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The Colour of Magic | Rating | |
| C | |||
| Terry Pratchett | |||
| Series | Related Books | ||
| Discworld | The Colour of Magic, The Light Fantastic, Equal Rites, Mort, Sourcery, Wyrd Sisters, Pyramids, Guards! Guards!, Eric, Moving Pictures, Reaper Man, Witches Abroad, Small Gods, Soul Music, Feet of Clay, Interesting Times, The Firth Elephant, Going Postal | ||
Imagine a world. A world that is shaped like a dinner plate. A world that is carried on the backs of four gigantic elephants. Elephants that in turn are resting on the curved shell of the Great A'Tuin, the cosmic turtle. And if you think the world is absurd, you should see what goes on there.
By and large, this, the very first Discworld novel, is about Rincewind. Rincewind is a wizard... sort of. He only knows one spell, and he dares not speak it because it is one of the eight spells the Creator used to make the universe, so nobody knows what it'd do except it wouldn't be pleasant. Rincewind is also a coward. So when he is more or less forced to be the guide for Twoflower, the only tourist on the Disc, who is an eternal optimist and incredibly rich, things get interesting. When you add in Twoflower's sentient, abulatory Luggage, things get strange.
This book is set up as a series of four short stories. The first two, involving Rincewind meeting Twoflower and the subsequent demolition of the city of Ankh-Morpork, and then their adventure in a temple to a dark god, are very amusing. The tales are told with a gift for wit, with hilarious turns of phrase and little asides. This isn't called "light fantasy" for nothing! Pratchett turns some cliched fantasy concepts on their ear, like how barbarians operate and, of course, Death. Can't forget Death.
The second two stories, on the other hand, were significantly less impressive. He's doing much the same thing - strange and humorous asides, playing with preconceptions - but it just isn't as good. The plots are more predictable, and the wit just isn't as funny. The fourth story doesn't so much end as stop; this is perhaps the only Discworld novel that isn't self contained.
Overall, it was a decent book but not great. I didn't much like the format; I felt that it would have been better as a straight novel rather than short stories. They all involve the same main characters, after all, and they essentially take place one after the other, so why not? And, as I said, the latter half was just not as good.
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