Rating: 
Summary: History of Humour
Review: This poor book has been badly insulted by a number of latter-day Terry Pratchett fans such as myself, people who must shamefacedly admit that we began the Discworld series in the middle with "Small Gods" because of the shiny turtle on its cover. But "Color of Magic," the first book in the series, does not deserve such disdain.For the yet untutored fan, "Color" is a great starting point to learn about the Discworld. The book is short, using most of its plot to describe the geography of the Disc and to introduce the earliest hero of the series, a cowardly and untalented wizard named Rincewhind. He's a thaumaturgical flop, but a comedic king. Most of the Discworld novels are complex satires of our own world. "Color" begins, though, as a straight spoof of the fantasy genre. It isn't even a complete tale without the following novel, "The Light Fantastic." But it's the first bright grain of sand in the vast, murkey Nothing. Pratchett's own imagination was already birthing such wildly beautiful concepts as intelligent luggage and working classed pixies. Slightly philosophical police already skulk through the fans' beloved city of Ankh-Morpork and try not to be noticed by any criminals. This book stands well enough on its own merit. It is a fun, Saturday afternoon romp that lets folks laugh at the "in" jokes of the fantasy genre. Non-Discphiles can file it next to "Bimbos of the Death Sun" by Sharyn McCrumb or "Bored Of the Rings" by Henry Beard and Douglas Kenney. Pratchett fans can tell themselves that the author has done better. Sure he has. The next book was better, and the one after that was jaw-dropping, and the next was eye-popping ... so don't knock "Color of Magic" until you've grokked it. If you really must be dazzled, go find the book with the shiny turtle on it.
Rating:
Summary: Light Romp into the World of Discworld
Review: Discworld is Terry Pratchett's brainchild. A world shaped like a CD on which due to the powerful magic, the light moves slowly and poets are not allowed to used unrealistic similes. The farther you get into the world of Discworld, the more well written and humorous Terry's books become. The Color of Magic is an interesting tale introducing Rincewind (About whom 6 Discworld Novels are written) and Twoflower and the entire world. This book has a decent plot and moves along fairly quickly. The sequel to this book is the Light Fantastic.
Rating:
Summary: A Good Start to Discworld
Review: In "The Color of Magic" Terry Pratchett weaves a tale of light fantasy and some humor to make a good read. Being the first in a series of over 25 books, I'm sure that this is probably not one of the best. For one thing, his humor wasn't the greatest. He threw in some dumb punchlines but the really good humor wasn't as easy to find. Things such as his "Big Bang" theory were pretty good compared to some other dry stuff. Despite this Pratchett still did a good job in presenting a comical fantasy adventure. The plot of this novel is pretty simple. Rincewind the Wizard (who graduated from Unseen University knowing no spells because one of the 8 Great spells trapped itself inside of him) meets the tourist Twoflower in a tavern. Twoflower hires Rincewind as his tourguide so he could see Discworld. After Twoflower sets the city of Ankh-Morpork on fire, he and Rincewind make a run for Quirm. Read on to find out the rest. Pratchett's characters are the actual very funny part about the book. Rincewind is just...Rincewind; Twoflower has to see everything even if it means his existence on Discworld will be no more; the talking sword, Kring; Hrun the Barbarian who fights and has basically a dumb mind; and many other characters that we meet throughout thisnovel are just funny. What is interesting about this book is that Terry Pratchett takes issues that have arised on Earth and puts them onto Discworld. These things make the world of Discworld seem even more like the one you and I are on right this very second. In conclusion, "The Color of Magic" is a great read that a fantasy fan or somebody looking for a good book to enjoy. This novel is relatively short and can be read quickly. After reading this I am looking forward to reading more books about Terry Pratchett's Discworld. This is probably the best way to start out this series. Read this, you won't be disappointed. Happy Reading!
Rating: 
Summary: just amazing.
Review: fantasy often needs to stop takeing it self seriously and just have fun. one one does that better then Terry Pratchet!
Rating:
Summary: The Wizard, The Tourist and The Luggage
Review: After reading lots of young adult books, I decided to try out the big kid's version of "The Edge Chronicles". To tell the truth, this book has been sitting on the shelf for over six months, because of all the frightening reports - why go willingly into a situation that is widely known to be addictive?
I was hesitant to get involved, but a chorus of voices kept haranguing me to make the first step, and weakened by a lack of excuses, I succumbed.
This is actually a very complicated book, due to the various levels of humor, from slapstick to dry one-liners, expertly delivered in an incredible fantasy setting. After you get a basic understanding of the geography of the Discworld, and work out the meaning of "hubward", "rimward", "turnwise" and "widdershins", and that there are eight seasons, you can enjoy the relatively simple story that unfolds in the last two thirds of the book. Beware though of the many familiar references to our own world, which are thrown in randomly to retard your progress while you stop to consider them.
A bungling wizard (with a charmed life and one good spell in his arsenal) gets saddled as a tour guide to a naive visitor from another continent. Unfortunately, the tourist has a lot of gold to throw around, and this leads to all kinds of unwanted attention from the dregs of society. Luckily for the tourist, he has a very useful piece of luggage that doubles as a body guard, and is self-transporting with a built in homing device - a dream suitcase if there ever was one.
Here there be trolls, barbarians, bandits, beauties, dragons, magic, deities, and even Death, who gets quite stressed on the job, and really needs a holiday.
Now that I'm corrupted, I need volunteers to feed my habit. Buddy, can you spare a rhinu?
Amanda Richards, February 28, 2005
Rating: 
Summary: Not the greatest--not the worst
Review: I'm glad that I finally read this book, but I'm also glad that I did not read it first because I'm not so sure I'd have returned to Discworld.
As has been mentioned by other reviewers, this is really almost like three short stories and the first chapters of the second book. I almost feel as if this book was written later just to introduce the discworld, but I don't think it was. Death (the grim reaper) is very different than he was in the other books and I found this a bit disconcerting. It is not the greatest of the discworld novels. I also did not appreciate the "cliffhanger" ending which literally stopped in the middle of the story and continued to the second in Light Fantastic.
Having said all that, I think that knowing ahead of time that these are really almost like introductory short stories for the Discworld and that they aren't the greatest, I'd still recommend reading them--atlhough, perhaps not for your first Discworld novel.
I've never been a fan of Rincewind the Magician, but I think this book (and Light Fantastic) helped me to appreciate him and the luggage more. I never quite got the luggage. I loved Twoflower and was a big fan of the Luggage. Overall, a decent book as long as you are forewarned about certain aspects.
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Summary: A nice little change...
Review: This is the first Discworld novel there is, and coincidently, the first one i have read. I was a little put off by the strange names for many things, but after getting used to them, i quite enjoyed this book. Rincewind and Death were pretty amusing. I think i will scour the used book shops for a few more discworld books as i am not sure that i want to commit to reading all 25 just yet. I am going to try to find some of the more popular ones, and then i will be able to make a more informed decision. I read this because the series is so famous, but i am not sure that i can make a judgement just yet as top if i am hooked or not. That being said about my long term feelings, i definatly thought that this book was worth reading, even for a person not likely to read the series. It was a nice change to have characters in a fantasy world who were not too serious about portraying the world as dark and dreary...find a copy of this book and read it on a rainy day...
Rating:
Summary: Classic silliness
Review: If you haven't travelled Pratchett's Discworld yet, you're not alone. Mr. Twoflowers hasn't travelled it yet, and he lives there. Feel free to join him and his reluctant guide, Rincewind, as they sample Discworld's dives, tavern brawls, dragons, assassins, pirates, and a charming assortment of near-death experiences.
Twoflowers has the tourist's implacable confidence that every demonic temple, every hero with a magic sword, every brigand, and every catastrophe of nature was placed and scheduled for his amusement - and will hold still for a picture. He's also quite convinced that, as a tourist, he's immune to any possible harm.
That premise give Pratchett's comic genius plenty to work with. Even Death - the Reaper himself - is just a straight man in this world. (There's also The Luggage, but I'll let you discover that for yourself.)
This is the first book in a long-lived series, and gets it off to a great start. I have to warn you, though, there's no such thing as one Pratchett book. Even one is enough to cause addiction.
//wiredweird
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Summary: How Did I Miss This???
Review: Note: since I HATE them myself, not one spoiler is included below...
I have been an evangelizing fan of both Kurt Vonnegut (best American dark humorist) and Douglas Adams (best sci-fi humorist) since I was in high school. I have read most of their works twice. After having taken a couple of years off, I was about to swoop in for a third reading of their classics -- starting with KW's "Cat's Cradle" and "Deadeye Dick", then moving on to DA's "Dirk Gentley's Holistic Detective Agency" -- when Terry Pratchett's name popped up on a list of recommendations from Amazon.
After reading Pratchett's "The Color of Magic" (the first in the long Discworld series), I am absolutely bewildered by the fact that I have never even heard of this guy. For me, it was like being a twenty years long fan of Hemingway, only to wake up one day to discover that there's this other guy named Fitzgerald writing about the disaffected youth of the Lost Generation as well.
I am afraid that Pratchett has flown under the RADAR screen of others, so I'm here, trying to get the word out. He's got funny, funny, stuff packed in relatively short but highly inventive packages -- ready made for those like me who spend several hours a week on public transportation.
Net/net: if your sense of humor is a little twisted (think Monty Python or Dr. Who) and your sense of literary adventure strays towards the Hitchhiker series, or any of Vonnegut's novels, or even Mark Twain, then I guarantee you'll enjoy Pratchett's escapist, whirling, g-rated, and frolicing Discworld series.
Rating:
Summary: first installment in the discworld series
Review: This is the fisrt installemnt in the discworld series, and introduces the reader to the city of anhk morpork (a analogy of early london, during the industrial revolution), rincewind, the inept wizzard, who has one of the eight great spells in him, plus two flower the orginal tourist probably based on an american tourist. The book flows well, for first readers of pratchet, dont expect chapters, and read the footnotes, they help explain the book as you go along. The humour is mainly british. overall a good book. But a note of merit, some people if like or hate pratchett, if you are feeling a bit indifferent perservere, or read another of his titles.
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