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Summary: A houmorus look at fantasy
Review: in the color of magic racewind and two flowers adventures will have you laughing all the way through
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Summary: Different from the later ones, but still excellent.
Review: 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.
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Summary: Review description not to have description critic
Review: If you want fantasy and you want it funny, than discworld is the place for you. This first book deals with the (mis)adventures of the magically inept wizard Rincewind, and the chaos that ensues when he is given charge of Discworlds first tourist. But, as with all of these books, anything an everything that gets in the way is fair target for jokes, and there are laughs all round as Rincewind and Twoflower the tourist get tangled into a bar-fight, a city-wide fire, a ancient good even Time is afraid of, not to forget the adventure of the upside-down mountain, or the problem of lacking pink paint.
As always, the characters of the discworld books run into more trouble than they bargained for, and wind up in the company of more crazy people than you ever thought possible.
Warning: This product is extremely adictive, and possibly dangerous to your mental health.
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Summary: A Magnificent Start
Review: Overall, I think that Terry Pratchett's 'The Colour Of Magic' is a magnificent and imaginative masterpiece. I like the way in which Terry Pratchett has combined humour with seriousness, and how he has made me always want to read on. The storyline is told well, however, clarity of plot could have been focused on in more depth, as it is sometimes hard to concentrate and understand exactly what is going on. I give this book four stars, because I think that it is a great book, and I recommend it to anyone who likes humourous stories.
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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...
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Summary: A Funny Foursome
Review: The Colour of Magic is the first volume in the Discworld series. Somewhere there is a giant turtle, Great A'Tuin, swimming through space. Atop the turtle are four enormous elephants -- Berilia, Tubul, Great T'Phon and Jerakeen-- holding up a huge disk that is the world. A moon and miniature sun orbit around this odd grouping. This initial volume contains four novelettes depicting the zany characters and amazing sights of the Discworld. It features Rincewind the [failed] wizard, Twoflower the Tourist, and the Luggage (also called reflected-sound-as-of-underground-spirits, but who wants to say that every time). Rincewind is best known for his ability to run very fast and very often; he is terrified of almost everything. Twoflower is the first and only tourist on Discworld (Rincewind is not sure what the word tourist means, but he suspects it means idiot). The Luggage is a box with many small legs, infinite storage space, strange powers, and a vicious temper. In The Colour of Magic, Morpork is burning and the brave citizens of Ankh are demolishing the connecting bridges. Bravd the Hublander and Weasel watch from a cool hilltop a few miles away. They see two mounted men and some kind of low beast coming out of the city; the men are Rincewind, who suffers from an overdose of terror, and Twoflower, who had started the fire. They are accompanied by the Luggage. In The Sending of Eight, Blind Io and the other gods are playing a game with a board full of modeled pieces representing Bravd, Weasel and other heroes and champions. Lady is down to only Rincewind and Twoflower. Blind Io rolls three fives, but Lady rolls a six, a three and a seven. In The Lure of the Wyrm, Rincewind, Twoflower, Hrun the Barbarian, and the Luggage encounter Liessa Wyrmbidder of Wyrmberg. Liessa wants a man to be her consort and she selects Hrun. However, Rincewind discovers the magic sword Kring embedded in a tree branch, pulls it free, and finds himself learning how to be a [reluctant] hero as the sword plans a rescue of the kidnapped Hrun. In Close to the Edge, Rincewind and Twoflower visit the Rimfall, where the ocean falls off the Discworld, and see the Rimbow. They almost fall off the Edge, but are caught in a strong net. Unfortunately, they are then found by the troll who patrols that section of the Circumference for the salvage fleet. This initial volume introduces the Discworld series. It also initiates the use of irreverent footnotes which are often funnier than the main text. The following volumes, however, expand in all sorts of directions. Some also feature Rincewind, but others include the [mostly competent] wizards of Unseen University, the night watch, the witches, the dwarves, Lord Vetinari, Death, and many more. Highly recommended to Pratchett fans and anyone else who enjoys dry humor in an exotic (and totally unbelievable) setting.
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Summary: Plunge in, the water is fine
Review: I think my favorite character in this book is the suitcase! but the rest are great too.
This wasn't the first book in the series that I read, I started with "The Wyrd Sisters" because it was at my library, but that book had me hooked and I have been buying them all, a couple at a time.
I'm now up to "Soul Music" and I haven't found one I didn't like.
Wry humor and great satire.
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Summary: A marveouls satiric Fantasy
Review: This is a great book by many things, for one, the whole world and characters are a cartoon of our own world and beliefs, and then Pratchett uses simple, intriguing plots without undermining the strenght of the characters. This has an important effect in avoiding a simple uneventful plot as a way to make the book light and funny. What Pratchett creates is a hilarious story in which he portrays and exagerates many of the situations of our modern world in a world filled with magic and fantasy. This is a must read for anyone who enjoys a good satire.
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Summary: Douglas Adams for fantasy fans
Review: As I read the last few lines of this book, I laughed to myself, once again thinking how much Terry Pratchett's writing resembled that of Douglas Adams. I felt that this book was everything that it should and could have been: it had all the humor, the style, and the satire that makes works such as Alice in Wonderland and the like last as long as they have. This book is set up as four quests, each involving the wizard Rincewind, who was kicked out of the Unseen University knowing only one spell, and Twoflower, the tourist who is followed by a mysterious box on one hundred tiny legs. If you have read anything by Douglas Adams, than you probably can base your decision regarding this book on that, if you enjoy the works of Adams, then this may be just the book you are looking for. If you don't like Adams' books, then this would probably be just a waste of your money.
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Summary: Very average but shows potential
Review: I picked up this book because Terry Pratchett had done some work with Neil Gaiman, who I think is simply brilliant, and I wanted a fun romp through another world. It wasnt as good as I thought it would be, but it shows potential. The book is divided into four sections. The first section I found hilarious, especially the character known as The Luggage. But the following three sections seemed random and disconnected, as if the author had written them as short stories at different times and then decided to throw them together into a book. It almost felt like they were the results of a random adventure generator. These sections could have been put in any order and it wouldnt have made a difference. One even seems to take place after a slew of other events which were only briefly aluded to. I missed the feel of an overall plot and purpose for the adventures, but the writing is good and amusing. Discworld is an interesting place and I think that as it is developed and the author gets into his stride they will improve.
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