Rating: Summary: If only the Luggage could have trapped the author inside... Review: Pratchett's Discworld is supposedly so humorous he has written 26 novels thus far, but the only thing truly funny about The Colour of Magic is how anybody has enjoyed it. The story has absolutely no direction and comes across as a blatant attempt at irrelevant humor of a Monty Python kind, succeeding pathetically. One of the worst books I've ever read.
Rating: Summary: D--n Funny! Review: Pratchett's a brilliant satirist and wildly creative guy who lightens this reader's world with his inanities. His writing took me by surprise at first, as I became accustomed to his style and began to catch the subtleties of his humor. And then he got me - made me laugh, and I'm a tough audience when it comes to making me laugh out loud. I just discovered his books this past year, and have been running steadily through his Discworld list. Despite the long list of life-disrupting events that have befallen us in that same period of time - or perhaps because of them - his books have sweetened the hour before bedtime for many months, and I know I can credit them for lifting any worries from my mind before sleep (which says a lot these days). Light-hearted reading that will entertain and make you chuckle!
Rating: Summary: One of the greatest fantasy titles of all time! Review: Discworld is a world like no other, and a book like no other. The Color of Magic is the first Discworld book,and in my opinion, the best. The story is based around the idiot wizard Rincewind and his escapades with a local tourist, Twoflower, and his luggage (though it is no ordinary luggage, but a box with a hundred feet and razor sharp teeth that you don't want to mess with.) as they travel from Ankh Morpork to the Edge of the World, risking their lives around every turn, and meeting tons of interesting characters. Rincewind is definitely my favorite Discworld character and I feel the most hilarious of them all, as well. He makes the Discworld what it is, and all of the Discworld books should be put up against this book, the standard to all Discworld, or even fantasy book. One of the greatest things I got out of this book is a quote from Hrun the Barbarian, "The only reason to sneak into the jaws of death is to steal his gold teeth." This book gets awfully philisophical, and is definitely the thinking man's book. Any fans of J.R.R. Tolkien or Harry Potter should at least read this one book, even if you never read another Discworld book again... but no one ever read just ONE Discworld book.
Rating: Summary: Hard at first, but good! Review: I first saw a kid at my school reading "Small Gods", a novel by the same author. I was intrigued by the title, and delved deeper. I picked up "The Color of Magic" along with "The Discworld Companion". The first 20 or 30 pages of "Magic" are mildly difficult to understand, but overall the book was good. It featured the tourist Twoflower (you'll like him) and Rincewind(spell "cynic" for me). They are accompanied by the Luggage (sapient pearwood, sapient pearwood, sapient pearwood!) They also met a host of other characters, including DEATH (WHO ONLY SPEAKS IN CAPITAL LETTERS), Hrun the Barbarian (I outnumber you one to two!) and Luck (the Lady). If you liked "Monty Python", anything by Adams, Wodehouse, Vonnegut, Hiaasen, Carrol, or Twain, or just humor in general, you'll love "The Color of Magic". And remember, the greatest spell is the spell that turns a frog into a frog.
Rating: Summary: More Wodehouse than Tolkien, but terrific nonethless Review: I love this book, even though I picked it up for the wrong reason, viz. that I love fantasy and I wanted a diversion from rereading Tolkien for the 89th time. The real reason you should read this book is that it is wonderfully funny. This is not fantasy in the vein of Tolkien or le Guin. It is completely tongue-in-cheek and in fact this is a comic series that just happens to be set in a fantasy world, just as Wodehouse's Jeeves books were set in rural England. If you expect maps and exotic languages and chronologies and so on, you will not get them. However if you like a book with whimsical characters, insane plot twists and the odd shameless pun, you will be richly rewarded. I have decided to work my way through every book in the series, have read the first 5, and can vouch for consistent quality.
Rating: Summary: Yarrg...I mean, yes! Review: This is a great little book. The first thing you need to understand about it, is that it's not just about telling one story, but rather introduce you to a whole new fantastic world (Discworld). Pratchett wastes no time in introducing the two main characters, Rincewind the wizard (kind of) and Twoflower the tourist (you'll understand when you read the book). Both are quite unique characters, clumsy enough to get themselves into all sorts of troubles, but lucky enough to get out of them (most of the time, anyqays). Pratchett's writing will force your brain to start imagining what they look like, how they move, how they sound. Furthermore, their companions throughout their adventures are also loads of fun (like the iconograph and the luggage...you'll see...). Not only is this a great fantasy adventure, but it's a story that leaves enough questions open and presents enough characters so that you'll want to know more about, and you'll inevitably have to read the following books. My recommendation is that you should not only get The Color of Magic, but also The Light Fantastic and read them back-to-back.
Rating: Summary: I'm glad I didn't start here. Review: This book, along with the next two (The Light Fantastic and Equal Rites) is far from the high point of the Discworld series. Terry hadn't yet refined his style, and these books don't have much of a plot. True, there are some good jokes, but nothing as memorable or hilarious as Pratchett came up with later. The series didn't really get off to a good start until Mort was published (and what a start it was...). If you haven't read any Discworld yet, you should start with Mort, Small Gods, or Guards! Guards! and come back to this one later. Or, start here, but know that it will get quite a lot better.
Rating: Summary: It stuck to my fingers like glue! Review: This was the second Discworld book I read and I have since read many more.But in my opinion this was one of the best.Pratchett blends fantasy and sci-fi perfectly to create a mad-cap adventure that's out of this world(literally).IT moves along at a blinding pace and ends with a fantastic last scene.Highly recomended.
Rating: Summary: A bit slow but full of fun Review: Having not read the discworld series in order, I have to confess that I didn't find this book as funny at first as I found others, but it got much much better.
Rating: Summary: Imaginative and original, but crude compared to it's sequels Review: It's a great book alright. Although not the best one to start the series off (Will probably give a bad impression to newcomers) it's still a pretty decent book. The laughs aren't Laugh-out-loud stuff and they really don't come as often. The characters are as original as the world itself, but there's none of the MAGIC that pratchett writes that can be seen as soon it's sequel, The Light Fantastic. In this book, the characters wander aimlessly through the world, without much MAJOR objective in mind. Is it worth your time and money? Yes. But don't think the entire series stays like this (it improves a lot!) After reading this book, I wasn't really encouraged to buy it's sequels. If I hadn't read on the internet that it gets a LOT better, I would've never had. Thank God for the internet
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