The Color of Magic: A Novel of Discworld by Terry Pratchett (MOBI)

Description

Terry Pratchett’s profoundly irreverent, bestselling novels have garnered him a revered position in the halls of parody next to the likes of Mark Twain, Kurt Vonnegut, Douglas Adams, and Carl Hiaasen. 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.

User’s Reviews

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐Wow. I don’t know how it is I’ve never read a novel of the Discworld before, but I am tremendously grateful to have rectified this oversight.A failed wizard. A tourist from an unknown place. Semi-sentient luggage. A somewhat easily thwarted Death. These are the characters we follow across a world that ranges from sort of traditional fantasy to science fantasy. In the course of this tale, they will encounter great heroes, sometimes misunderstood villains, locales that are bigger on the inside than the outside and strange gods that seem to have only moderately more understanding of things than our protagonists.His comedic presentation is undeniable. The scope of his creativity is as impressive as it is daunting and his perspective is unique and utterly refreshing. Dragons as creatures of pure creation, powered by imagination and an active mind? Death (as a conscious, if somewhat imperfect entity) that becomes petty when unable to collect its due, so instead it collects the life of a nearby cat (leaving it with the magic eight instead of the normal nine lives)? The fact that, on occasion, falling from great heights permits trans-dimensional travel? Genius.Pratchett’s prose is eminently accessible, which makes this book not only a breeze to read but rather difficult to put down. He may not have the sheer command of language that Vance and Leiber did, but he is every bit their equal in terms of sheer imaginative prowess, wit and tale-telling. Truly, one of the titans of fantasy and an incredible storyteller.TLDR: A must read for any fan of humorous, ingenious and surreal fantasy. On to the quotes:”Precisely why all the above should be so is not clear, but goes some way to explain why, on the disc, the Gods are not so much worshipped as blamed.””He’s got a box with a demon in it that draws pictures,” said Rincewind shortly. “Do what the madman says and he will give you gold.””No, what he didn’t like abut heroes was that they were usually suicidally gloomy when sober and homicidally insane when drunk. There were too many of them, too.””The Disc gods themselves, despite the splendor of the world below them, are seldom satisfied. It is embarrassing to know that one is a god of a world that only exists because every improbability curve must have its far end; especially when one can peer into other dimensions at worlds whose Creators had more mechanical aptitude than imagination. No wonder, then, that the Disc gods spend more time in bickering than in omnicognizance.”

⭐I had this book in my wish list for several years, finally took some time this summer to read it and it was very enjoyable. It reminds me a bit of Hitchikers Guide to the Galaxy meets fantasy. I have read several others in the series and I agree with many of the reviewers, the writing and stories get better as you go along (I think this is true with most writers, I liked the “Voyage of the Dawn Treader” better than the first two Narnia books). But I did enjoy both “The Color of Magic” and “The Light Fantastic” enough to keep going. “Mort” has been my favorite so far . . .I am going to focus on the different editions you can purchase.A+ – the hardback copies by Gollancz, very high quality. The paper is a nice feel, the print is very good, the covers are a soft cotton, they do not have dust-jackets (like all their hardback books), but the covers are designed very uniquely. I hope they have the entire series, looks like they have a lot of them.B+ – the paperback copy by Harper. This was the first copy I obtained, it is also very good, the paper, cover, and print are very high quality. The only down side to these, is there is no uniform editions. I believe they only printed the first three books, then after that another publisher stepped in and so the appearance of the books look very different from the others.C+ – the mass market paperback copy by Harper Collins. This was a very cheaply produced book. The first two books I got, were good quality (all ordered new from amazon, btw), paper was good, cover, and print were all good. Then the third and fourth books were definitely low quality. The print was poorly done, some passages appeared blurry, poor print job. The upside to these are the uniform look. The downside, terrible quality production.If you are looking for an interesting set of fiction, I absolutely love Pratchett’s imagination and writing style, I bought all his other story collections, then I would definitely check out this series. I don’t have any preference about where you start, some reviewers really are not fans of the first two, I thought they were good enough for me to keep going, but I definitely think they get better. I also like the stand alone nature of the stories, so I can pick the themes I enjoy the most to focus on and read.As far as which edition to buy, you might want to start with the mass market, they are cheaper, then if you like them, go with the other paperbacks. I have enjoyed the first five or so that I have read, I am now buying only the hardback editions.Enjoy! . . .

⭐I waited far, far too long to start reading this series, but now that I’ve started, I’m never going to be able to stop. Pratchett earns his title of one of the best fantasy writers in existence, combining large scale, intricate world building with hilarious prose.The story starts off with telling us what’s so special about Discworld. Disworld is actually a flat plan, a ‘disc’, if you will, resting on the back of four giant elephants, which are themselves standing on the shell of an even more giant turtle crawling through space. Things only get more ridiculous from there. Pratchett introduces us to two great characters. The first, Rincewind, is a washed out drop out of the local wizard college, who a knack for both languages and finding his way to trouble. The second, Twoflower, is a foreigner bored with his life as an insurance salesman, who comes to Rincewinds city as tourist looking for adventure, and willing to pay for it handsomely. Together, the two traipse across the Disc on all sorts of wacky adventures.I want to compare Pratchetts writing to Douglas Adams, or even Kurt Vonnegut, but that wouldn’t be accurate. Those authors are massively cynical, and while Pratchett can do satire, his humor is much more kind-hearted. You really just need to read the book for yourself to see what I mean.

⭐Normally I would always recommend reading this great series in sequence from start to finish, but when I first read this book it was, fortunately, some time after I had commenced my discworld adventure by accidentally starting haphazardly with Guards Guards, Men at Arms, and Mort. This first novel is Sir Terry finding his feet. Most notable is the way in one major character, found in most of the books, Death, evolves from the rather unlovable personality in This book to the multi faceted and complex character discworld fans know and love. There seem to be various ideas and characterizations that are being tried out and discarded to better effect in later novels….ways of speaking, unpronouncable names, brainless barbarian heroes (the glorious Conan introduced in a later novel is a much more original and interesting personality) , an inferior Patrician etc….even the use of chapter headings. Had I read Colour of Magic before reading some of Sir Terrys subsequent work I probably wouldn’t have bothered with the rest of discworld and what a loss to me that would have been. There’s nothing wrong with the book and by the end of it you can see Rincewinds personality really beginning to take shape. So, it’s certainly worth reading it but not in my opinion, first, as it is inferior in quality of writing to his other books, but it is a great way to consider how from this slightly experimental beginning such a glorious series of novels developed that I have read several times.

⭐How much magic, peril and adventure, how many wizards, heroes, dragons and trolls, how much wit and laughter is it possible to squeeze onto a disc carried by just four elephants standing on a single, albeit giant, turtle? The sky is the limit, but only if your name is Terry Pratchett.The Colour of Magic will take you out of the grim reality of the year of the pandemic and into multiple fantasy worlds where everything is completely other-worldly and belly-laughingly hilarious.Twoflower, a tourist who arrives in the city of Ankh-Morpork (on its rougher side) acquires special protection from a (failed) wizard Rincewind, primarily because of his Luggage which is filled with riches the criminal fraternity of the city has never seen before. Like a caterpillar, The Luggage travels of its own accord, using its many busy feet, and that’s not even the most puzzling thing about it . Rincewind and Twoflower meet villains, dragons, trolls and all matter of characters who either assist or obstruct them on their travels. And then they come to the edge of the disc. I can’t say anymore but the story doesn’t end there – not quite, not once, and not in the conventional sense of the word.I reached for The Colour of Magic to shake off the blues of last year. I remembered reading I Shall Wear Midnight many years ago with my daughter, and I wanted to recapture that old magic. I definitely achieved that.

⭐I have read the vast majority of the Discworld books but wanted to go back to the start and do it all again.This is a great book and had reintroduced me to some old favourites… I intend to read in order, not that you have to but knowing some of what’s to come makes me want to.Great standalone story or the start of a long and very enjoyable experience, you decide.

⭐I was recommended this series for my 11 year old , who is a prolific reader . He handed it back to me after 50 pages as he just couldn’t follow what was going on … and wasn’t intrigued enough to persevere . So I had a go … it took me a while to figure out was going on , more than the 50 pages my son managed. It was very densely and imaginatively written , lots of detail about the characters and their environs . Terry Pratchetts mind must have been a very crowded place! I liked the dry humour in places , but the plot itself really just didn’t grab me . The writing felt too detailed for the strength of the plot. I doubt I’ll pick up another Terry Pratchett book – a shame , my son works through authors so quickly

⭐The Colour of Magic is the first book in Terry Pratchett’s Discworld universe, not that that this really matters as there is no overarching story between books as in the Wheel of Time or Harry Potter canons. It is fun, easy reading with enough wit to stop it being fluffy.What’s Good About This Book:The Colour of Magic is written with a razor-sharp understanding of humans and their follies, pretensions and overall daftness. It uses a parody version of fantasy, complete with inglorious versions of such tropes as the Barbarian and the Wizard, to throw a sharp light on our own world.The plot is also great fun. The main protagonists, the feckless, failed wizard Rincewind and childlike Twoflower, bounce between imaginative adventure after imaginative adventure without any loss of pace until the satisfying conclusion.What’s Bad About This Book:Ultimately, there’s not that much philosophical meat on the bones of this story. It’s mostly entertainment but with a good dash of parody and philosophy thrown in for interest.It’s also quite short. It came to 278 pages on my Kindle which, for many, might not be a huge amount of bang for your buck, especially in the fantasy genre with its many groaning tomes.Would I Read The Colour Of Magic Again?Probably not. It was great fun and I am very happy to have read it but I don’t think there is enough depth to bring me back for a second reading.The Colour of Magic is ultimately a fast-paced, witty adventure bursting with imagination, although anyone looking for deep philosophising might find themselves unsatisfied.

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