The Color of Magic
by Terry Pratchett
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Book Reviews of The Color of Magic
Book Review: Different from the later ones, but still excellent.
Summary: 5 Stars
The Discworld series is probably my personal favorite book series out there. They are all funny, original, and interesting. The first book is all of these things, but not in the same way as the others. When Terry wrote this, he hadn't quite decided on a writing style, so you have to eally read closely to get a lot of the humor. The book is a bit more scientific about things, with dimensional rifts happening all over the place. It's a bit too absurd even by Discworld standards. These days, the references aren't as noticeable, either. You have to know about old characters like Fafhrd and The Gray Mouser and Conan the Barbarian to get a lot of the jokes.However, it's different, and that's given it a special place in my heart. The characters develop well, all things considered, the characters manage to change drastically from the begining to the end, and I've enjoyed Rincewind since the begining, which is here. There's also quiet philosphy hidden in there, which has become a trademark in the Discworld books.
There are a lot of changes between the first book and the later novels. Discworld seems more like a Fantasyland than the later, more modern novels (that is to say both that the later novels are newer, but mostly that Discworld is more like the modern world in the later novels). The writing style as has already been mentioned, is different from the later books. Death, the only continuous character in te Discworld series, has undergone the most change. In this book, he's evil. He's not a sentimentalist, like in the later books, he's evil. The sentimentalist thing doesn't come until the later novels.
Overall, keep in mind that Discworld was still forming in Pratchett's mind at this time. Many of Practhcett's ideas hadn't formed yet, and his writing style was still developing. Keep that in mind, and you should enjoy yourself. A lot.
Book Review: Funny, Fresh, & Irreverent
Summary: 5 Stars
The Colour of Magic is not your standard fantasy fare. True, it contains many of the elements that one expects to see in a run-of-the-mill fantasy novel - wizards, muscle-bound heroes, dragons, trolls, etc., but there is a not so subtle difference. First of all, this is a funny, funny book - intentionally, not accidentally so. Secondly, all the tired old elements from pulp fantasy that you find here are being used as a send-up, both of those fantasy cliches, and of the lives that we, the readers, live.
The book's protagonist, Rincewind, is a pathetically failed wizard, who knows but one spell, and that one he cannot use, for it may destroy the world. He manages to survive, barely, in the dive taverns of the great city of Ankh-Morpork on his desperately clever street smarts, and a penchant for languages. Against his better judgement, Rincewind hires himself out as a guide to a hopelessly naïve tourist, Twoflower. Soon, Rincewind, Twoflower, and Twoflower's fierce, animated, magical luggage are swept from one incredibly dangerous adventure to another, from the fiery destruction of Ankh-Morpork, through near annihilation in the temple of an unspeakable Abomination, a deadly power struggle in a kingdom of magical dragon-riders, to being nearly swept right over and off the rim of the world. Along the way, Pratchett manages to lampoon Fritz Leiber, H.P. Lovecraft, Robert Howard, and other fantasy standards, even including a throwaway Star Trek joke.
The Colour of Magic is the first of Pratchett's Discworld novels, a long series of books set in an impossibly clever and humorous alternative world. It is fantasy at its freshest and most irreverent. Mr. Pratchett should have to include warning labels on his books that they may become addictive, for it may be nearly impossible to read just one.
Theo Logos
Book Review: The first, and still the best
Summary: 5 Stars
I have a confession to make. I've read a lot of Terry Pratchett books over the last two years or so. I've enjoyed them immensely. However, because The Color of Magic was basically out of print (or just really really hard to find), I had never read the first two novels in the Discworld series. Now, after finally reading The Color of Magic and The Light Fantastic I'm embarassed I didn't try harder to get my hands on these books earlier.If you've never read Pratchett before, this is definitely a great book to start with. Summarizing what makes Pratchett fun to read isn't that easy. Maybe it's his utterly goofy take on what makes people tick or maybe it's how his characters, despite being goofy inhabitants of a weird world, seem to remind you vaguely of distant family members. Whatever it is, Pratchett is one reading addiction that won't leave you unsatisfied for the most part. Come one, buy this book, you won't regret it!
Now, if you're in the same boat as I was and you've read some Pratchett but much to your embarassment haven't ever read the start of the Discworld series, what are you waiting for? Believe it or not, there _really_ are some things that you've missed out on by not having read this book. As per normal, this book will leave you rolling in the aisles or falling out of your chair. If you've read some of the books featuring Death, pay close attention to what he's like in this book... You'll notice some differences. But hey, that's part of what makes Discworld fun! In addition, when your friends who have read The Color of Magic make jokes about Rincewind, you'll now be in a position to understand them.
Overall, I can't think of a single reason that you shouldn't buy this book and the 2nd Discworld novel, The Light Fantastic. You'll have a great time reading them.
Book Review: A Very Promising Start
Summary: 4 Stars
I'm not going to write much of a review for this book since there are plenty of people who have already raved about it. I am merely another review to add to the pile of good reviews. Submerged in a magical realm which resembles our own world and culture, the Discworld series holds a lot of promise in terms of humor, satire, and simple stupid fun. It's hard to say more about a book than that, given that these are basically the author's aims. He shoots for a solid ground of silly entertainment and hits his target well. Similar to Douglass Adams in a lot of ways, I find I enjoy Pratchett more.
I give this book 4 stars as opposed to 5 because it's not the sort of book that you equate with a classic, which is what I consider a 5 star book. Even as I say that, I liked it well enough to walk to the bookstore at my lunch hour and buy the second book of the series to take on my vacation. That's saying something, as I rarely buy new books. Given that Amazon used offers this book for $1.61, the fact I went to the bookstore speaks volumes.
Pratchett has now pumped out 30-35 in this series and they continue to get high marks. It's safe to say this is likely going to be the start of a an enjoyable run of reading. A mere 200+ pages in length (are you listening David Foster Wallace?), the book sails by and can easily be read in a day. I try to make it a habit to not consume books that fast as my wallet frowns on the practice. But these hold so much promise I'm excited to have found this author.
One blurb I read said that Pratchett is like Vonnegut, Adams, and Hiaasen. While I would put him below Vonnegut, who I consider brilliant, he's better than Hiaasen and more smooth & subtle than Adams. If you like these writers, I think it's safe to say that you'll like Pratchett.
Book Review: the first Discworld novel shows the promise of the series
Summary: 4 Stars
The Color of Magic is the first of 27 (at the moment) novels set in Terry Pratchett's Discworld series. Discworld is a strange world. On one hand, it reminds me of Piers Anthony's Xanth , but Pratchett's tone is more serious and the world is less childish than Xanth . They share the concept of taking ideas from the real world and twisting them into something else. Anthony twists real life things into puns, Pratchett twists them in order to satirize them. Pratchett is much more effective this way as a writer. After reading countless reviews that make mention of Discworld, I finally decided to start the series. I began with the understanding that it is the later books that are best, as Pratchett had not yet hit his stride with the humor. That's fine, I knew what I was coming up against. Sort of.Pratchett doesn't just take aspects of the real world and twist them, he twists much of the rules of conventional fantasy. Everything is a farce, even as he tells a story. At times, I wasn't sure what the plot was, but everything was interesting. During much of the story, I found things mildly amusing, and on several occasions I found something funny. Nothing to compare to what I've heard about later books.
The plot follows a failed wizard named Rincewind as he acts as a tour guide for Discworld's first tourist, Twoflower. Twoflower is somewhat of a bumpkin and Rincewind has incredibly bad luck, so along with luggage that follows them around, they end up in predicament after predicament. To attempt to detail the plot out would be folly as it would make no sense to anyone who hasn't yet read a Discworld novel.
While not quite as good as I had hoped, it is enough to keep me reading a few more novels in the Discworld to see if things are really as good as everyone seems to say.