The Color of Magic

Rating:
Summary: Funny, Fresh, & Irreverent
Review: 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.


Rating:
Summary: Interesting start to fabulous series
Review: The great city of Ankh-Morpork has seen many tourists, but this one--Twoflower, from the mysterious counterweight continent, a continent reported to consist largely of gold--is different. His gullible appearance attracts an army of thieves but Twoflower is too innocent to even notice--and his walking luggage is dangerous enough to offer some protection. One of the men hoping to take advantage of Twoflower is Ankh-Morpork's worst mage. Rincewind knows only one spell. Unfortunately, he doesn't know what the spell will actually do if he uses it. When Twoflower pays Rincewind, in advance, to show him around the city, Rincewind decides to get out while he still can. Unfortunately, he's misjudged his timing. The Patrician wants Twoflower alive and decides to task Rincewind with the assignment. No one can escape the Patrician so Rincewind gets caught up in a series of inprobable adventures.

THE COLOR OF MAGIC is the first in Terry Pratchett's Discworld series--and it shows. Pratchett hasn't quite decided whether Discworld is pure farce--with its counterparts for Robert E. Howard's Conan and Fritz Leiber's Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser and his choice of a purely cowardly and incapable wizzard for protagonist with the most frightening monster being a many-legged travelling trunk--or something unique and wonderful. Over time, Pratchett has developed Discworld to be a compelling universe of its own, with complex characters, interesting situations, but keeping its tongue-in-cheek attitude. COLOR is essential reading for a full understanding of Discworld and fans of the series (like me) won't want to miss it. Still, although COLOR is the first Discworld novel, I don't recommend you read it first. Read some of the later stories, get hooked, then pick up COLOR to see where it came from and to get more of the details on how, exactly, a disc-shaped world travels on the backs of four elephants--each of whom, in turn, stands on a single huge turtle swimming toward--well, that is the question, isn't it?

Rating:
Summary: Spellbinding !
Review: "The Color of Magic" is the first book in Terry Pratchett's hugely popular Discworld Series. He has gone on to win the Carnegie Medal for "The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents" and was awarded the OBE in 1998.

The Discworld is, of course, flat and rests on the shoulders of four giant elephants. These are, in turn, carried through the cosmos by an even bigger turtle called Great A'Tuin. (The astrozoologists of the land of Krull, in their desire to better understand the universe, shortly hope to determine whether A'Tuin is male or female). The Discworld's Gods and Goddesses live in Dunmanifestin, on top of Cori Celesti. Their favourite pastimes include playing games with the lives of mortals, with Fate and the Lady featuring highly amongst the leading players.

One of the Lady's favourite 'pieces' is Rincewind - a native of the Discworld's oldest city, Ankh-Morpork, and a coward of some renown. He is also an ex-student of the Unseen University, a thoroughly hopeless wizard and the 'hero' of this book. The only spell he knows comes from the Octavo, and is so powerful that no other spell is brave enough to stay in his head. (The Octavo was the Creator's spellbook, and was carelessly left behind after the universe's completion). As the book opens, Rincewind's home city is in flames and he is fleeing in the company of Twoflower - the Discworld's first tourist. Twoflower, who has just introduced the concept of fire insurance to Ankh-Morpork, comes from the Counterweight Continent and has hired Rincewind as his guide. He also has a very loyal and frequently angry Luggage, which is made from sapient pearwood. Twoflower desperately wants to see the very things that Rincewind desperately wants to avoid - heroes (Hrun the barbarian, for example), dragons, fights and such like. As a result, Death has been snapping at Rincewind's heels since he first met Twoflower - that is, of course, the tall and under-fed gentleman who wears a hood, carries a scythe and TALKS LIKE THIS. To avoid meeting his fate, Rincewind is willing to travel to the very ends of the world...

As the first book in the Discworld series, this is probably the most obvious place to start. (It's certainly best to read it before "The Light Fantastic", the series' second instalment - while the pair form a prelude to "Interesting Times", the seventeenth Discworld book). Pratchett's books are always very funny, and Rincewind and the Luggage are two of my favourite characters. Definitely recommended !

Rating:
Summary: The start of a long, wonderful friendship
Review: An oft-quoted statistic claims that 10% of all the novels sold in England are fantasy, and 10% of them are written by Terry Pratchett, thus making Pratchett the author of 1% of all the novels sold in Britain. It doesn't matter of this is accurate and up-to-date, what is true is that Terry Pratchett and his DiscWorld novels are a major phenomenon in the UK and they are popular among American readers as well for their satirical wit, amusing reversals of old clichés, and hilarious characters.

As the first in a long series, COLOR OF MAGIC pales next to some of the other novels (especially MORT) because the story devotes itself to exposition of the fabulous world in which these stories take place; the plotline wanders so as to take us to as many different parts of the world as possible. We also make our first acquaintance with characters such as Rincewind, a second-rate wizard, an underachiever some of us might identify with more than a whiz-kid like Harry Potter. The most unforgettable character here, no doubt, is the suitcase that walks around on its own legs - watch out, it bites, too.

The DiscWorld's laws and geography are not consistent, since as Pratchett says, one cannot really map a sense of humor. (That hasn't stopped someone from publishing a concurrence, but I'm sure it's all in fun.) This is a wildly imaginative, intelligent, and hilarious introduction to a long, wonderful series of stories; the kind of reading that is great fun for adults and bright younger readers alike.