The Tale of a Wizard, a Tourist and Some Carniverous Luggage (The Colour of Magic - Terry Pratchett)

Member Name: wampyrii

Product:	The Colour of Magic - Terry Pratchett
Date:	22/11/01 (77 review reads)
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The Color Of Magic is the first in the Discworld series written by Terry Pratchett. For the uninitiated, it introduces the Discworld - a large flat disc set atop four huge elephants, standing on the back of a giant turtle floating through space on a quest to go...who knows where. The world of the disc is one in which fantasy characters like trolls, wizards and elves etc. live in than less perfect harmony and in which magic not only exists but runs amok of its own free will. It is a Tolkeinesque world, but one with very real and fallible charcters - no omnipotent wizards here, no heros as such but just a collection of fantasy characters who are all very much like us with their own little foibles, but in an insane world where the laws of physics do not apply...

Umm just think Tolkein packed with absurdity, spoofery and satire and you’ve probably got it.

The first novel introduces us to Rincewind, the most loved of Pratchetts characters, despite the fact that most would argue that he has the least character development across the series. Rincewind is a failed wizard who was throow out of Unseen University(wizard school) for allowing one of the eight great spells to escape from the page and imbed itself in his brain. He is the most useless bumbling wizard you can imagine, unable to remember spells even. When a traveller arrives in Ankh Morpock it looks like Rincewind’s fortunes may be looking up. You see this is this Discworld’s first tourist, coming from across the ocean and everyone is out to exploit him - especially since his naivety and huge chest full of gold pieces present so much of a lure. Rincewind offers himself as a guide but the Patrician of the city ruins it all buy not only warning him against taking the little guy for a ride but also demnds that he protect him from harm as well. Not that he seems to need much protecting because the luggage(which incidently runs along behind on hundreds of legs) is a rather viscious c
arniverous affair who would sooner bite off your arm than look at you. Nevertheless, protect he must do and the trio (well the luggage IS kind of sentient) set off on a journey which takes them to te very edge of the world...and has them even fall off!

As you have heard, The Color Of Magic takes an absurd idea and runs with it, getting even more absurd with each turn of the page - it is also laugh out loud funny from the first page to the last which is why this lengthy series of novels has so many loyal fans. The Color Of Magic may not be the best in the series but it is the first and still pretty funny if you ask me. I would recommend that you start here and read through the series chronologically because although not strictly necesssary, you will miss out on some of the ‘in-jokes’ of the series otherwise. You find the Discworld to be a world very much like our own and yet, so very much not like our own. It is this which allows Pratchett to employ some biting satire which rips into that of our society which we take for granted often, putting a new spin upon things. The Color Of Magic may not be the cleverest in this respect but there are a few glimmers here and I think if you’ll try it then you’ll probably like it. If not, then you aren’t going to have wasted that much of your time because the books are relatively short and very easy reading - you can probably fly through on in one sitting if you are a fast reader.

Personally I loved it, and loved each subsequent novel more and look forward to each new release hungrily as do so many of his other fans. It gets a difficult 4 sars from me because whilst I still think its a cut above most other humourous novels, it isn’t the best in the series itself.

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