What do you think?
Rate this book
Discworld #1
The Color of Magic
In a world supported on the back of a giant turtle (sex unknown), a gleeful, explosive, wickedly eccentric expedition sets out. There's an avaricious but inept wizard, a naive tourist whose luggage moves on hundreds of dear little legs, dragons who only exist if you believe in them, and of course THE EDGE of the planet...
228 pages, Paperback
First published December 1, 1983
About the author
Terry Pratchett
498 books43k followersBorn Terence David John Pratchett, Sir Terry Pratchett sold his first story when he was thirteen, which earned him enough money to buy a second-hand typewriter. His first novel, a humorous fantasy entitled The Carpet People, appeared in 1971 from the publisher Colin Smythe.
Terry worked for many years as a journalist and press officer, writing in his spare time and publishing a number of novels, including his first Discworld novel, The Color of Magic, in 1983. In 1987, he turned to writing full time.
There are over 40 books in the Discworld series, of which four are written for children. The first of these, The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents, won the Carnegie Medal.
A non-Discworld book, Good Omens, his 1990 collaboration with Neil Gaiman, has been a longtime bestseller and was reissued in hardcover by William Morrow in early 2006 (it is also available as a mass market paperback - Harper Torch, 2006 - and trade paperback - Harper Paperbacks, 2006).
In 2008, Harper Children's published Terry's standalone non-Discworld YA novel, Nation. Terry published Snuff in October 2011.
Regarded as one of the most significant contemporary English-language satirists, Pratchett has won numerous literary awards, was named an Officer of the British Empire (OBE) “for services to literature” in 1998, and has received honorary doctorates from the University of Warwick in 1999, the University of Portsmouth in 2001, the University of Bath in 2003, the University of Bristol in 2004, Buckinghamshire New University in 2008, the University of Dublin in 2008, Bradford University in 2009, the University of Winchester in 2009, and The Open University in 2013 for his contribution to Public Service.
In Dec. of 2007, Pratchett disclosed that he had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. On 18 Feb, 2009, he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II.
He was awarded the World Fantasy Life Achievement Award in 2010.
Sir Terry Pratchett passed away on 12th March 2015.
Terry worked for many years as a journalist and press officer, writing in his spare time and publishing a number of novels, including his first Discworld novel, The Color of Magic, in 1983. In 1987, he turned to writing full time.
There are over 40 books in the Discworld series, of which four are written for children. The first of these, The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents, won the Carnegie Medal.
A non-Discworld book, Good Omens, his 1990 collaboration with Neil Gaiman, has been a longtime bestseller and was reissued in hardcover by William Morrow in early 2006 (it is also available as a mass market paperback - Harper Torch, 2006 - and trade paperback - Harper Paperbacks, 2006).
In 2008, Harper Children's published Terry's standalone non-Discworld YA novel, Nation. Terry published Snuff in October 2011.
Regarded as one of the most significant contemporary English-language satirists, Pratchett has won numerous literary awards, was named an Officer of the British Empire (OBE) “for services to literature” in 1998, and has received honorary doctorates from the University of Warwick in 1999, the University of Portsmouth in 2001, the University of Bath in 2003, the University of Bristol in 2004, Buckinghamshire New University in 2008, the University of Dublin in 2008, Bradford University in 2009, the University of Winchester in 2009, and The Open University in 2013 for his contribution to Public Service.
In Dec. of 2007, Pratchett disclosed that he had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. On 18 Feb, 2009, he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II.
He was awarded the World Fantasy Life Achievement Award in 2010.
Sir Terry Pratchett passed away on 12th March 2015.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 14,302 reviews
July 8, 2023
I haven't reviewed this because I read it so long ago that all I can remember is I loved it.
I'll take our very old and battered copy (bought in 1987) to the hospice this weekend when I go with Celyn and see if I can't refresh my memory.
RIP, Sir Terry.
'DON'T THINK OF IT AS DYING,' said Death, 'JUST THINK OF IT AS LEAVING EARLY TO AVOID THE RUSH.'
So - to the review!
I've just read this in slightly over 24 hours ... which is extraordinary for me. I normally take a month to read a book.
It is, to be fair, both a very readable and a very short book (65,000 words - a short fantasy these days is ~100,000 words).
I was surprised to find how much of this I remembered, especially as I last read it 28 years ago!
It's a very funny book with some GREAT one-liners. I particularly liked one that said about men falling foul of the thieves' guild (I paraphrase) '... men who wouldn't be going home again ... unless they happened to live near the river and their corpses floated by on the way to the sea."
And this from the character Twoflower was poignant:
"When I think that I might die without seeing a hundredth of all there is to see it makes me feel," he paused, then added, "well, humble, I suppose. And very angry, of course."
Anyway - incompetent and cowardly failed wizard Rincewind falls in with Twoflower, the naive tourist with an impossibly optimistic attitude, oodles of gold, and an indestructible, vicious and implacable treasure chest on legs to defend him.
Hilarity ensues as Twoflower tries to see everything, Rincewind tries not to die, and the gods play games with them. We get a great tour of the Discworld, its geography, magics, and inhabitants, all of which are so fantastically imaginative and amusing that even geography becomes a joy.
This isn't Terry Pratchett's best book but it's full of all the great stuff that gathers together into its peak a few books into the series. It's certainly an excellent book though. Pratchett has an incredibly rare talent for compressing humour into one-liners that are witty, incisive, and yet never feel mean - it's not jokes that you feel are directed _at_ anyone, just mined from the stuff of life.
I had a great time revisiting this book and if you've not tried it - now's the time!
Join my Patreon
Join my 3-emails-a-year newsletter #prizes
..
I'll take our very old and battered copy (bought in 1987) to the hospice this weekend when I go with Celyn and see if I can't refresh my memory.
RIP, Sir Terry.
'DON'T THINK OF IT AS DYING,' said Death, 'JUST THINK OF IT AS LEAVING EARLY TO AVOID THE RUSH.'
So - to the review!
I've just read this in slightly over 24 hours ... which is extraordinary for me. I normally take a month to read a book.
It is, to be fair, both a very readable and a very short book (65,000 words - a short fantasy these days is ~100,000 words).
I was surprised to find how much of this I remembered, especially as I last read it 28 years ago!
It's a very funny book with some GREAT one-liners. I particularly liked one that said about men falling foul of the thieves' guild (I paraphrase) '... men who wouldn't be going home again ... unless they happened to live near the river and their corpses floated by on the way to the sea."
And this from the character Twoflower was poignant:
"When I think that I might die without seeing a hundredth of all there is to see it makes me feel," he paused, then added, "well, humble, I suppose. And very angry, of course."
Anyway - incompetent and cowardly failed wizard Rincewind falls in with Twoflower, the naive tourist with an impossibly optimistic attitude, oodles of gold, and an indestructible, vicious and implacable treasure chest on legs to defend him.
Hilarity ensues as Twoflower tries to see everything, Rincewind tries not to die, and the gods play games with them. We get a great tour of the Discworld, its geography, magics, and inhabitants, all of which are so fantastically imaginative and amusing that even geography becomes a joy.
This isn't Terry Pratchett's best book but it's full of all the great stuff that gathers together into its peak a few books into the series. It's certainly an excellent book though. Pratchett has an incredibly rare talent for compressing humour into one-liners that are witty, incisive, and yet never feel mean - it's not jokes that you feel are directed _at_ anyone, just mined from the stuff of life.
I had a great time revisiting this book and if you've not tried it - now's the time!
Join my Patreon
Join my 3-emails-a-year newsletter #prizes
..
December 28, 2015
Reading The Color of Magic is akin to eating an entire bowl of ice cream just a little too fast...sure, it may cause your head to hurt at times, but the sweet rewards make it all worth it!
Filled with ambitious wizards and ruthless assassins, the city of Ankh-Morpork has survived many dangers in the past, but now it faces an even more destructive force...TOURISM!!! When a rich but bored outsider named Twoflower decides to explore the city in search for adventure, it soon becomes an adventure for everyone around him, too! Twoflower's well-meaning but careless ways earn him the attention of pirates, dragonriders, and various supernatural entities, all looking to rid Twoflower of his treasure...not to mention his life! Soon failed wizard Rincewind reluctantly becomes Twoflower's guide, and as Twoflower explores more and more of Discworld looking for the adventure of a lifetime, Rincewind tries desperately to make sure his lifetime lasts for more than five minutes!
This was me for about 80% of this book...
Annnnnd here I am for the other 20%....
What I loved most about this book was definitely the humor. Some authors can only come up with a great laugh-out-loud moment once or twice in a book, but Pratchett is able to pull one off in just about every page! There are oodles of witty dialogue all throughout the novel, as well as some great slapstick moments. In addition, Pratchett gives us some excellent satire, too. I got a big kick out of how familiar some of Twoflower's ideas were, like when he convinces a bar owner to "place a bet" on whether or not the bar will be damaged...Twoflower calls this process "inn-sewer-ants"! By having the other characters mock the "outrageous" concepts Twoflower introduces them to, it did a magnificent job painting an amusing picture of some of the absurdities of everyday life. "The Color of Magic" isn't just a humorous book, it actually manages to pull off several different kinds of humor!
Also, I was amazed with the extent of Pratchett's imagination! While some elements of this book are your standard fantasy archetypes, Pratchett really ups the ante by giving us some brilliantly creative concepts as well. With translucent dragons, trolls made out of water, a sentient piece of luggage that manages to display so much personality without ever saying a word, and an upside-down swordfight that has to beseen, errr, read to be believed, Pratchett never runs out of new ideas to entertain his audience with.
Alas, while I enjoyed this book very much, I did have a couple of issues with it. For one thing, I felt like Pratchett tried to cram way too much into a book that's barely over 200 pages. So many characters and creatures come and go, it quickly becomes difficult to keep track of what's going on! I have some friends who didn't enjoy the "Game of Thrones" book as they found it confusing, but at least George R.R. Martin takes a good amount of time to establish all the characters, whereas this book can sometimes feel like trying to watch a NASCAR race where all the cars are speeding in a different direction! Also, some of Pratchett's ideas were a little too "out-there" for me...I knew this was going to be a problem right away, when Pratchett begins the book by revealing that Discworld is a planet that is carried on the backs of four elephants who are all standing on the shell of a giant turtle that is floating through space...
"This is an awful lot to throw at me on page one, Mr. Pratchett!"
Also, while "The Color of Magic" works beautifully as a comedy, I'm afraid the actual story doesn't quite hit the mark. The book is divided into four parts, and each part feels like a separate book. Almost anyone introduced in one section is absent in the other three, so we're left wondering what happened to many different characters. While the events of Rincewind's and Twoflower's journey are fun to watch, there's very little true progression or closure. This storytelling technique was especially baffling in the fourth segment, where Pratchett keeps referring to an adventure that we never got to see, as it occurred inbetween the third and fourth sections. This disjointed method of storytelling prevented the book from becoming anything more than just a comedy of errors, as amusing as those errors may have been.
So, while I felt this book would have been better if it were a bit longer and some of the concepts had been more fleshed out, I still had a lot of fun reading this hysterically funny adventure. I've been told that the first couple of books in the Discworld series pale in comparison to the later ones. Considering how entertaining "The Color of Magic" was, if this truly is one of the weaker entries, I can't wait to read more of the Discworld series!
Filled with ambitious wizards and ruthless assassins, the city of Ankh-Morpork has survived many dangers in the past, but now it faces an even more destructive force...TOURISM!!! When a rich but bored outsider named Twoflower decides to explore the city in search for adventure, it soon becomes an adventure for everyone around him, too! Twoflower's well-meaning but careless ways earn him the attention of pirates, dragonriders, and various supernatural entities, all looking to rid Twoflower of his treasure...not to mention his life! Soon failed wizard Rincewind reluctantly becomes Twoflower's guide, and as Twoflower explores more and more of Discworld looking for the adventure of a lifetime, Rincewind tries desperately to make sure his lifetime lasts for more than five minutes!
This was me for about 80% of this book...
Annnnnd here I am for the other 20%....
What I loved most about this book was definitely the humor. Some authors can only come up with a great laugh-out-loud moment once or twice in a book, but Pratchett is able to pull one off in just about every page! There are oodles of witty dialogue all throughout the novel, as well as some great slapstick moments. In addition, Pratchett gives us some excellent satire, too. I got a big kick out of how familiar some of Twoflower's ideas were, like when he convinces a bar owner to "place a bet" on whether or not the bar will be damaged...Twoflower calls this process "inn-sewer-ants"! By having the other characters mock the "outrageous" concepts Twoflower introduces them to, it did a magnificent job painting an amusing picture of some of the absurdities of everyday life. "The Color of Magic" isn't just a humorous book, it actually manages to pull off several different kinds of humor!
Also, I was amazed with the extent of Pratchett's imagination! While some elements of this book are your standard fantasy archetypes, Pratchett really ups the ante by giving us some brilliantly creative concepts as well. With translucent dragons, trolls made out of water, a sentient piece of luggage that manages to display so much personality without ever saying a word, and an upside-down swordfight that has to be
Alas, while I enjoyed this book very much, I did have a couple of issues with it. For one thing, I felt like Pratchett tried to cram way too much into a book that's barely over 200 pages. So many characters and creatures come and go, it quickly becomes difficult to keep track of what's going on! I have some friends who didn't enjoy the "Game of Thrones" book as they found it confusing, but at least George R.R. Martin takes a good amount of time to establish all the characters, whereas this book can sometimes feel like trying to watch a NASCAR race where all the cars are speeding in a different direction! Also, some of Pratchett's ideas were a little too "out-there" for me...I knew this was going to be a problem right away, when Pratchett begins the book by revealing that Discworld is a planet that is carried on the backs of four elephants who are all standing on the shell of a giant turtle that is floating through space...
"This is an awful lot to throw at me on page one, Mr. Pratchett!"
Also, while "The Color of Magic" works beautifully as a comedy, I'm afraid the actual story doesn't quite hit the mark. The book is divided into four parts, and each part feels like a separate book. Almost anyone introduced in one section is absent in the other three, so we're left wondering what happened to many different characters. While the events of Rincewind's and Twoflower's journey are fun to watch, there's very little true progression or closure. This storytelling technique was especially baffling in the fourth segment, where Pratchett keeps referring to an adventure that we never got to see, as it occurred inbetween the third and fourth sections. This disjointed method of storytelling prevented the book from becoming anything more than just a comedy of errors, as amusing as those errors may have been.
So, while I felt this book would have been better if it were a bit longer and some of the concepts had been more fleshed out, I still had a lot of fun reading this hysterically funny adventure. I've been told that the first couple of books in the Discworld series pale in comparison to the later ones. Considering how entertaining "The Color of Magic" was, if this truly is one of the weaker entries, I can't wait to read more of the Discworld series!
December 3, 2020
Gah! I have a secret Santa that sent me about 21 books yesterday and I can get missing ones from my used bookstore. Ok, it’s no secret but I’m not calling them out 😉💕
4.5 stars ⭐️
I FINALLY started Discworld!!!! I buddy read with my wonderful friend CHOKO We had fun text message reading it. I loved this book and so did Choko! I have heard some don’t like this book that much but it was awesome for me. Looking forward to continuing!
Link to artist: https://www.artstation.com/artwork/Z1RBX
Mel 🖤🐶🐺🐾
4.5 stars ⭐️
I FINALLY started Discworld!!!! I buddy read with my wonderful friend CHOKO We had fun text message reading it. I loved this book and so did Choko! I have heard some don’t like this book that much but it was awesome for me. Looking forward to continuing!
Link to artist: https://www.artstation.com/artwork/Z1RBX
Mel 🖤🐶🐺🐾
May 10, 2020
The Rincewind starts blowing up his ego in the first installment of the epic Discworld.
The establishment of one of the sub series of the Discworld, around Rincewind, sorcerers, and the Unseen University, deals with insurances, Hrun the barbarian, role playing games, living furniture, different fantasy stereotypes and their exaggerations, a tourist and the industry around sightseeing, space travel, and introduces some elemental parts of the Discworld.
How the strange humanities, fringe sciences, real magic, and all the increments in university life should be interpreted is a subjective question of taste. The academics can be seen as unworldly, snobby weirdos, absent minded geniuses, or, instead of plot elements, as profound criticism of too much general research in fields without any real benefit in stark contrast to the useful natural sciences. Although magicians combine both.
Rincewind is a special person, one can see him as a tragic hero, manipulative and coward wannabe cynic, or someone with hidden potential, and he is used by Pratchett to contrast and reinforce the competence of other characters, especially the witches, who have everything he is unable or unwilling to achieve, competence, empathy, very strong powers, etc.
Hrun the barbarian, I laughed tears each time I encountered him in a novel, as he is the ultimate persiflage and exaggeration of any masculine warrior traits macho myth.
The elements dealing with insurances and how quickly creative ideas can turn a useful scheme in a destructive self-enforcing circle are more serious, something Pratchett did with many economic, political, and ideological topics. In this case, it are just the end consumers who misunderstand a key element, but in other installments, Pratchett owns the whole production chain of bad ideas from mastermind to smallest consumer.
The tourism industry and how it changes both the minds of the visitors and the people living in a country, all the co- dependences, and how culture, tradition, and art is instrumentalized to get more fancy bling bling is in the mix too.
Pratchett has the unique ability to multiply and combine everything others use a few times in an average comedic novel to a density that makes each page a treasure chest of witty dialogue, innuendos, slapstick, criticism, exaggerations,… leading to close to permanent giggling and laughing. I´ve read nothing that comes close to him and I´ve read many humoristic novels. Seriously, don´t read these novels when you should be silent when hiding from trolls and blood elves, it will be your final chuckling, but a great one at least.
I could endlessly drivel about the ingenuity of this unique series that makes humans better beings (just joking, all readers are great), but seriously, this kind of philosophizing and dripping deeper thoughts, objectivity, and awareness- building in allegedly trivial fantasy novels with funny covers is something doing more for enlightenment and progressivism than political education and history lessons combined together.
It´s just the first half of the „one novel in two books first installment“ and continues with The Light Fantastic.
Tropes show how literature is conceptualized and created and which mixture of elements makes works and genres unique:
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.ph...
This one is added to all Pratchettian reviews:
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scheibe...
The idea of the dissected motifs rocks, highlighting the main real world inspirational elements of fiction and satire is something usually done with so called higher literature, but a much more interesting field in readable literature, as it offers the joy of reading, subtle criticism, and feeling smart all together.
The establishment of one of the sub series of the Discworld, around Rincewind, sorcerers, and the Unseen University, deals with insurances, Hrun the barbarian, role playing games, living furniture, different fantasy stereotypes and their exaggerations, a tourist and the industry around sightseeing, space travel, and introduces some elemental parts of the Discworld.
How the strange humanities, fringe sciences, real magic, and all the increments in university life should be interpreted is a subjective question of taste. The academics can be seen as unworldly, snobby weirdos, absent minded geniuses, or, instead of plot elements, as profound criticism of too much general research in fields without any real benefit in stark contrast to the useful natural sciences. Although magicians combine both.
Rincewind is a special person, one can see him as a tragic hero, manipulative and coward wannabe cynic, or someone with hidden potential, and he is used by Pratchett to contrast and reinforce the competence of other characters, especially the witches, who have everything he is unable or unwilling to achieve, competence, empathy, very strong powers, etc.
Hrun the barbarian, I laughed tears each time I encountered him in a novel, as he is the ultimate persiflage and exaggeration of any masculine warrior traits macho myth.
The elements dealing with insurances and how quickly creative ideas can turn a useful scheme in a destructive self-enforcing circle are more serious, something Pratchett did with many economic, political, and ideological topics. In this case, it are just the end consumers who misunderstand a key element, but in other installments, Pratchett owns the whole production chain of bad ideas from mastermind to smallest consumer.
The tourism industry and how it changes both the minds of the visitors and the people living in a country, all the co- dependences, and how culture, tradition, and art is instrumentalized to get more fancy bling bling is in the mix too.
Pratchett has the unique ability to multiply and combine everything others use a few times in an average comedic novel to a density that makes each page a treasure chest of witty dialogue, innuendos, slapstick, criticism, exaggerations,… leading to close to permanent giggling and laughing. I´ve read nothing that comes close to him and I´ve read many humoristic novels. Seriously, don´t read these novels when you should be silent when hiding from trolls and blood elves, it will be your final chuckling, but a great one at least.
I could endlessly drivel about the ingenuity of this unique series that makes humans better beings (just joking, all readers are great), but seriously, this kind of philosophizing and dripping deeper thoughts, objectivity, and awareness- building in allegedly trivial fantasy novels with funny covers is something doing more for enlightenment and progressivism than political education and history lessons combined together.
It´s just the first half of the „one novel in two books first installment“ and continues with The Light Fantastic.
Tropes show how literature is conceptualized and created and which mixture of elements makes works and genres unique:
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.ph...
This one is added to all Pratchettian reviews:
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scheibe...
The idea of the dissected motifs rocks, highlighting the main real world inspirational elements of fiction and satire is something usually done with so called higher literature, but a much more interesting field in readable literature, as it offers the joy of reading, subtle criticism, and feeling smart all together.
July 29, 2009
Before picking it up, I'd heard that The Colour of Magic was funny. Now that can mean just about anything because, let's face it, comedy is the most subjective of arts.
Funny is a deeply personal thing. The "funny peculiar" and the "funny ha-ha" might not be the same from person to person or even to the same person depending on their mood or their place in life. So knowing something is funny ahead of reading it really doesn't tell me much.
I'd read Terry Pratchett's & Neil Gaiman's Good Omens quite a while ago, so I expected at least a hint of satire and politically conscious wit, but I had no idea which of the authors to blame for the smart laughs in Good Omens, and my recollections really shed no illumination on what was to come. So I read The Colour of Magic with as open a mind as I could and hoped for some laughs.
I didn't laugh much and that surprised me. I smiled an awful lot, though. But I didn't laugh. No out loud snickers; no full-out belly laughs; no snorts; no giggles.
But I did smile.
Pratchett's kooky tale (really four tales to make one) of Rincewind, the one-great-spell, wizarding failure, Twoflower, the in-sewer-ants adjuster/tourist, and his Luggage was smart more often than it was stupid, consciously political, satirically silly, more than willing to take the piss out of Fantasy as a genre, but mostly it was exceedingly absurd. And all of this was what made The Colour of Magic good to very good.
Even so, its audience is necessarily limited. I know why I liked The Colour of Magic, and while I imagine there are other reasons to like the story, I think it is probably a fairly inaccessible tale unless you are a reader who falls into a niche of accessibility. This is not a book that can be widely read or widely liked.
So why did I like it? I liked it because I fall into a niche wherein I was able to access memories of drunken, drug-addled, teenage D&D marathons (which were extremely rare since we preferred our gaming sober), where we gave up being serious and descended into near madness.
Those nights are reflected in everything that happens in The Colour of Magic. Obligatory bar fights of fantastic impossibility, Monty Hall swords and treasures, idiotic last second rescues, gods dicing, heroes thinking with the dirk in their pants, dimensional slips and deus ex machinas at every turn make The Colour of Magic a collage of gaming stupidity, and it was nice to take a nostalgic trip back to my adolescence. In fact, Pratchett captures exactly the sort of gaming experience that led our halfling priest of Xyice, God of Mischief, to wish for a foot long penis then fall unconscious from blood loss when he achieved his first erection. So I liked this book...a lot, actually.
But it wasn't the best story I've ever read, and I can't imagine I could sit down and read the entire Discworld cycle without a break. It's fun. It's light. Pratchett writes better than I expected, but I bet there are many folks out there who hate this book. You have my sympathy.
So yes...I was disappointed that I didn't laugh more; I was disappointed that the story wasn't more subtle; I hated the turtle carrying the disc; I wanted The Colour of Magic to be more biting than silly, more critical than absurd, more intelligent than clever. But it was a fun ride that entertained me while I did the dishes, and I couldn't help liking Rincewind, so I will probably go on, and I will likely become a fan of Pratchett's Discworld books...in spite of themselves.
Funny is a deeply personal thing. The "funny peculiar" and the "funny ha-ha" might not be the same from person to person or even to the same person depending on their mood or their place in life. So knowing something is funny ahead of reading it really doesn't tell me much.
I'd read Terry Pratchett's & Neil Gaiman's Good Omens quite a while ago, so I expected at least a hint of satire and politically conscious wit, but I had no idea which of the authors to blame for the smart laughs in Good Omens, and my recollections really shed no illumination on what was to come. So I read The Colour of Magic with as open a mind as I could and hoped for some laughs.
I didn't laugh much and that surprised me. I smiled an awful lot, though. But I didn't laugh. No out loud snickers; no full-out belly laughs; no snorts; no giggles.
But I did smile.
Pratchett's kooky tale (really four tales to make one) of Rincewind, the one-great-spell, wizarding failure, Twoflower, the in-sewer-ants adjuster/tourist, and his Luggage was smart more often than it was stupid, consciously political, satirically silly, more than willing to take the piss out of Fantasy as a genre, but mostly it was exceedingly absurd. And all of this was what made The Colour of Magic good to very good.
Even so, its audience is necessarily limited. I know why I liked The Colour of Magic, and while I imagine there are other reasons to like the story, I think it is probably a fairly inaccessible tale unless you are a reader who falls into a niche of accessibility. This is not a book that can be widely read or widely liked.
So why did I like it? I liked it because I fall into a niche wherein I was able to access memories of drunken, drug-addled, teenage D&D marathons (which were extremely rare since we preferred our gaming sober), where we gave up being serious and descended into near madness.
Those nights are reflected in everything that happens in The Colour of Magic. Obligatory bar fights of fantastic impossibility, Monty Hall swords and treasures, idiotic last second rescues, gods dicing, heroes thinking with the dirk in their pants, dimensional slips and deus ex machinas at every turn make The Colour of Magic a collage of gaming stupidity, and it was nice to take a nostalgic trip back to my adolescence. In fact, Pratchett captures exactly the sort of gaming experience that led our halfling priest of Xyice, God of Mischief, to wish for a foot long penis then fall unconscious from blood loss when he achieved his first erection. So I liked this book...a lot, actually.
But it wasn't the best story I've ever read, and I can't imagine I could sit down and read the entire Discworld cycle without a break. It's fun. It's light. Pratchett writes better than I expected, but I bet there are many folks out there who hate this book. You have my sympathy.
So yes...I was disappointed that I didn't laugh more; I was disappointed that the story wasn't more subtle; I hated the turtle carrying the disc; I wanted The Colour of Magic to be more biting than silly, more critical than absurd, more intelligent than clever. But it was a fun ride that entertained me while I did the dishes, and I couldn't help liking Rincewind, so I will probably go on, and I will likely become a fan of Pratchett's Discworld books...in spite of themselves.
January 8, 2022
The Color of Magic (Discworld #1), Terry Pratchett
The Color of Magic is Terry Pratchett's maiden voyage through the now-legendary land of Discworld. This is where it all begins -- with the tourist Twoflower and his wizard guide, Rincewind.
تاریخ نخستین خوانش: ماه می سال2016میلادی
عنوان: مجموعه جهان صفحه کتاب یک - رنگ جادو؛ تری پرتچت (پراچت)؛ مترجم: آرزو احمی؛ تهران، ویدا، چاپ اول و دوم سال1391؛ در287ص؛ چاپ سوم سال1392؛ شابک9789646807853؛ موضوع: داستانهای نویسندگان بریتانیا- سده20م
دیسک ورلد، یک سری از کتابهای فانتزی هستند، که «تری پراچت»، نویسنده ی «بریتانیا»، آنها را نوشته اند؛ داستانهای این سری، در جهانی به نام «دیسک ورلد» میگذرند، که صفحه ای صاف است، و بر شانه های چهار فیل بسیار بزرگ قرار دارد؛ فیلها نیز، به نوبه ی خود، بر پشت یک لاکپشت غول آسا، با نام «آتوئین بزرگ» جای دارند؛ در این سری، بارها از کتابهای نویسندگانی همچون «جی.آر.آر تالکین»، «رابرت هاوارد»، «اچ.پی لاوکرافت» و «ویلیام شکسپیر» با طنز یاد شده است؛ از سری «دیسکورلد» بیش از هشتاد میلیون نسخه، در سی و هفت زبان، به فروش رفته اند؛ این سری، در برگیرنده ی بیش از چهل رمان، یازده داستان کوتاه، چهار کتاب علمی؛ و چندین کتاب مرجع و مکمل نیز هست؛ از این سری چندین رمان تصویری، بازی کامپیوتری، نمایش تئاتر، مجموعه ی تلویزیونی نیز برداشت شده اند؛
تاریخ بهنگام رسانی 15/11/1399هجری خورشیدی؛ 17/10/1400ه��ری خورشیدی؛ ا. شربیانی
The Color of Magic is Terry Pratchett's maiden voyage through the now-legendary land of Discworld. This is where it all begins -- with the tourist Twoflower and his wizard guide, Rincewind.
تاریخ نخستین خوانش: ماه می سال2016میلادی
عنوان: مجموعه جهان صفحه کتاب یک - رنگ جادو؛ تری پرتچت (پراچت)؛ مترجم: آرزو احمی؛ تهران، ویدا، چاپ اول و دوم سال1391؛ در287ص؛ چاپ سوم سال1392؛ شابک9789646807853؛ موضوع: داستانهای نویسندگان بریتانیا- سده20م
دیسک ورلد، یک سری از کتابهای فانتزی هستند، که «تری پراچت»، نویسنده ی «بریتانیا»، آنها را نوشته اند؛ داستانهای این سری، در جهانی به نام «دیسک ورلد» میگذرند، که صفحه ای صاف است، و بر شانه های چهار فیل بسیار بزرگ قرار دارد؛ فیلها نیز، به نوبه ی خود، بر پشت یک لاکپشت غول آسا، با نام «آتوئین بزرگ» جای دارند؛ در این سری، بارها از کتابهای نویسندگانی همچون «جی.آر.آر تالکین»، «رابرت هاوارد»، «اچ.پی لاوکرافت» و «ویلیام شکسپیر» با طنز یاد شده است؛ از سری «دیسکورلد» بیش از هشتاد میلیون نسخه، در سی و هفت زبان، به فروش رفته اند؛ این سری، در برگیرنده ی بیش از چهل رمان، یازده داستان کوتاه، چهار کتاب علمی؛ و چندین کتاب مرجع و مکمل نیز هست؛ از این سری چندین رمان تصویری، بازی کامپیوتری، نمایش تئاتر، مجموعه ی تلویزیونی نیز برداشت شده اند؛
تاریخ بهنگام رسانی 15/11/1399هجری خورشیدی؛ 17/10/1400ه��ری خورشیدی؛ ا. شربیانی
January 2, 2019
And so it begins …
Sir Terry Pratchett’s wildly imaginative Discworld series begins with the 1983 publication of The Color of Magic.
I have been reading science fiction and fantasy for a long time and somehow I managed to not read any of his works until I came in late to the party. A friend suggested I try one, I’d like it and so I read the fourth in the series, Mort and I thought so much that I decided I would climb the hill and enjoy every step.
Begin with a heaping portion of British humor (humour), mix in a share of Douglas Adams, sprinkle liberally with Monty Python, throw in a fantastic amount of fantasy from the Piers Anthony brand of fiction and top with a wink and a nod and you have Terry Pratchett Discworld embarkation. The Potent Voyager has set sail and much mirth and irreverence is certainly to follow.
2019 - These are SO MUCH FUN!!!!
Sir Terry Pratchett’s wildly imaginative Discworld series begins with the 1983 publication of The Color of Magic.
I have been reading science fiction and fantasy for a long time and somehow I managed to not read any of his works until I came in late to the party. A friend suggested I try one, I’d like it and so I read the fourth in the series, Mort and I thought so much that I decided I would climb the hill and enjoy every step.
Begin with a heaping portion of British humor (humour), mix in a share of Douglas Adams, sprinkle liberally with Monty Python, throw in a fantastic amount of fantasy from the Piers Anthony brand of fiction and top with a wink and a nod and you have Terry Pratchett Discworld embarkation. The Potent Voyager has set sail and much mirth and irreverence is certainly to follow.
2019 - These are SO MUCH FUN!!!!
May 26, 2016
This must be the exception that proves the rule. For years I’ve been adamantly advocating reading series in publication order, whether a coherent story or a set of standalones. In Discworld, that simply doesn’t seem to be the best solution. Everyone seems to suggest that a new reader should not start with the first book, so this must be partially my fault for doing it anyway.
The Colour of Magic is at best a mediocre introduction to what is supposedly the best humourous fantasy series ever written, by the legendary Terry Pratchett. Granted, the wild descriptions of the cosmology and topography of the Disc are indeed interesting, the writing is good and there are a few funny lines. However, I expected a lot more going on. While the total lack of a coherent plot is understandable in a series based on humour, the lack of humour is really not.
That does not mean I didn’t enjoy the book. This rating may be a bit harsh, but it does seem to mean that I found the book to be “okay”. I am not discouraged from reading more books in the series, and I both hope and choose to believe that they are of a much higher quality than this first one. For the style is there. It’s only the substance that’s missing.
That said, the race between two and three stars was pretty much a tie. Being a generally evil person, I opted for the lower option.
I often see Pratchett compared to Douglas Adams, and just as often hailed as “the Douglas Adams of fantasy”. And so far, he unfortunately does not come close. You may be a legend, Sir Terry, but it takes a lot more to be a Douglas Adams.
The Colour of Magic is at best a mediocre introduction to what is supposedly the best humourous fantasy series ever written, by the legendary Terry Pratchett. Granted, the wild descriptions of the cosmology and topography of the Disc are indeed interesting, the writing is good and there are a few funny lines. However, I expected a lot more going on. While the total lack of a coherent plot is understandable in a series based on humour, the lack of humour is really not.
That does not mean I didn’t enjoy the book. This rating may be a bit harsh, but it does seem to mean that I found the book to be “okay”. I am not discouraged from reading more books in the series, and I both hope and choose to believe that they are of a much higher quality than this first one. For the style is there. It’s only the substance that’s missing.
That said, the race between two and three stars was pretty much a tie. Being a generally evil person, I opted for the lower option.
I often see Pratchett compared to Douglas Adams, and just as often hailed as “the Douglas Adams of fantasy”. And so far, he unfortunately does not come close. You may be a legend, Sir Terry, but it takes a lot more to be a Douglas Adams.
April 12, 2022
A fun book, but doesn't deliver as much as the later Discworld books
Check out my new youtube channel where I show my instant reactions to reading fantasy books seconds after I finish the book.
This was not my first discworld book I read, which is probably a good thing because I'm not sure I would have continued the series if it had been.
It's a good book, and very unique to fantasy in that it is a lighthearted comedy at heart. But it feels disjointed and is essentially a set of smaller stories without much of an overarching narrative.
Skip this book if you are new to Discworld, but you will have a good time if you are used to the world already and know what Discworld already offers.
Check out my new youtube channel where I show my instant reactions to reading fantasy books seconds after I finish the book.
This was not my first discworld book I read, which is probably a good thing because I'm not sure I would have continued the series if it had been.
It's a good book, and very unique to fantasy in that it is a lighthearted comedy at heart. But it feels disjointed and is essentially a set of smaller stories without much of an overarching narrative.
Skip this book if you are new to Discworld, but you will have a good time if you are used to the world already and know what Discworld already offers.
December 24, 2015
I will officially be reading the entire Discworld series!
May 11, 2020
Gonna read these books in the order they were written and none of you nerds can stop me.
March 8, 2024
The first of the weird, chaotic, amusing , confusing , yet funny fantasy of the Discworld , the long running greatly loved satire in the realm of absurdity. Picture this a planet which isn't , just a flat disc on the back of four humongous elephants that stand on the shell of a huge turtle streaking across space in a journey without end. This causes troubles since if you travel too far the edge appears and you will disappear from land... no. A place with continents and oceans, mountains and forests and worst unfriendly people in uncivilized cities full of wizards, thieves, heroes who aren't , bandits and uncharitable creatures both animal and humanoid in shape. Ruled by the unscrupulous...did I forget dragons flying in the air? The incompetent wizard Rincewind meets the first tourist ever in Ankh-Morpork the biggest town in this world, Twoflower from another nation, to be real, a naive man who trust the wrong beings to his detriment. Like all seekers he goes willingly but not wisely in dangerous territory believing everything is well there. Nevertheless he has an ace- in- the -hole luggage...yes luggage that walks in many tiny legs opening and closing it's lid continuously, a menace. Imagine the sensation this makes, besides the gold inside needs protection a worthless mineral back home. For accidents happen and thick fire will burn...destroying the city which doesn't give the inhabitants a warm feeling towards him. The two almost friends the coward, Rincewind and the innocent Twoflower get embroidered in nasty situations, somehow people if you can call them this, need , yes must kill the strangers. Both animalistic and sapient looking , oh my, strange but not a fun land. The entertaining aspect of the journey is the constant traps they fall into, by vicious enemies , seemingly they will never be rescued yet this is a comedy. Barbaric warriors with swords looking for adventure and the friends trying to avoid it but not successful , gives the novel plenty of action and excitement. The end ..that is the water dropping from Discworld's edge is a remarkable image . My first book by Terry Pratchett in the famous series and will not assuredly be my last. This is too good for that to stay true ..Second thoughts the kind of material you need to consume more than once in order to find your funny bones if they exist.
February 18, 2024
Series Buddy Read 2024/25
Well as ever with buddy reads I appear to be behind, even though we have only just started on book 1 in the series. Oh well, I am sure I will gradually catch up. I unfortunately I had a couple of other reading commitments before I could start.
Anyway, I have to agree with my review from 2018 and also with Trish's review here https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
And now I've just noticed that Trish is already onto book 3 , agh.😳
Ok, I really do not think that I need to say more about the book, as you have either read it and enjoyed it, or its not your thing !.
And I have only given this 4 stars as it gives me room to give others in the series a 5 star rating.
Solo series read 2018/19 that never quite finished
Oh what fun, review to follow 😊😉
So here is my review. I first read this I'm guessing some time around 1990, and then went on to read the sequels as they were released,until sometime around the millennium, when for various reasons I moved house and lost around 5000 books 😱
Anyway I haven't read another Terry Pratchett Discworld novel since then. So when I was bought the first twenty in the series earlier this year I did a little mini dance (similar to the Floss ha ha) and looked forward to when I could start. Well that time is now and so I've started on the series.
In my opinion this book is really Sir Terry just starting to get into his stride and is not as good as a lot of the later entries in the series. Having said that it features Rincewind and the luggage as well as a few appearance from DEATH so it has a lot of redeeming features. The adventure is a little disjointed but still huge amount of fun, and it did (as per usual) have me laughing out loud as I sat in bed reading it. Yes I did thoroughly enjoy it, but I know it gets better , a lot better, so it just scraped 4 stars. 🌟🌟🌟🌟
Now I was trying to save reading the next book until 2019 as I have others I must finish first, but the problem is (as any Discworld lover will tell you), is that once you start you have to carry on, oh what a quandary.
Well as ever with buddy reads I appear to be behind, even though we have only just started on book 1 in the series. Oh well, I am sure I will gradually catch up. I unfortunately I had a couple of other reading commitments before I could start.
Anyway, I have to agree with my review from 2018 and also with Trish's review here https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
And now I've just noticed that Trish is already onto book 3 , agh.😳
Ok, I really do not think that I need to say more about the book, as you have either read it and enjoyed it, or its not your thing !.
And I have only given this 4 stars as it gives me room to give others in the series a 5 star rating.
Solo series read 2018/19 that never quite finished
Oh what fun, review to follow 😊😉
So here is my review. I first read this I'm guessing some time around 1990, and then went on to read the sequels as they were released,until sometime around the millennium, when for various reasons I moved house and lost around 5000 books 😱
Anyway I haven't read another Terry Pratchett Discworld novel since then. So when I was bought the first twenty in the series earlier this year I did a little mini dance (similar to the Floss ha ha) and looked forward to when I could start. Well that time is now and so I've started on the series.
In my opinion this book is really Sir Terry just starting to get into his stride and is not as good as a lot of the later entries in the series. Having said that it features Rincewind and the luggage as well as a few appearance from DEATH so it has a lot of redeeming features. The adventure is a little disjointed but still huge amount of fun, and it did (as per usual) have me laughing out loud as I sat in bed reading it. Yes I did thoroughly enjoy it, but I know it gets better , a lot better, so it just scraped 4 stars. 🌟🌟🌟🌟
Now I was trying to save reading the next book until 2019 as I have others I must finish first, but the problem is (as any Discworld lover will tell you), is that once you start you have to carry on, oh what a quandary.
January 24, 2024
Re-Read 1/23/24:
I successfully got to read this with my daughter and laughed all the while. It's better shared. And I daresay it gets better with every single re-read.
The sheer imagination here still boggles me, as do all the great references to fantasy classics. Swords and Deviltry by Fritz Leiber obviously inspired Terry in a huge way, but I saw great signs of Moorcock, too. I know the next book was more inspired by the Conan books.
But this is still rather interesting, no? Early Rincewind humorously pokes fun at these classics, while later Pratchett goes on to build something with real hearth and heart. It's just great to see a few different sides in a classic.
Original Review:
If I hadn't already read the entire series, and if I was judging this book just by its own merits, I'd still be saying that it harnesses the lightning and even finds a way to make it go side to side rather than up and down.
It's really fantastic as a straight fantasy with tons of humorous elements, with a good deal more worldbuilding than all the later books, more obvious and harsher tongue-in-cheek elements, and a great setup for the Great Wizzard Rincewind.
Honestly? I love Rincewind. I love the shard of the Great magical spell lodged in his brain, Death's endless chase for him, the straight adventure he finds himself in, and the sheer fact that HE SURVIVES.
Twoflower is awesome, too, and the chest is one of the greatest unsung heroes of the age, and there is a very good case to be made that this whole novel (and the one following it) is probably the BEST INSURANCE MAN'S TOURIST GUIDE EVER WRITTEN. :)
'Nuff said.
Am I sad that Sir Terry is no longer with us? Yeah.
I successfully got to read this with my daughter and laughed all the while. It's better shared. And I daresay it gets better with every single re-read.
The sheer imagination here still boggles me, as do all the great references to fantasy classics. Swords and Deviltry by Fritz Leiber obviously inspired Terry in a huge way, but I saw great signs of Moorcock, too. I know the next book was more inspired by the Conan books.
But this is still rather interesting, no? Early Rincewind humorously pokes fun at these classics, while later Pratchett goes on to build something with real hearth and heart. It's just great to see a few different sides in a classic.
Original Review:
If I hadn't already read the entire series, and if I was judging this book just by its own merits, I'd still be saying that it harnesses the lightning and even finds a way to make it go side to side rather than up and down.
It's really fantastic as a straight fantasy with tons of humorous elements, with a good deal more worldbuilding than all the later books, more obvious and harsher tongue-in-cheek elements, and a great setup for the Great Wizzard Rincewind.
Honestly? I love Rincewind. I love the shard of the Great magical spell lodged in his brain, Death's endless chase for him, the straight adventure he finds himself in, and the sheer fact that HE SURVIVES.
Twoflower is awesome, too, and the chest is one of the greatest unsung heroes of the age, and there is a very good case to be made that this whole novel (and the one following it) is probably the BEST INSURANCE MAN'S TOURIST GUIDE EVER WRITTEN. :)
'Nuff said.
Am I sad that Sir Terry is no longer with us? Yeah.
July 9, 2016
This series is much beloved of my friends, both here on Goodreads and out in the wilds of meatspace--he's even been referred to as Fantasy's answer to one of my favorite authors: the superlatively funny and insightful Douglas Adams. As such, I was excited to start the series at the beginning, hoping the wit and wisdom would overcome the warts of this early outing. Unfortunately,the jokes drew more groans than guffaws, reminding me of Mark Twain's comments on the book of friend and fellow American treasure Ambrose Bierce:
Pratchett has none of the wry, oddball musings of Adams, and seems to me to be less the Fantasy version of that author and more the British version of endlessly 'punny' writer Piers Anthony (though thankfully without the unsettling implications of pedophilia). After finding this one unpalatable, a friend suggested I try one of his later books, so I started Moving Pictures, but while it was more competently crafted, I found it no more amusing. I guess you can't trust your friends.
I've since been told to try another of his books--most often Night Watch and Small Gods are mentioned, but I find it impossible to work up any enthusiasm for another outing with Pratchett--perhaps one day, I'll get there.
My Fantasy Book Suggestions
"There is humor in 'Dod Grile', but for every laugh that is in his book there are five blushes, ten shudders and a vomit. The laugh is too expensive."
Pratchett has none of the wry, oddball musings of Adams, and seems to me to be less the Fantasy version of that author and more the British version of endlessly 'punny' writer Piers Anthony (though thankfully without the unsettling implications of pedophilia). After finding this one unpalatable, a friend suggested I try one of his later books, so I started Moving Pictures, but while it was more competently crafted, I found it no more amusing. I guess you can't trust your friends.
I've since been told to try another of his books--most often Night Watch and Small Gods are mentioned, but I find it impossible to work up any enthusiasm for another outing with Pratchett--perhaps one day, I'll get there.
My Fantasy Book Suggestions
August 18, 2021
اولین انسانها، کمی بعد از خلقتشون، اعصابشون حسابی ریخت به هم که البته قابل درک هم بود
یک چهارم اول کتاب و تعریف کردنِ ماجرای آتیش زدن دوتا شهر فوقالعاده بود و هر چند خط یه تیکهی بامزه داشت که حسابی بابتش میخندیدم و پیش خودم گفتم همینطوری پیش بره قطعاً تبدیل میشه یکی از بهترین کتابهایی که خوندم
ولی متأسفانه بعد از اون افت زیادی داشت و به جز چندتا تیکه، دیگه به خوبی اوایل کتاب نشد
شخصیت حضرت مرگ عالی بود و با وجود حضور کمش، هروقت توی کتاب پیداش میشد و دیالوگ داشت من پخش زمین بودم
به خاطر همین یه شخصیت هم شده دلم میخواد کتابای این مجموعه رو بخونم
August 1, 2008
I'm pretty sure people have told me about Pratchett and his Diskworld series before, usually working in the phrase "He's the Douglas Adams of fantasy" into the description. But the problem was that I always felt that I had had enough of Adams after the third Hithiker's Guide to the Galaxy book, and whenever I scanned Pratchett's section in the bookstore I was immediately put off by not knowing where to start reading among the approximately five hundred thousand Diskworld books. I'm glad I finally took the time to find out that these two books, The Colour of Magic and The Light Fantastic, jointly comprise the first tale in the series, and that they were definitely worth reading.
The Diskworld books are essentially satire of the high fantasy genre, or at least that's the foundation upon which everything else is built. This pair of books follows the misadventures of Rincewind, a utterly inept and thoroughly cowardly wizard, and Twoflowers, a clueless traveler who happens to be in possession of both endless optimism and a magical suitcase that's always wandering off and messily devouring people who get in its way. Things go from bad to worse for the two as divine powers both deliver them into and yank them out of all kinds of fantastic perils.
As someone who grew up reading plenty of this kind of thing and playing a lot of Dungeons& Dragons, I'm familiar enough with the genre and trappings that Pratchett lampoons. Yes, there's the Conan parody, there's the Dragonriders of Pern tribute, there's the in-joke about Leiber's Fafhrd and Gray Mouser. But that's easy. The thing that made me almost immediately fall in love with these books is the author's dry wit and his ability to derive humor not only from the absurdity of the story (and believe me, it gets plenty absurd) but also from just good old fashioned turns of phrase, wry commentary, and jokes. The guy just has an amazing ability to stuff five or six jokes into a single sentence, most of them making masterful use of that trusty standby of British humor, irony. It's really smart and really funny, and the fact that it builds on the inherent silliness of the high fantasy genre is just icing.
I should also note how imaginative Pratchett is, which is a useful quality given his subject matter. He bounces his heroes from one (generally horrible and dangerous) situation to another at a frantic pace, and his ability to come up with new material and new situations amazes me. And while many of them are obvious parodies of fantasy staples, just as many seem to be wholly new creations. As one small (and obligatory) example, the Diskworld itself is a flat coin of a world that rides atop four enormous elephants, who themselves ride on the back of a colossal turtle with two continent-sized flippers that it uses to swim slowly through the cold reaches of space.
But at the same time, if I have one complaint about these first two books, it's that they're almost maniacal in their plotting. While it's nice to see Pratchett's considerable imagination and humor on display as we go from situation to situation, the first book reads like an extended doodle with little plot and a whole "gods playing games with mortals" subtext that's entirely dropped in the next book. There's also one Conan the Barbarian parody that's abruptly dropped in favor of another Conan the Barbarian parody who Pratchett apparently liked better. It's not until the latter part of the second book does an overall plot come into play, but honestly I was enjoying myself so much I really didn't mind. Expect to see lots more Discworld books reviewed here in the future.
The Diskworld books are essentially satire of the high fantasy genre, or at least that's the foundation upon which everything else is built. This pair of books follows the misadventures of Rincewind, a utterly inept and thoroughly cowardly wizard, and Twoflowers, a clueless traveler who happens to be in possession of both endless optimism and a magical suitcase that's always wandering off and messily devouring people who get in its way. Things go from bad to worse for the two as divine powers both deliver them into and yank them out of all kinds of fantastic perils.
As someone who grew up reading plenty of this kind of thing and playing a lot of Dungeons& Dragons, I'm familiar enough with the genre and trappings that Pratchett lampoons. Yes, there's the Conan parody, there's the Dragonriders of Pern tribute, there's the in-joke about Leiber's Fafhrd and Gray Mouser. But that's easy. The thing that made me almost immediately fall in love with these books is the author's dry wit and his ability to derive humor not only from the absurdity of the story (and believe me, it gets plenty absurd) but also from just good old fashioned turns of phrase, wry commentary, and jokes. The guy just has an amazing ability to stuff five or six jokes into a single sentence, most of them making masterful use of that trusty standby of British humor, irony. It's really smart and really funny, and the fact that it builds on the inherent silliness of the high fantasy genre is just icing.
I should also note how imaginative Pratchett is, which is a useful quality given his subject matter. He bounces his heroes from one (generally horrible and dangerous) situation to another at a frantic pace, and his ability to come up with new material and new situations amazes me. And while many of them are obvious parodies of fantasy staples, just as many seem to be wholly new creations. As one small (and obligatory) example, the Diskworld itself is a flat coin of a world that rides atop four enormous elephants, who themselves ride on the back of a colossal turtle with two continent-sized flippers that it uses to swim slowly through the cold reaches of space.
But at the same time, if I have one complaint about these first two books, it's that they're almost maniacal in their plotting. While it's nice to see Pratchett's considerable imagination and humor on display as we go from situation to situation, the first book reads like an extended doodle with little plot and a whole "gods playing games with mortals" subtext that's entirely dropped in the next book. There's also one Conan the Barbarian parody that's abruptly dropped in favor of another Conan the Barbarian parody who Pratchett apparently liked better. It's not until the latter part of the second book does an overall plot come into play, but honestly I was enjoying myself so much I really didn't mind. Expect to see lots more Discworld books reviewed here in the future.
September 20, 2009
It had some funny moments, but I really struggled to get through it. In all fairness to the people who suggested I read the Discworld series, this is not one of the ones they said I should start with. I think I mostly had a hard time slogging through all of the world-building and made up words. Fantasy has never been my thing, because I'm not someone who enjoys reading descriptions of the characters surroundings. I'm not giving up on the series, though. I think I'll just go back through my book recommendations and find the ones I was told to start with.
May 17, 2017
Terry Pratchett is a genius, as usual. This man can do no wrong. He reminds me a lot of Douglas Adams, my favorite in the realm of satire. Look at this similarity:
"In the beginning the Universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move." - Douglas Adams, The Restaurant at the End of the Universe
"Disc philosophers agree that the First Men, shortly after their creation, understandably lost their temper." - Terry Pratchett, The Color of Magic
The Color of Magic tells the story of Rincewind, a cowardly fake wizard who happens to carry the most powerful spell in the Discworld in his mind. Rincewind is tasked with protecting Twoflower, a naive but totally loaded insurance agent out on a tour of the world, who has more luck in one day than anyone should rightfully have their whole lives. Joining the travelers is a multi-legged, man-eating, overprotective chest of luggage. The gods then play dice with their lives - literally. Chaos and hilarity ensue.
My favorite character, indisputably the biggest BADASS of the book, was the Luggage. It follows Rincewind across the Disc and protects him from any threat. It also has the uncanny ability to convey emotions (mostly menace) without possessing any facial features. I'm eternally jealous of Twoflower for owning walking luggage - I have to drag my possessions everywhere.
I love Terry Pratchett's ability to make fun of corruption, greed, cowardice, and other evils so common in the world without coming off as bitter or even very critical. He creates characters with many faults but makes them lovable anyway; Rincewind being the big example in this book.
Besides that, Pratchett is insanely skilled at writing simple but funny prose.
Some examples:
"The door flew open, badly damaging the assassin who was standing beside it."
"He drew his sword and, with a smooth overarm throw, completely failed to hit the troll."
"Bel-Shamharoth screamed, a sound that started in the far ultrasonic and finished somewhere in Rincewind's bowels."
I'm attempting a full Discworld series read-through, one book per month. Check back in just over two years to see if I'm done yet xD
"In the beginning the Universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move." - Douglas Adams, The Restaurant at the End of the Universe
"Disc philosophers agree that the First Men, shortly after their creation, understandably lost their temper." - Terry Pratchett, The Color of Magic
The Color of Magic tells the story of Rincewind, a cowardly fake wizard who happens to carry the most powerful spell in the Discworld in his mind. Rincewind is tasked with protecting Twoflower, a naive but totally loaded insurance agent out on a tour of the world, who has more luck in one day than anyone should rightfully have their whole lives. Joining the travelers is a multi-legged, man-eating, overprotective chest of luggage. The gods then play dice with their lives - literally. Chaos and hilarity ensue.
My favorite character, indisputably the biggest BADASS of the book, was the Luggage. It follows Rincewind across the Disc and protects him from any threat. It also has the uncanny ability to convey emotions (mostly menace) without possessing any facial features. I'm eternally jealous of Twoflower for owning walking luggage - I have to drag my possessions everywhere.
I love Terry Pratchett's ability to make fun of corruption, greed, cowardice, and other evils so common in the world without coming off as bitter or even very critical. He creates characters with many faults but makes them lovable anyway; Rincewind being the big example in this book.
Besides that, Pratchett is insanely skilled at writing simple but funny prose.
Some examples:
"The door flew open, badly damaging the assassin who was standing beside it."
"He drew his sword and, with a smooth overarm throw, completely failed to hit the troll."
"Bel-Shamharoth screamed, a sound that started in the far ultrasonic and finished somewhere in Rincewind's bowels."
I'm attempting a full Discworld series read-through, one book per month. Check back in just over two years to see if I'm done yet xD
July 10, 2021
The Color of Magic is, in fact, four novella-length stories stitched together to create a novel-length book. But don't you worry, the book reads well as a whole without a jerking bump to stop the journey. I wouldn't have even noticed the stitching if I haven't known it was there.
As the story starts, Rincewind a disgraced wizard meets up with Twoflower an oblivious tourist and his rather menacing walking luggage (yes, with a luggage like Twoflower's you don't have to worry about carry your things around; the several pairs of feet under the large chest will follow you keeping your belongings close by and always safe... did I mention the luggage may eat anyone trying to rob you?).
Wizard and tourist are thrown together by unforeseen, and fantastic -but not at all unbelievable- circumstances, and soon engage in a tour of Discworld (the alternate universe born from Pratchett's supreme inventiveness). The tour is funny and surprising, and the story will carry you around without effort. However, if you're looking for a tight plot, consistent world building, or if silly British humor annoys you, this novel, and all Discworld for all that matters, may not be for you. The plot does meander a bit, but Pratchett's writing skills keep your focus somewhere else, so you don't even care.
One thing is clear even in this the first novel of the Discworld series, Pratchett has bucket loads of talent. If you like to laugh, then Pratchett's your man. His comedy timing is fantastic, and he possesses the intellect and the ability to make you laugh out loud regardless if you like, or read, or are even familiar with fantasy (nonetheless, some familiarity with the basic tropes of fantasy will aid in your enjoyment).
However, if you've read other Discoworld novels, you will notice that when it comes to topical humor, this novel is a bit thinner than Pratchett's later additions to the series; understandable, since it was written more tan two decades ago. Now, regardless of it age, the novel still feels remarkably fresh , mostly thanks to the imperishable quality of humor in which we laugh at ourselves.
As the story starts, Rincewind a disgraced wizard meets up with Twoflower an oblivious tourist and his rather menacing walking luggage (yes, with a luggage like Twoflower's you don't have to worry about carry your things around; the several pairs of feet under the large chest will follow you keeping your belongings close by and always safe... did I mention the luggage may eat anyone trying to rob you?).
Wizard and tourist are thrown together by unforeseen, and fantastic -but not at all unbelievable- circumstances, and soon engage in a tour of Discworld (the alternate universe born from Pratchett's supreme inventiveness). The tour is funny and surprising, and the story will carry you around without effort. However, if you're looking for a tight plot, consistent world building, or if silly British humor annoys you, this novel, and all Discworld for all that matters, may not be for you. The plot does meander a bit, but Pratchett's writing skills keep your focus somewhere else, so you don't even care.
One thing is clear even in this the first novel of the Discworld series, Pratchett has bucket loads of talent. If you like to laugh, then Pratchett's your man. His comedy timing is fantastic, and he possesses the intellect and the ability to make you laugh out loud regardless if you like, or read, or are even familiar with fantasy (nonetheless, some familiarity with the basic tropes of fantasy will aid in your enjoyment).
However, if you've read other Discoworld novels, you will notice that when it comes to topical humor, this novel is a bit thinner than Pratchett's later additions to the series; understandable, since it was written more tan two decades ago. Now, regardless of it age, the novel still feels remarkably fresh , mostly thanks to the imperishable quality of humor in which we laugh at ourselves.
February 23, 2021
I had intended to start this series last year, something I had been looking forward to for quite a while. Good Omens is one of my favourite books, and while I've read (and loved) quite a few of Neil Gaiman's books, I hadn't gotten around to reading anything by Terry Pratchett. Discworld felt slightly daunting, because there are so many and so many people love them so much, which seems like a silly reason for not reading something, now that I have typed it out, but never mind. It made sense to me at the time! Anyway, 2020 was to be the year to start but then there was a pandemic and a lockdown and shops were shut, and I didn't end up buying very many books at all that year*. And I didn't feel like reading something funny -- I gravitated toward serial killers and Matthew Shardlake from the Shardlake series instead. I think it's worked out for the best -- 2021 feels more right somehow, and I'm more in the mood for fun and fantasy. With the help of Trade Me (NZ's answer to eBay) I am building up a collection of Discworld books. I've seen people online suggest that you don't start with the first book, but I like to read things in order (even when they don't technically have an order) and to my relief I loved it. I'm hoping to enjoy the entire series just as much.
This was a fairly short book, under 300 pages in my copy, but it's jam-packed with world building, characters, places -- so much, and yet it wasn't overwhelming. It was brisk and frequently veered off in unexpected directions and I had the best time reading it. If you had told me at the start of the book that my favourite character would be the Luggage I would have been confused, but that chest depicted on the cover is honestly one of the best parts of the book! Twoflower and Rincewind were great as well of course.
Humour is such a strange thing to 'review' -- can you, really? All I can really say is that my sense of humour gelled perfectly with this. I'm not certain I got all of the jokes (I probably need more fantasy under my belt for that) but I got enough, and I laughed consistently throughout the book. I think that this bodes well, and I'm really excited for the next forty!
*By my standards anyway.
This was a fairly short book, under 300 pages in my copy, but it's jam-packed with world building, characters, places -- so much, and yet it wasn't overwhelming. It was brisk and frequently veered off in unexpected directions and I had the best time reading it. If you had told me at the start of the book that my favourite character would be the Luggage I would have been confused, but that chest depicted on the cover is honestly one of the best parts of the book! Twoflower and Rincewind were great as well of course.
Humour is such a strange thing to 'review' -- can you, really? All I can really say is that my sense of humour gelled perfectly with this. I'm not certain I got all of the jokes (I probably need more fantasy under my belt for that) but I got enough, and I laughed consistently throughout the book. I think that this bodes well, and I'm really excited for the next forty!
*By my standards anyway.
May 4, 2021
The city of Ankh-Morpork bears a name that rolls off the tongue, doesn't it? This is supposed to be a funny adventure. It kind of is. But unfortunately there are few examples of half funny stuff. The humor is very British and quite hit and miss. I'm thankful though, that the tone is kept light and there's no dark humor in this book. This is the one book that made me discouraged in pursuing the series, but given that few books are very good, i might give it another go because I'm quite curious and there are 38 books published at the time of writing.
January 21, 2024
The very first Discworld novel. The one it all began with.
I've been a fan of Sir Terry's for a long time. I've even read a few other of his books (some standalone, some of the Fairy Tales or later volumes of this series) and loved them all.
Fans have given me two pieces of advice ever since I first heard of Discworld:
1) Stay away from the first 3 books!
2) Read them all! What are you, a savage?!
*lol* You can see how this made me undecided for the longest time.
Thus, I did what every self-respected bookworm with no idea what to do would do - I let the matter rest and, in time, watched a few of the movies first. Bwahahahahaha!
The movies weren't bad at all despite apparently never having had the appropriate budget and I found myself wishing for more.
All the while I collected the books (I'm very particular about the covers/editions), magnets, bookmarks, postcards, original art, pins and "science books" about the Discworld.
And then Sir Terry died.
Even while writing this my eyes water. It was, if you believe it or not, another reason to put off reading the books.
In the meantime, I've collected all of the volumes I wanted (DEATH, witches, Tiffany and more) and have the others as ebooks/audiobooks, but it was time to finally start reading the series so when we talked about just that in the group, I had no further excuses.
This volume introduces readers to the Discworld that stands on the backs of four elephants which in turn stand on the shell of the great turtle Great A'Tuin that floats through space.
Science as we know it doesn't apply here as gods are real, so is magic, and many things exist solely because people believe in them.
It is about a wiz(z)ard named Rincewind and his adventure (or at least the first half of it) with Twoflower, a visitor from the counterweight continent. Twoflower being the very first tourist means a lot of miscommunication (people in Ankh-Morpork, where he lands first, don't know what glasses are for example). This gives the author the great opportunity to mock tourism in general with people experiencing foreign places through the lenses of their "picture boxes", speaking in not really helpful sentences out of dictionaries. Interpsersed we get funny takes on insurance (utterly unheard of in Ankh-Morpork) and the whole "hero" business then and later in the book.
Rincewind, one must admit, isn't exactly the greatest of wizards, but his quirky way is endearing.
He and Twoflower travel from Ankh-Morpork to Quirm (or at least towards it), Wyrmberg, and even the Edge where they meet the people of Krull. They stumble from one catastrophe into the next, all the while being unaware that their encounters are actually caused by gods (they are pieces on one of their board games).
This means that the reader gets to see a number of corners of this unique world that so perfectly mirrors the craziness of our own. We even get an overlapping when Rincewind calls a plane from our world to save himself and Twoflower. *lol*
One comment about Rincewind. Not sure what Sir Terry intended (he had a cameo in the movie so he must have known about the interpretation of Rincewind for the screen) but he seems to be younger in the books than in the movie.
Book Rincewind on covers:
Movie Rincewind (right):
And yes, the actor reminds me a bit of a male Maggie Smith with his gestures and facial expressions (he is as cynical and grumpy as the Dowager Countess Grantham after all).
The story then concludes with a quite literal cliffhanger (bad play of word, I know) and picks up immediately at the start of the next book so technically they belong together.
Now, for the actual impression.
I can see why many have told me not to start the series with the first book. I am a completist and I like to read in chronological order even if it might not be 100% necessary. So doing this was the right choice. That being said, I have to admit that some spins on ideas the author played with in this were ... not too original and therefore not too funny. Sure, I enjoyed the "Big Bang" joke right at the beginning and loved the cynical view on many things, but overall it really could have been sharper.
Moreover, and this is my fault alone, many stabs at classic fantasy bits were (if not completely then at least to some degree) lost on me. Sure, I got the parody of heroes and stuff, but none of that was laughing-out-loud material. Yes, it almost sounds like blasphemy, but it is obvious how old the book is, in what early stages Sir Terry still was and yet - and YET - you can already see and feel the greatness poking through with a dagger (Assassin's Guild style)!
P.S.: For anyone wondering, luggage really was a fantastic character and I expect it to be at least this good in the next too.
I've been a fan of Sir Terry's for a long time. I've even read a few other of his books (some standalone, some of the Fairy Tales or later volumes of this series) and loved them all.
Fans have given me two pieces of advice ever since I first heard of Discworld:
1) Stay away from the first 3 books!
2) Read them all! What are you, a savage?!
*lol* You can see how this made me undecided for the longest time.
Thus, I did what every self-respected bookworm with no idea what to do would do - I let the matter rest and, in time, watched a few of the movies first. Bwahahahahaha!
The movies weren't bad at all despite apparently never having had the appropriate budget and I found myself wishing for more.
All the while I collected the books (I'm very particular about the covers/editions), magnets, bookmarks, postcards, original art, pins and "science books" about the Discworld.
And then Sir Terry died.
Even while writing this my eyes water. It was, if you believe it or not, another reason to put off reading the books.
In the meantime, I've collected all of the volumes I wanted (DEATH, witches, Tiffany and more) and have the others as ebooks/audiobooks, but it was time to finally start reading the series so when we talked about just that in the group, I had no further excuses.
This volume introduces readers to the Discworld that stands on the backs of four elephants which in turn stand on the shell of the great turtle Great A'Tuin that floats through space.
Science as we know it doesn't apply here as gods are real, so is magic, and many things exist solely because people believe in them.
It is about a wiz(z)ard named Rincewind and his adventure (or at least the first half of it) with Twoflower, a visitor from the counterweight continent. Twoflower being the very first tourist means a lot of miscommunication (people in Ankh-Morpork, where he lands first, don't know what glasses are for example). This gives the author the great opportunity to mock tourism in general with people experiencing foreign places through the lenses of their "picture boxes", speaking in not really helpful sentences out of dictionaries. Interpsersed we get funny takes on insurance (utterly unheard of in Ankh-Morpork) and the whole "hero" business then and later in the book.
Rincewind, one must admit, isn't exactly the greatest of wizards, but his quirky way is endearing.
He and Twoflower travel from Ankh-Morpork to Quirm (or at least towards it), Wyrmberg, and even the Edge where they meet the people of Krull. They stumble from one catastrophe into the next, all the while being unaware that their encounters are actually caused by gods (they are pieces on one of their board games).
This means that the reader gets to see a number of corners of this unique world that so perfectly mirrors the craziness of our own. We even get an overlapping when Rincewind calls a plane from our world to save himself and Twoflower. *lol*
One comment about Rincewind. Not sure what Sir Terry intended (he had a cameo in the movie so he must have known about the interpretation of Rincewind for the screen) but he seems to be younger in the books than in the movie.
Book Rincewind on covers:
Movie Rincewind (right):
And yes, the actor reminds me a bit of a male Maggie Smith with his gestures and facial expressions (he is as cynical and grumpy as the Dowager Countess Grantham after all).
The story then concludes with a quite literal cliffhanger (bad play of word, I know) and picks up immediately at the start of the next book so technically they belong together.
Now, for the actual impression.
I can see why many have told me not to start the series with the first book. I am a completist and I like to read in chronological order even if it might not be 100% necessary. So doing this was the right choice. That being said, I have to admit that some spins on ideas the author played with in this were ... not too original and therefore not too funny. Sure, I enjoyed the "Big Bang" joke right at the beginning and loved the cynical view on many things, but overall it really could have been sharper.
Moreover, and this is my fault alone, many stabs at classic fantasy bits were (if not completely then at least to some degree) lost on me. Sure, I got the parody of heroes and stuff, but none of that was laughing-out-loud material. Yes, it almost sounds like blasphemy, but it is obvious how old the book is, in what early stages Sir Terry still was and yet - and YET - you can already see and feel the greatness poking through with a dagger (Assassin's Guild style)!
P.S.: For anyone wondering, luggage really was a fantastic character and I expect it to be at least this good in the next too.
March 24, 2024
The first in my re-read of the entire Discworld series and it was even better this time around!
One reason why I decided to re-read the series is that I can never just indulge in one of the volumes. The other is that the audiobooks were newly produced and the casts looked amazing.
Reading this first book (in chronological order) are:
This first novel has us introduced to the discworld which is resting on the shoulders of 4 enormous elephants, which in turn stand on the back of a giant space turtle.
In this world, there is a city called Ankh-Morpork where a curios little fellow named Twoflower arrives at the beginning. It turns out that he's the world's first tourist and as Fate would have it, he runs smack into the wiz(z)ard Rincewind.
A lot of forces are at play here that I shall neither name nor describe, but eventually the two are tossed hither and thither, stumbling from one adventure into the next, always only narrowly escaping with their lives.
It's basically a roundtrip showing us dragons, water trolls, in sure ant scams, fences spanning the rim of this peculiar world and more.
Smack in the middle is who must be THE most cowardly, unlucky "wizard" in this world. And he couldn't have met a better companion than Twoflower. Twoflower, on the other hand, is accompanied not only by Rincewind by his trusty luggage, a piece of magical wood running on many legs and eating anyone or anything in its way that might threaten its owner.
So no, I could not imagine a more quirky assortment of characters or places and I love not only how the author made fun of different topics (like tourism and the insurance business), but that he also wrote a swashbuckling adventure that is almost one of a kind.
Making this an even greater experience are the three actors I showed you above. Especially Colin went above and beyond IMO, but DEATH was also spot-on!
Great start - especially as this ends on a cliffhanger (almost literally). ;P
One reason why I decided to re-read the series is that I can never just indulge in one of the volumes. The other is that the audiobooks were newly produced and the casts looked amazing.
Reading this first book (in chronological order) are:
This first novel has us introduced to the discworld which is resting on the shoulders of 4 enormous elephants, which in turn stand on the back of a giant space turtle.
In this world, there is a city called Ankh-Morpork where a curios little fellow named Twoflower arrives at the beginning. It turns out that he's the world's first tourist and as Fate would have it, he runs smack into the wiz(z)ard Rincewind.
A lot of forces are at play here that I shall neither name nor describe, but eventually the two are tossed hither and thither, stumbling from one adventure into the next, always only narrowly escaping with their lives.
It's basically a roundtrip showing us dragons, water trolls, in sure ant scams, fences spanning the rim of this peculiar world and more.
Smack in the middle is who must be THE most cowardly, unlucky "wizard" in this world. And he couldn't have met a better companion than Twoflower. Twoflower, on the other hand, is accompanied not only by Rincewind by his trusty luggage, a piece of magical wood running on many legs and eating anyone or anything in its way that might threaten its owner.
So no, I could not imagine a more quirky assortment of characters or places and I love not only how the author made fun of different topics (like tourism and the insurance business), but that he also wrote a swashbuckling adventure that is almost one of a kind.
Making this an even greater experience are the three actors I showed you above. Especially Colin went above and beyond IMO, but DEATH was also spot-on!
Great start - especially as this ends on a cliffhanger (almost literally). ;P
February 16, 2020
This was honestly the weirdest thing I’ve ever read
March 12, 2021
Introduces the flat Discworld and the cowardly technically failed wizard Rincewind as he ends up going on a number of adventures with Discworld's first ever tourist… Twoflower. Thought I would give this series a try, and I am afraid that it really didn't grab me at all, it was even worse than I thought it would be; maybe I should read a few more before given up on Discworld? 2 out of 12.
August 18, 2023
Failed wizard Rincewind finds himself the unwilling guide to Two Flower, the Discworld's first tourist.
The idea behind this 2-book arc (The Colour of Magic and its sequel The Light Fantastic) is commendable enough: present the reader with a sufficiently enticing world building to then ensure their continued interest in future books. In practice though... things didn't quite work out that well.
There were way too many minor characters thrown in, all of whom came with considerable backstories, only to disappear a couple of pages later. The liberal mixing of science and fantasy elements got me all sorts of confused, rather than interested in the mechanics behind it all. Some of the more promising one-liners got ruined by rather wordy phrases. And the overall writing style just screamed info-dump through every one of its pores.
Whoever decided to cut a significant number of side-quests and characters from the TV adaptation, made an excellent judgement call.
The one unequivocally good thing I can say about the book, is the brilliant characterization. Every single character, be it main or secondary is wonderfully flawed, and thus endlessly amusing to watch.
Rincewind, the cowardly hero, chiefly out to save his own skin, was very relatable to me, moreso than any conventional Prince Charming type may ever be.
Two Flower, a tourist woefully unaware of his surroundings, is a veritable poster boy for all the horror stories one hears about tourist scams.
A number of side characters all with their extremely self-centered view of the universe, out to kill Rincewind for one reason or another.
Last but not least, there's Death himself, who is unsuccessfully attempting to reap Rincewind. Reading about the Grim Reaper get more and more frustrated by his quarry's near death experiences, was definitely fun, although, I think I prefer movie-Death. The latter proved to be much more intriguing in his amusement.
Score: 2.7/5 stars
As much as it pains me to say this, just watch the TV adaptation. It has much better dialogue, screen play, and David Jason portrays Rincewind absolutely brilliantly.
============================
Other stories featuring Rincewind the Wizard:
book 2: The Light Fantastic
book 3: Sourcery
book 4: Eric
book 5: Interesting Times
The idea behind this 2-book arc (The Colour of Magic and its sequel The Light Fantastic) is commendable enough: present the reader with a sufficiently enticing world building to then ensure their continued interest in future books. In practice though... things didn't quite work out that well.
There were way too many minor characters thrown in, all of whom came with considerable backstories, only to disappear a couple of pages later. The liberal mixing of science and fantasy elements got me all sorts of confused, rather than interested in the mechanics behind it all. Some of the more promising one-liners got ruined by rather wordy phrases. And the overall writing style just screamed info-dump through every one of its pores.
Whoever decided to cut a significant number of side-quests and characters from the TV adaptation, made an excellent judgement call.
The one unequivocally good thing I can say about the book, is the brilliant characterization. Every single character, be it main or secondary is wonderfully flawed, and thus endlessly amusing to watch.
Rincewind, the cowardly hero, chiefly out to save his own skin, was very relatable to me, moreso than any conventional Prince Charming type may ever be.
Two Flower, a tourist woefully unaware of his surroundings, is a veritable poster boy for all the horror stories one hears about tourist scams.
A number of side characters all with their extremely self-centered view of the universe, out to kill Rincewind for one reason or another.
Last but not least, there's Death himself, who is unsuccessfully attempting to reap Rincewind. Reading about the Grim Reaper get more and more frustrated by his quarry's near death experiences, was definitely fun, although, I think I prefer movie-Death. The latter proved to be much more intriguing in his amusement.
Score: 2.7/5 stars
As much as it pains me to say this, just watch the TV adaptation. It has much better dialogue, screen play, and David Jason portrays Rincewind absolutely brilliantly.
============================
Other stories featuring Rincewind the Wizard:
book 2: The Light Fantastic
book 3: Sourcery
book 4: Eric
book 5: Interesting Times
November 2, 2023
4★
“That’s what’s so stupid about the whole magic thing, you know. You spend twenty years learning the spell that makes nude virgins appear in your bedroom, and then you’re so poisoned by quicksilver fumes and half-blind from reading old grimoires that you can’t remember what comes next.”
Poor Rincewind. Incidentally, his name rhymes with “since grinned”, and I’ve read that in a later book, it says an ancestor was a Rinser of Winds. Whatever his background, he’s missing some skills. He’s a wizard who never finished his training, so while he has some magical talents, he’s certainly no master.
I read a Disc World book or two years ago and loved them. I’ve been reading other things at the moment, so I found myself a bit impatient this time. It is world-building on a mammoth scale, with whole universes and theories of evolution and religion. It is great fun for someone who wants to get immersed in another world.
The setting is the disc which rides horizontally on the backs of four enormous elephants who stand on an even more enormous turtle, which is explained in the beginning of the prologue.
“In a distant and second-hand set of dimensions, in an astral plane that was never meant to fly, the curling star-mists waver and part . . .
See . . .
Great A’Tuin the Turtle comes, swimming slowly through the interstellar gulf, hydrogen frost on his ponderous limbs, his huge and ancient shell pocked with meteor craters. Through sea-sized eyes that are crusted with rheum and asteroid dust He stares fixedly at the Destination.”
I’m sure the Flat Earth Society would probably approve of Disc World, as it has directions of hubward and rimward, “garlanded by the long waterfall at its vast circumference and domed by the baby-blue vault of Heaven.”
Pratchett describes various places as we go through the story, so we have a pretty fair idea of what the characters are up against, what with wolves in the woods, villains in the inns and such.
The basic story revolves around Rincewind (the unfinished wizard) and a tourist named Twoflower, who arrives in Ankh-Morpork, the oldest city in the world, which has no concept of tourism. He has a peculiar phrase book and tries to make himself understood. Finally, he and Rincewind find a common tongue and thus begin their travels.
It’s fun and crazy, as you’d expect, and there are certainly rules and limitations, which is the kind of thing that I love when I’m in the mood for it. There is the Luggage, a large sort of sea chest which follows Twoflower around – on many tiny little legs! It opens and closes – killing hapless thieves and snapping at others. It seems to be full of gold, among other things, which makes for more fun, since Twoflower has no understanding of currency exchange rates and splashes his gold about temptingly.
He wants to observe real life, a barroom brawl, if you could arrange it, please, and if people get hurt or killed, well that's reality for the place, isn't it?
The setting is more or less medieval, as so many fantasies seem to be, with inns and horses and beggars and swordfights, damsels and dragons.
“‘Attention, please,’ said Lio!rt. A dragonrider handed him a long shape, wrapped in red silk.
‘We fight to the death,’ he said. ‘Yours.’
‘And I suppose I earn my freedom if I win?’ said Rincewind, without much hope.
Lio!rt indicated the assembled dragonriders with a tilt of his head.
‘Don’t be naïve,’ he said.
Rincewind took a deep breath. ‘I suppose I should warn you,’ he said, his voice hardly quavering at all, ‘that this is a MAGIC sword.’
Lio!rt let the red silk wrapping drop away into the gloom and flourished a jet-black blade. Runes glowed on its surface.
‘What a coincidence,’ he said, and lunged.”
You get the idea. My favourite character has always been Death, who speaks in capital letters with no quotation marks, He hates being foiled when the "system" fails. He had an appointment with Rincewind, or so he said, at a particular place and time and Rincewind obviously wouldn’t be there. Death offers to help him get there in time.
“I COULD LEND YOU A VERY FAST HORSE.
‘No!’
IT WON’T HURT A BIT.
‘No!’ Rincewind turned and ran. Death watched him go, and shrugged bitterly.
‘SOD YOU, THEN, Death said. He turned, and noticed the fish salesman. With a snarl, Death reached out a bony finger and stopped the man’s heart, but He didn’t take much pride in it.”
And later, Death extracts one-ninth of a cat’s life. Much later, a demon disguised as Death, lets slip that reincarnation can be an improvement. Reincarnation! Woohoo!
I understand the Disc World stories don’t have to be read in order. Indeed, I think the first I read was Mort, and I got the hang of it quickly. There are dozens of others as well as countless books for readers of different ages. I'm sure this would have been a 5-star read for me back in 1983, and I plan to read some more.
Sir Terry certainly earned his knighthood, and both worlds are the poorer for his leaving them in 2013. But by golly, what a legacy!
“That’s what’s so stupid about the whole magic thing, you know. You spend twenty years learning the spell that makes nude virgins appear in your bedroom, and then you’re so poisoned by quicksilver fumes and half-blind from reading old grimoires that you can’t remember what comes next.”
Poor Rincewind. Incidentally, his name rhymes with “since grinned”, and I’ve read that in a later book, it says an ancestor was a Rinser of Winds. Whatever his background, he’s missing some skills. He’s a wizard who never finished his training, so while he has some magical talents, he’s certainly no master.
I read a Disc World book or two years ago and loved them. I’ve been reading other things at the moment, so I found myself a bit impatient this time. It is world-building on a mammoth scale, with whole universes and theories of evolution and religion. It is great fun for someone who wants to get immersed in another world.
The setting is the disc which rides horizontally on the backs of four enormous elephants who stand on an even more enormous turtle, which is explained in the beginning of the prologue.
“In a distant and second-hand set of dimensions, in an astral plane that was never meant to fly, the curling star-mists waver and part . . .
See . . .
Great A’Tuin the Turtle comes, swimming slowly through the interstellar gulf, hydrogen frost on his ponderous limbs, his huge and ancient shell pocked with meteor craters. Through sea-sized eyes that are crusted with rheum and asteroid dust He stares fixedly at the Destination.”
I’m sure the Flat Earth Society would probably approve of Disc World, as it has directions of hubward and rimward, “garlanded by the long waterfall at its vast circumference and domed by the baby-blue vault of Heaven.”
Pratchett describes various places as we go through the story, so we have a pretty fair idea of what the characters are up against, what with wolves in the woods, villains in the inns and such.
The basic story revolves around Rincewind (the unfinished wizard) and a tourist named Twoflower, who arrives in Ankh-Morpork, the oldest city in the world, which has no concept of tourism. He has a peculiar phrase book and tries to make himself understood. Finally, he and Rincewind find a common tongue and thus begin their travels.
It’s fun and crazy, as you’d expect, and there are certainly rules and limitations, which is the kind of thing that I love when I’m in the mood for it. There is the Luggage, a large sort of sea chest which follows Twoflower around – on many tiny little legs! It opens and closes – killing hapless thieves and snapping at others. It seems to be full of gold, among other things, which makes for more fun, since Twoflower has no understanding of currency exchange rates and splashes his gold about temptingly.
He wants to observe real life, a barroom brawl, if you could arrange it, please, and if people get hurt or killed, well that's reality for the place, isn't it?
The setting is more or less medieval, as so many fantasies seem to be, with inns and horses and beggars and swordfights, damsels and dragons.
“‘Attention, please,’ said Lio!rt. A dragonrider handed him a long shape, wrapped in red silk.
‘We fight to the death,’ he said. ‘Yours.’
‘And I suppose I earn my freedom if I win?’ said Rincewind, without much hope.
Lio!rt indicated the assembled dragonriders with a tilt of his head.
‘Don’t be naïve,’ he said.
Rincewind took a deep breath. ‘I suppose I should warn you,’ he said, his voice hardly quavering at all, ‘that this is a MAGIC sword.’
Lio!rt let the red silk wrapping drop away into the gloom and flourished a jet-black blade. Runes glowed on its surface.
‘What a coincidence,’ he said, and lunged.”
You get the idea. My favourite character has always been Death, who speaks in capital letters with no quotation marks, He hates being foiled when the "system" fails. He had an appointment with Rincewind, or so he said, at a particular place and time and Rincewind obviously wouldn’t be there. Death offers to help him get there in time.
“I COULD LEND YOU A VERY FAST HORSE.
‘No!’
IT WON’T HURT A BIT.
‘No!’ Rincewind turned and ran. Death watched him go, and shrugged bitterly.
‘SOD YOU, THEN, Death said. He turned, and noticed the fish salesman. With a snarl, Death reached out a bony finger and stopped the man’s heart, but He didn’t take much pride in it.”
And later, Death extracts one-ninth of a cat’s life. Much later, a demon disguised as Death, lets slip that reincarnation can be an improvement. Reincarnation! Woohoo!
I understand the Disc World stories don’t have to be read in order. Indeed, I think the first I read was Mort, and I got the hang of it quickly. There are dozens of others as well as countless books for readers of different ages. I'm sure this would have been a 5-star read for me back in 1983, and I plan to read some more.
Sir Terry certainly earned his knighthood, and both worlds are the poorer for his leaving them in 2013. But by golly, what a legacy!
November 25, 2020
It was the King Colour, of which all the lesser colours are merely partial and wishy-washy reflections. It was octarine, the colour of magic. It was alive and glowing and vibrant and it was the undisputed pigment of the imagination, because wherever it appeared it was a sign that mere matter was a servant of the powers of the magical mind. It was enchantment itself.
But Rincewind always thought it looked a sort of greenish-purple.
A few weeks ago, I found myself in probably the worst reading slump of my entire life. It wasn't quite a chore to read a book, but I no longer got any enjoyment out of it; I was just going through the motions. It wasn't even that what I was reading was bad, because it wasn't. It just wasn't fun anymore. Well, I had heard about this Sir Terry Pratchett character, and his whacky but addictive novels, and I said to myself, "If anyone can get me out of this slump, it's him."
My hunch paid off, big time! Not only is my slump over, but I am now extremely excited to continue with this incredible Discworld series of books, which I think numbers at a staggering forty-one. Ouch, my poor wallet! Anyway, The Colour of Magic is exactly what I needed. It's funny and upbeat throughout, and is simply a ton of fun to read. It's by far the most fun I've had reading a book this year. The story revolves around a self-proclaimed "wizard of sorts" named Rincewind and a tourist to his city of Ankh-Morpork, named Twoflower. The always-optimistic Twoflower has Luggage (yes, it's capitalized; he, or "it", is an important character in the story!) in the form of a chest filled with gold and made of magic wood; it has many pairs of feet and follows him wherever he goes. The book follows Rincewind and Twoflower on a ton of crazy adventures in Ankh-Morpork, an upside down mountain called Wyrmberg, the outer rim of the Discworld itself, and more.
In my opinion, Pratchett's greatest achievement in this book is that the fantasy elements are never over the top. Many elements of fantasy are present in this book: trolls, magicians, wizards, dragons, magic and magic spells, sword-brandishing heroes, thieves, assassins, and etc. That being said, it's never overdone; Pratchett weaves an engaging and page-turning story that doesn't focus on these elements, but rather seems to seamlessly integrate them into his real main focus, a great story with vibrant and memorable characters, set in an unforgettable, vast, and brilliantly-realized world.
It pains me to give this book four stars. Up to a point, I thought this was beyond a five-star book. Then, around the time the Wyrmberg part of the story began, it was like I was reading a whole different book. It seemed like a lot of the light-hearted goofiness of the Ankh-Morpork section of the book was gone, and the story wasn't as captivating. It really did feel like maybe Pratchett put this book down for six months or a year or something, and then resumed writing it, because it just didn't feel the same. And then later, some things happened that just rubbed me the wrong way. There was the bizarre scene where there was either equivalent versions of Rincewind and Twoflower, or it really was Rincewind and Twoflower, entering our world during a plane hijacking. I found that to be very confusing and incongruous with the rest of the story. Then, later on, it seemed like Rincewind and Twoflower were just "suddenly" on a ship in the middle of the ocean, and I think it's mentioned that six months had gone by since the start of their adventure! What the...? That seemed a little cheap and rushed to me. The ending was also a little sudden, with things ending on a bit of a cliffhanger; this also contributed to me feeling that the book was a little bit rushed in the second half.
In short, I really loved this book, though there were some things I didn't like. Maybe it's blasphemy to criticize a Terry Pratchett book, but whatever, there are people on GR who gave this book one star, so I feel like I'm not being too much of a blasphemer for saying it wasn't perfect. I would like to thank Sir Terry Pratchett for dragging me out of my reading slump with this book, which was an absolute and rare pleasure. I will definitely be reading more Discworld books soon. I've heard Pratchett gets better as the series goes on, so I am beyond excited. If you're on the fence about reading this series, all I can say is that it's done wonders for me after only one book, and I'd highly recommend checking it out!
But Rincewind always thought it looked a sort of greenish-purple.
A few weeks ago, I found myself in probably the worst reading slump of my entire life. It wasn't quite a chore to read a book, but I no longer got any enjoyment out of it; I was just going through the motions. It wasn't even that what I was reading was bad, because it wasn't. It just wasn't fun anymore. Well, I had heard about this Sir Terry Pratchett character, and his whacky but addictive novels, and I said to myself, "If anyone can get me out of this slump, it's him."
My hunch paid off, big time! Not only is my slump over, but I am now extremely excited to continue with this incredible Discworld series of books, which I think numbers at a staggering forty-one. Ouch, my poor wallet! Anyway, The Colour of Magic is exactly what I needed. It's funny and upbeat throughout, and is simply a ton of fun to read. It's by far the most fun I've had reading a book this year. The story revolves around a self-proclaimed "wizard of sorts" named Rincewind and a tourist to his city of Ankh-Morpork, named Twoflower. The always-optimistic Twoflower has Luggage (yes, it's capitalized; he, or "it", is an important character in the story!) in the form of a chest filled with gold and made of magic wood; it has many pairs of feet and follows him wherever he goes. The book follows Rincewind and Twoflower on a ton of crazy adventures in Ankh-Morpork, an upside down mountain called Wyrmberg, the outer rim of the Discworld itself, and more.
In my opinion, Pratchett's greatest achievement in this book is that the fantasy elements are never over the top. Many elements of fantasy are present in this book: trolls, magicians, wizards, dragons, magic and magic spells, sword-brandishing heroes, thieves, assassins, and etc. That being said, it's never overdone; Pratchett weaves an engaging and page-turning story that doesn't focus on these elements, but rather seems to seamlessly integrate them into his real main focus, a great story with vibrant and memorable characters, set in an unforgettable, vast, and brilliantly-realized world.
It pains me to give this book four stars. Up to a point, I thought this was beyond a five-star book. Then, around the time the Wyrmberg part of the story began, it was like I was reading a whole different book. It seemed like a lot of the light-hearted goofiness of the Ankh-Morpork section of the book was gone, and the story wasn't as captivating. It really did feel like maybe Pratchett put this book down for six months or a year or something, and then resumed writing it, because it just didn't feel the same. And then later, some things happened that just rubbed me the wrong way. There was the bizarre scene where there was either equivalent versions of Rincewind and Twoflower, or it really was Rincewind and Twoflower, entering our world during a plane hijacking. I found that to be very confusing and incongruous with the rest of the story. Then, later on, it seemed like Rincewind and Twoflower were just "suddenly" on a ship in the middle of the ocean, and I think it's mentioned that six months had gone by since the start of their adventure! What the...? That seemed a little cheap and rushed to me. The ending was also a little sudden, with things ending on a bit of a cliffhanger; this also contributed to me feeling that the book was a little bit rushed in the second half.
In short, I really loved this book, though there were some things I didn't like. Maybe it's blasphemy to criticize a Terry Pratchett book, but whatever, there are people on GR who gave this book one star, so I feel like I'm not being too much of a blasphemer for saying it wasn't perfect. I would like to thank Sir Terry Pratchett for dragging me out of my reading slump with this book, which was an absolute and rare pleasure. I will definitely be reading more Discworld books soon. I've heard Pratchett gets better as the series goes on, so I am beyond excited. If you're on the fence about reading this series, all I can say is that it's done wonders for me after only one book, and I'd highly recommend checking it out!
October 21, 2019
This Review ✍️ Blog 📖 Twitter 🐦 Instagram 📷
★ I was excited to read this book and to discover Practhett’s writing, I had read Good Omens, or attempted to read it but ended up DNFing it. I wanted to see the highly acclaimed Discworld and if it was any better!
★ It was better, but not like much better. But at least I could finish the book and that’s something! I think the mix between humor and fantasy is weird but it can work and it kind of worked here! I heard that this is the worst in the series so it looks like it does have potential!
★ The writing made me giggle a few times, I don’t laugh easily so I am not the best judge if this was funny, I think some parts were funny and sometimes I saw attempts but I had a straight face and did not even smile at those attempts so it really is like an acquired taste!
★ There was also a weird thing about the writing in that it tends to make things sound weird while it could have been said easier with a better impact! I confess that some things went over my head and took me some time to understand, like the four-eyed creature that is actually a human wearing glasses but even the name given to him was not a typical human name! I was confused at more than one point and going through the reviews now, I discovered that I was not the only one!
★ The book felt choppy and chaotic and all over the place and I think it could have been edited times better than the current version. It was a debut and really felt like one.
★ The world is unique because it is like a Disc (Hence the name Discworld) on the top of 4 elephants and those are on a turtle (Sex unknown and this is an important part of the story lol) as the picture above shows!
★ Summary: I was not impressed by this book but it was not bad that I had to DNF it either! I do not know what made it blow up in the past and to continue the series into 40 books, maybe because it was unique and unlike any other thing I read. The book was a bit confusing, a bit funny and a bit chaotic. The good news is I heard it gets better which means, for the time being, I am willing to continue to book 2 at least! If you are looking for an excellent book that mixes humor and fantasy then I recommend Kings of the Wyld by Nicholas Eames.
You can get more books from Book Depository
“I’ve seen excitement, and I’ve seen boredom. And boredom was best.”
★ I was excited to read this book and to discover Practhett’s writing, I had read Good Omens, or attempted to read it but ended up DNFing it. I wanted to see the highly acclaimed Discworld and if it was any better!
★ It was better, but not like much better. But at least I could finish the book and that’s something! I think the mix between humor and fantasy is weird but it can work and it kind of worked here! I heard that this is the worst in the series so it looks like it does have potential!
★ The writing made me giggle a few times, I don’t laugh easily so I am not the best judge if this was funny, I think some parts were funny and sometimes I saw attempts but I had a straight face and did not even smile at those attempts so it really is like an acquired taste!
“Every intelligent being, whether it breathes or not, coughs nervously at some time in its life.”
★ There was also a weird thing about the writing in that it tends to make things sound weird while it could have been said easier with a better impact! I confess that some things went over my head and took me some time to understand, like the four-eyed creature that is actually a human wearing glasses but even the name given to him was not a typical human name! I was confused at more than one point and going through the reviews now, I discovered that I was not the only one!
★ The book felt choppy and chaotic and all over the place and I think it could have been edited times better than the current version. It was a debut and really felt like one.
★ The world is unique because it is like a Disc (Hence the name Discworld) on the top of 4 elephants and those are on a turtle (Sex unknown and this is an important part of the story lol) as the picture above shows!
★ Summary: I was not impressed by this book but it was not bad that I had to DNF it either! I do not know what made it blow up in the past and to continue the series into 40 books, maybe because it was unique and unlike any other thing I read. The book was a bit confusing, a bit funny and a bit chaotic. The good news is I heard it gets better which means, for the time being, I am willing to continue to book 2 at least! If you are looking for an excellent book that mixes humor and fantasy then I recommend Kings of the Wyld by Nicholas Eames.
“Magic never dies. It merely fades away.”
You can get more books from Book Depository
Displaying 1 - 30 of 14,302 reviews