Hmm suppose I should actually do the recommendation:

An anthropologist decides his ADND setting is a great vehicle to write a deconstruction of epic fantasy and gives us the story of some poor bastards trying to survive while being ground between the gears of decadent weirdos who ascended to political power and decadent weirdos who ascended to godhood.

You will likely be confused for almost the entirety of the first book. It doesn’t hold your hand at any point. The metatextual nature of the many very unfamiliar aspects of the setting is a big part of the experience and sets the stage for other norms the author challenges. You start to develop a framework for how things work in the second book.

Yes but it’s a commitment. I’m on my second read, and I’ve read a few Esselmont books, and even I’m unsure about a lot stuff. But I like not knowing everything and having to slowly piece it together.

Nah, that’s an apt description. At least in the first several books, the series is basically meant to be a parody of 70’s and 80’s pop fantasy novels. And throw in some Shakespeare for good measure.

I guess I have a soft spot for the series because I grew up on a mix of Dragonlance and Forgotten Realms stuff, and those books, in spite of being mediocre, trope-laden slop for angsty teenagers, always took themselves way too damned seriously. Pratchett’s parody is spot on. Then again, I also really liked Good Omens before starting Discworld so YMMV. Definitely save it for when you’re looking for something more light-hearted, and fair warning – the first book, The Colour of Magic, is a little bit of a slog compared to subsequent books.

Although they are all pretty silly, there are a few standalone Discworld books with more of a serious plot and typical fantasy characters. My favorite is probably “Small Gods”, which is based around the idea that Gods as real beings exist because of their believers, rather than the other way around (sort of like in American Gods_. It focuses on a random young acolyte of the local cult, who has accidentally become the last remaining true believer. Another good one is “The Monstrous Regiment”: a young girl escapes from a Dickensian boarding school, dresses up as a boy, and joins the army. Unfortunately, her assigned unit it full of mysteries and alarming characters who she needs to deal with before she can rescue her vanished brother.

Took me probably 2 years off and on to finish, but god damn what a ride