Primary colour (of magic) (The Colour of Magic - Terry Pratchett)

Member Name: davidbuttery

Product:	The Colour of Magic - Terry Pratchett
Date:	21/10/09 (24 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Plenty of amusing scenes; Rincewind is a great character, as is the Luggage.

Disadvantages: Less coherent than later books, and not as sharp in the satire

The Colour of Magic - which is really half of a complete story, along with its sequel, The Light Fantastic - is where Discworld, and the real celebrity of Terry Pratchett, all began. He'd written a few books before this, but the Discworld series is the true cause of his enduring fame. Why "Discworld"? Because the stories set on a world shaped like a disc, of course! (Mind you, one of the footnotes for which Pratchett is famed implies that it may have been supposed to have been a pizza...)

As a long-time fan of the series who has only recently returned to read this book again, one thing that stands out is just how long the story takes to get into gear. Much of the opening section is more concerned with poking fun at the stereotypes of fantasy fiction than in actually moving things along. The parody is well done and humorously accurate for the most part, but it's quite a different experience from the later books in which you're propelled headlong into mayhem almost from the opening sentence.

The central character is Rincewind the Wizzard. At least, "Wizzard" is what it says on his pointy hat, although that extra Z may be the only reason that the Discworld equivalent of Trading Standards is not taking an interest in his case. You see that tomato over there? No, that one. Yes. That has about as much magical ability as Rincewind. Possibly less - and that's *after* it's been sliced up. Nevertheless, Rincewind clings to his status for all he is worth, the only times he stops clinging tending to be when he's running away from something. At this he *is* good, probably because he gets so much practice.

Into his life - without asking him, naturally - comes Twoflower, the first tourist on the Discworld and a man who sees a deadly bar brawl taking place half an inch away as a charming local custom not to be missed. He probably uses words like "folklorique" *even when people are listening*. He'd have a life expectancy of about one second around the large Discworld river port of Ankh-Morpork were it not for his companion, who is known as the Luggage because that's what it is: a big wooden chest that gets around on lots of little legs and tends to eat anyone and anything it doesn't like - which is, in general, everything in the universe other than its owner.

The rest of the novel is taken up with the adventures of these three. Oh, there's something approaching a plot here and there (a powerful spell has taken up residence in Rincewind's head - again, he had little say in the matter) and it all knits together somehow, but it does feel rather less coherent than the later books when Pratchett had really got into his stride. This book, The Light Fantastic, and the third in the series, Equal Rites, all share a feeling of being exploratory voyages in the sea of Discworld fun, and occasionally less sure-footed than they might be - if indeed you can be sure-footed at sea!

This "early work" feeling continues when considering the characterisation: the characters are broadly but not all that deeply drawn, without the layers of complexity often to be found later in the series. Death, for example (WHO SPEAKS LIKE THIS) is far less interesting here than he is to become. You feel you could probably sum up most characters in The Colour of Magic in a sentence, which is not the case in more recent books. The same goes for concepts: trolls, for example, are simple lumbering rocks here, whereas later on they become fully realised (if still rather solid of head) members of society.

It's hard to give a Pratchett book a truly poor rating, and I'm not going to do so here - but I can't give it a super one either. It's just not coherent enough, and it wastes too much time consciously making fun of the sillier fantasy conventions rather than - as later novels do - concentrating on the plot and letting the outside references and in-jokes take care of themselves. You can't really understand the Discworld without having read The Colour of Magic, and it *is* a worthwhile read, but you shouldn't assume that this is as good as the series gets.

Summary: Not the best, but this is where it all began!