The Color of Magic
by Terry Pratchett
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Book Reviews of The Color of Magic
Book Review: Starting off small
Summary: 3 Stars
Terry Pratchett is now a publishing superstar, thanks to his witty, wonky Discworld series. But the Discworld series didn't start off on such good ground. In first Discworld novel "The Colour of Magic," Pratchett lets his plot get away from him and meander over the edge of the Disc.
Discworld is a flat planet, balanced atop four elephants that stand on a giant turtle's back. And somewhere on that vast Disc is Rincewind the wizard -- cowardly, greedy, unlucky, a dropout and not very good at what he does. Enter Twoflower, a rather clueless tourist, and the Luggage, which walks around on hundreds of tiny legs.
Despite the fact that he doesn't want to, Rincewind is required to help the Discworld's first tourist ever (it's Twoflower, in case you're wondering). They're attacked by thieves, gamble with gods, encounter Death (who speaks ALL IN CAPITALS), and bumble through magical spells that can cause some major problems. But that isn't the biggest problem, when they encounter the very edge of the Disc...
"Colour of Magic" doesn't have much of a plot -- it basically has a long string of confusing, unhappy incidents that plague Rincewind, and it ends on an unsatisfying note. But at least the ride is fairly fun -- Pratchett spoofs the fantasy cliches with wink-nudge fervor.
Pratchett peppers his satirical little novel with lots of fun ideas, such as the quirky gods of Discworld and the dragon that vanishes if you stop believing in it. Unfortunately, the dialogue and writing aren't quite up to par. At times it's the delicious tone of British comedy, and sometimes it's so serious that it seems like Pratchett is writing an entirely different novel.
Rincewind isn't a very engaging character in this volume -- we laugh at him, not with him. His constant efforts to keep himself alive are especially funny, since his luck is a mixture of bad (he always gets into trouble) and good (he always gets out of it). Twoflower is an amusing character, but the Luggage steals the show despite not being able to speak.
Fans of comic fantasy might enjoy "Colour of Magic," but it's by far the weakest of Pratchett's many Discworld books. If you're looking for something insanely funny and well-written, go further in the series.
Book Review: The color of humor
Summary: 5 Stars
Fantasy has never been one of my favorite genres, but I decided to give the magical world of Discworld a try at the suggestion of several friends. I am very glad I did. This turned out to be a very different kind of fantasy, in spite of its wizards, trolls, and dragons. Discworld is a flat planet resting on the backs of four elephants riding on the back of a turtle that slowly makes its way across the universe. As strange and steeped in magic as Discworld is, it seems suspiciously like our own world. Its inhabitants have some very familiar vices and pastimes. Author Terry Pratchett is a wonderful cross between Douglas Adams, Piers Anthony, and Mark Twain, and his Discworld novels are full of great fun, inventiveness, and wicked satire."The Color of Magic" is the first story in the series. This paperback edition comes with an appendix that makes a handy travel guide for first-time tourists of Terry Pratchett's amazing fantasy land. It includes a brief musing on Discworld, a synopsis of the main cast of characters in the series, a nonmap (after all, how can a sense of humor be mapped?), a guide to Discworld on thirty dollars a day, and even a crossword puzzle to quiz you on what you have learned on your maiden voyage.
The bumbling wizard Rincewind, a wizard college dropout and the quintessential coward, is appointed as guide and protector for the four-eyed tourist Twoflower, who hails from a gold-rich city on the Counterweight Continent and who has come to the bustling metropolis of Ankh-Morpork to see the sights. As the story opens, Ankh-Morpork is in the process of burning to the ground, and Rincewind and Twoflower are fleeing to safety. Accompanied by a frightening piece of many-legged luggage, the twosome experiences one misadventure after another. They are threatened by thieves and magic spells, made pawns in a dice game of the gods, dogged by Death, chased by dragons around the upside-down mountain of Wyrmberg, and shipwrecked at the edge of Discworld. The end of the story leaves the reader hanging in midair (literally), but that's OK - because there are many more volumes that follow in this richly creative and hilarious series. These novels are like potato chips - bet you can't read just one!
Eileen Rieback
Book Review: Where Discworld Begins
Summary: 4 Stars
Originally published in 1983, "The Color of Magic" begins one of the most popular (the author's books account for a little over 1% of all book sales in Great Britain!), prolific and unique series to be found in any genre. While it has its precedents, perhaps, in the short stories of Fritz Leiber (in the opening to this book Pratchett pays homage to Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser with his characters Bravd and the Weasel), and Pratchett's style of humor has been admirably imitated in works such as Steven Brust's tales of Vlad Taltos, Pratchett remains the master of fantastic satire, punning and poking fun at fantasy as well as the society that has spawned it. Had the cast of Monty Python chosen to write fiction, it is likely work such as this would have sprung from their endeavors. And I suspect there are many who read Pratchett that touch no other fantasy.While replete with the delightful and bumbling cast of characters and imaginative, often perverse circumstances that typify and enrich Pratchett's later work, this novel nonetheless lacks the focus of much of the author's best stories, essentially a rather rambling and loosely constructed saga comprising four separate tales, patched together by the shared setting of Discworld and the characters of Rincewind, Twoflowers and the inimitable Luggage. Because of this, despite its uproarious moments of humor, it is not entirely successful. However, it is our introduction to Discworld and The Great A'tuin, Unseen University and the precincts and denizens of Ankh-Morpork, with its guilds of assassins and thieves, and so many other settings and characters that are so memorably evolved in the later books that one would be bereft were one not to begin the Discworld series here. Even with the loose composition and shifting, often abrupt turn of events, the rich humor and satiric moments that enliven and punctuate all of Pratchett's prose are in ample evidence here, foreshadowing the gems that are to follow. And, compared to the vast waste of ordinary, commonplace fantasy published each year, any work by Pratchett is certain to shine out like a star lighting the night.
Don't fail to read this: you're in for some real fun!
Book Review: "!" said the stranger
Summary: 4 Stars
This is the first book in the Discworld series and Terry Pratchett does an outstanding job of introducing the "logic" that reins in this world and some of the main characters that inhabit it. It has been a while since I found a book that made me laugh so much, the author has a great sense of humor, and he uses different means and techniques to make the reader roll on the floor with laughter.Discworld rests on four giant elephants, Beriha, Tubul, Great T'Phon and Jerakeen, which stand on top of the giant turtle A'Tuin. The people in this world have asked themselves the same questions over and over through time: What is A'Tuin's sex? Where is the world going? The answer to the second question is evident...to where A'Tuin decides!
I cannot help but feel that the fantastic world that Pratchett has created is based on our own "old world" with elements of the new one mixed in. For example, glasses, or cameras are considered elements of magic. Of course, the author does not stop there and adds other fantastical elements to the mix. One of the "regular" concepts we are used to handling in our world that made me laugh like crazy is inn-sewer-ants; sorry but you will have to read the book to figure out what this is, I do not want to give that much away!
The story starts when the oldest city in the world, Ankh-Morpork, is burning. Rincewind, the most useless wizard ever, is escaping from the city with Twoflower, a mysterious tourist that comes from the distant and mythical Counterweight Continent. When they are safely away from danger, we start learning about how they met and what were the events that lead to the fire. In this tale and in the one that continues after the characters leave Ankh, we will meet various characters, all of them picturesque and with a great ability to amuse.
The only negative aspect I can point out is that the world, characters and rules are a little complicated. Add to this the fact that there are no maps, since as Pratchett says "You cannot map the sense of humor". Anyway, I think that once I start reading the following installments in the series I will be able to get a more thorough understanding. The series well deserves the effort in doing this.
Book Review: An absolutely brilliant beginning to one of the great comic series ever undertaken
Summary: 5 Stars
Over the years I've read around a third of Terry Pratchett's Discworld book and have long intended to read the whole shebang from beginning to end. In part as a personal gesture of support following Pratchett's recent announcement about a health problem that is probably going to bring his writing career to an end. He has indicated that he has a novel that he is confident that he can complete, while he has laid down the outline for one more. Unfortunately, neither of these is a Discworld novel, so sadly last fall's MAKING MONEY may have brought this wonderful series to an end.
I initially read all of the Nightwatch books in the series, later adding a couple of random entries. So I've had a fair taste of Discworld. What amazes me about THE COLOR OF MAGIC is how complete and outrageous the series was from the very beginning. Athena is said to have emerged fully grown from the head of her father Zeus, and Discworld seems to have similarly emerged from the imagination of Terry Pratchett. I had expected to find the world I had come to love in the other books contained here only in embryo. Instead, the whole world felt complete and familiar.
The book concerns a visitor from a land very distant from Ankh-Morpork, Twoflower, who arrives with his luggage made of sapient pear tree and the attempts of the incompetent wizard Rincewind to act as his tour guide. What ensues is an absolutely outrageous string of adventures. What is amazing is the relentless brilliance of Pratchett's humor. Things never turn out the way you expect, but always the better for that.
I can't recommend this series highly enough. The books have an order, but there is absolutely no need to read them in any kind of order. I would say, however, that if one were to plunge into one of the series-with-the-series, like the Nightwatch books or the witch titles, one might want to stick to the order. But from what I can tell, just about all the books in the series are worth reading. My lone hope is that Mr. Pratchett's long-term health exceeds current expectations and that we will get to see additional Discworld stories.