
Recommended in 5 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 5 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- Nobody criticizes itNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 5 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Easy entry point to Discworld
“one of the easiest books to enter the Discworld universe”
Comment from 30 Sep 2026 in “Ask HN: What are you reading?” “Guards! Guards! is the best entry point, I'd say”
Comment from 23 Aug 2026 in “To become a better writer, read as much as you can” Good for newcomers to series
“They loved the adventures that they got to hear about when I read books like Guards! Guards!”
Comment from 7 Feb 2026 in “2 in 5 Americans did not read a single book in 2025” “Yeah, I think that's a good one, as would be e.g. Guards! Guards!”
Comment from 27 May 2026 in “I Am Begging You to Read Terry Pratchett” “Guards! Guards! is the best entry point, I'd say”
Comment from 23 Aug 2026 in “To become a better writer, read as much as you can”
Other fantasy novels people recommend
The four most recommended other fantasy novels, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Lord of the Ringsby J.R.R. Tolkien | 66 | 11 | 86% | 12 | 15 yrs5 owners | Approved |
| The Hobbitby J.R.R. Tolkien | 49 | 13 | 79% | 9 | — | Approved |
| Dungeon Crawler Carlby Matt Dinniman | 48 | 6 | 89% | 11 | 1 yr3 owners | Approved |
| Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationalityby Eliezer Yudkowsky | 19 | 17 | 53% | 7 | — | — |
| Guards! Guards!by Terry PratchettThis page | 5 | 0 | 100% | 5 | — | — |
What people said
All 5 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“one of the easiest books to enter the Discworld universe”
“Guards! Guards! is the best entry point, I'd say”
“Yeah, I think that's a good one, as would be e.g. Guards! Guards!”
“The way the cult leader in Guards! Guards! manipulates his followers, to give just one example.”
“They loved the adventures that they got to hear about when I read books like Guards! Guards!”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.