Advantages: crazy, hilarious, highly entertaining Disadvantages: nearly had to change my pants
...was never meant to fly, the curling stars waver and part...See...Great A'Tuin the turtle comes, swimming slowly through the interstellar gulf, hydrogen frost on his ponderous limbs, his huge and ancient shell pocked with meteor craters....(upon his back)... Berelia, Tubul, Great T'phon, and Jerakeen, the four giant elephants upon whose broad and star-tanned shoulders the Disc of the World rests..." Such is our first view of the astounding Discworld ... ...trees ad actually slows down the speed at which sunlight crosses the land! What would one pack in order to visit such a land and what would you pack it in? Idle questions perhaps as the Discworld has never had a tourist...til now that is! Twoflower is a dangerously naive and optimistic traveler from a distant and mysterious country on the Discworld. He has packed up all his best traveling gear in his sapient pearwood Luggage and come to sample the ...
Entwife 29.05.2007
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of The Colour of Magic - Terry Pratchett
Advantages: Magical characters, great story, great humour Disadvantages: None that I can think of
...my personal opinion, one of the finest writers out there. The fact that the Discworld series is still going strong after so many releases shows just how magical, interesting and in depth a universe Pratchett has created. And Colour of Magic has to be the best introduction into this amazing world there can be.
The main plot of the story is that of a traveller named Twoflower, the first tourist the Discworld has seen, and his wonderfully many legged, ... ...to the magnificent, yet not so endearing, city of Ankh-Morpork where they meet our next protagonist, Rincewind. As one of the most incompetent ‘wizzards’ to ever come out of the Unseen University, Rincewind is quickly swept up in the raucous created around the time of Twoflower’s arrival and ultimately becomes the tourist’s unwitting tour guide, a position he attempts to lose at every opportunity throughout the book.
As the first of the series Pratchett ...
Darko3B 23.11.2009
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Advantages: Great read | Introduces Discworld and it's inhabitants Disadvantages: Not as complex as later books
I've been quite the fan of Science Fiction novels ever since I was a young teenager, and one of my favourite series of books is the Discworld novels written by Terry Pratchett. Although I've read countless of the books, it came as a bit of a shock to find I hadn't actually read the very first book in the series, The Colour Of Magic. As soon as I realised this I had to remedy the situation and I have this very day finally managed to read it, and now ... ...---About Discworld---
On the back of a giant space turtle stand four enormous elephants, on whose shoulders rest a flat circular planet that from now on will be known as Discworld. While here in our world we have electricity and science, in Discworld they have magic, in fact the magic is such an intrinsic part of life that no-one thinks anything of it. This is also a world of gods, trolls and dragons that only exist if you believe in them hard enough.
...
sandemp 10.05.2005
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Advantages: Great characters, funny, clever, lots of dragons! Disadvantages: A bit confused at times...
Where can you find the following things – a talking sword, a troll made entirely of water and a walking treasure chest with a nasty bite? Yes, that’s right, in the same place as you will discover how frightening it can be to utter the total of two times four (Shhh!). And what frogs really turn into, when magic spells abound. And a dragon that’s so real, you must have imagined it.
Of course, I am talking about the wonderful Terry ... ...is the first. He is one of my favourite writers and I love his skewered visions, his witticisms and his impossible situations, which can be so easily envisioned. Pratchett’s a bit of a Marmite bloke – you love him or hate him. Invariably, comments on Pratchett reviews fall into three camps – “He’s brilliant, I especially loved…” or “I tried to read one, but just didn’t get it!” or “I ...
KarenUK 05.12.2002 (09.07.2003)
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Advantages: Very funny one-liners, very likeable characters, plenty of scope in the series. Disadvantages: Slightly rushed feel, disjointed, no strong plot
The world is round. I haven't personally travelled it's circumference or employed any other scientific means to prove it myself, but it seems a reasonable theory and appears to makes sense so i'm quite happy to go along with it until a better one comes along. But there was a time, in a less enlightened age, when the powers that be decided that the world was, in fact, flat and that travelling too far in any one direction would result in falling off ... ...flat earth was supported on the backs of four giant elephants who, in turn, were standing on the back of an even larger star turtle known as Great A'Tuin (or chelys galactica, to give it it's scientific name). for the residents of discworld this is not mere conjecture but proven scientific fact. "The Colour Of Magic" is british author Terry Pratchetts' first foray into the discworld and was originally published in 1983. It tells the story of the ...
Nomad1970 03.09.2003
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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 ... ...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 ...
davidbuttery 10.11.2009
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Advantages: The first of a great cult series Disadvantages: Not as good as later novels maybe
...I admit it. I’m the one who’s never read a Terry Pratchett Discworld novel before.
Discworld is a cult fantasy phenomenon. Anyone who hasn’t at least heard of it probably comes from another planet, though in all likelihood not a flat planet perched atop four giant elephants who in turn stand on the back of a giant, space-going turtle.
The Colour of Magic is Pratchett’s first foray into the Discworld, published in 1983, and ... ...to make its acquaintance.
The book tells the story of Rincewind, an avaricious and appallingly bad wizard. When I say “bad”, I don’t mean “evil”, just not very talented in the magic department. Rincewind only knows one spell. It is, however, a hugely important spell. So important in fact that Rincewind is afraid to say it and thus, doesn’t actually know what the spell does.
By chance Rincewind bumps into Twoflower, ...
plain_jane 10.11.2002 (11.11.2002)
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Advantages: A good introduction to the fantasy novel and the Discworld series Disadvantages: Have to concentrate at the start to absorb all the details
...I was first introduced to the series by my English Language A-level exam, which had an extract from Wyrd Sisters to analyse.
And analyse it I did. This meant that I was able to look at what it was about the text that made me laugh. I eventually put it down to the fact that although it is a fantasy book, it draws inspiration from the world around us.
And this can be seen in the first book of the Discworld series-The Colour of Magic. Loosely based ... ...wizard who shows him round), the book follows their adventures through Discworld, as they travel all over the world, and even to the edge and beyond.
All their actions of course are controlled by the Gods, who are actually playing a chess like game with their lives. Indeed, Rincewind believes he can hear the roll of their dice at one point. It is this surrealism that makes the book very good, as well as the fact that all th characters are very well ...
RussellC 07.07.2001
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Advantages: Numerous references to historical scenarios with a tongue in cheek humour Disadvantages: Harder to get into than many of Pratchett's books
"The colour of magic" was the first Terry Pratchett novel to be based on the fantasy world he created called 'The discworld'.
Unsurprisingly the world is so-called because it is in fact shaped like a disc. What is surprising however is that it is a disc on the back of four elephants (Berilia, Tubul, Great T'Phon and Jerakeen-at this point, a rhetorical question; Great T'Phon-great generally or merely greater than another T'Phon, who knows?) these ... ...called Great A'Tuin.
This, the first book in the series is written in a fashion that attempts to introduce the reader to the main city of one of the discworld's continents called Ankh-Morpork (actually a conurbation of Ankh and Morpork) and all the splendours it contains.
Examples include Unseen University (University of magic and as a result invisible) and the Broken Drum Tavern (whether weekly, daily or hourly there's a brawl) and many of the ...
Boris 06.09.2001
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Advantages: Comedy throughout, makes you laugh out loud frequently Disadvantages: None to speak off
...hard enough. Having settled on the latter, I decided to spend some time with some books and get myself back into the reading spirit. I seem to have succeeded.
I read 'The Colour Of Magic' a few months back now. While it was the first Discworld book I'd read (logically, as it is the first Discworld book, and I like logic and order like that), it certainly wasn't the first Terry Pratchett book I'd read. I spent quite some time reading Truckers, Diggers, ... ...- Terry who?
In the front cover of one of his Discworld books, it says "He (Pratchett) now lives behind a keyboard in Wiltshire. He doesn't want to get a life, because it feels as though he is trying to lead three already." That's the first page – not even part of the story, and even that brings a smile to your face. That should give you something of an idea of what Terry Pratchett is like. Born in 1948, he's certainly been around a bit (in ...
Excelle 01.05.2001
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Advantages: Well duh- it's brilliant Disadvantages: Not many
Say the word Rincewind to a fan of the Discworld series, and you'll instantly see a twinkle in their eye (probably). Whilst lots of people dislike him, there are always people who will have a certain sympathy for the most unlucky character ever to grace the pages of Terry Pratchett's books. This is Pratchett's first Discworld outing, and it tells the story on Rincewind, a 'wizzard' who only knows one spell, and cannot even spell the word wizard. ... ...traces Rincewind's passage round the Discworld, with the first tourist Great A'tuin, the world turtle (you really need to read the books to understand this) has ever seen. His name is Twoflower, hailing from the legendary gold rich counterweight continent, and they soon embark on an epic journey, in which they burn down Rincewind's home city of Ankh-Morpork, are almost eaten by wolves, visit a dragon's palace where the Dragons disappear, and eventually, ...
Fady 08.02.2001
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Advantages: Banterous Disadvantages: bit confusing at times
...world, which you might expect, the world is shaped like a disk. Instead of floating around in space, like all of the planets in our Solar System do, this disk shaped world is held up by four enormous elephants which stand on the back of the great turtle called A'Tuin, whose shell is cratered with holes and big bumps because of its old age. The main characters in this story are a failed wizard called Rincewind, who only knows one spell, and a very ... ...knows nearly every language on the Disk World. He is also a coward, who does not enjoy exploring. Twoflower, on the other hand, is a very simple minded man who does not care what is going on unless he can take a photograph. His luggage, which has a tongue and hundreds of little legs, follows him absolutely everywhere and will do anything to get back to its master. The story starts in a tavern in a run down old city called Ankh Morpork. Here Twoflower ...
ToNick 27.04.2006
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Advantages: Will interest any one with a vivid immagination Disadvantages: Something that has to be read while everything is quiet!
...I was forced to read the most boring books and then sit tests on them when I had only read one chapter, I've been one to avoid reading anything, apart from the odd crisp packet for ingredients.
But reading this book made me actually want to start reading. I think Terry Pratchett is a really good writer, he writes in a way that appeals to people like me who really just can't be bothered to read.
The thing that I thought he did really well was jumping ... ...on.
Obviously this is the first book in the Disk World series and its a really good introduction to all the characters. And he certainly knows how to end a book as well - leaving Rincewind hanging off the edge of the world, which really makes you want to buy the next book.
Its generally a good introduction to everything but it won't appeal to some people, you have to have a wild immagination to be able to keep up with this sort of story.
It costs ...
Laura.pipe 14.06.2001
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Advantages: Great laughs, great plots, and four elephants on a turtle Disadvantages: Reading it on the bus can make people stare at you
The Colour of Magic is the first novel in the DiscWorld series by Terry Pratchett (Corgi ISBN 0-522-12475-3). Imagine Lord of the Rings and Monty Python combined and you'll see the humourous possibilities that abound in this work.....
Even if you hate fantasy, you'll love this book. It concerns the failed wizard Rincewind and his hilarious escapades as he acts as a guide for Twoflower, a "tourist", the first tourist in Discworld's history. His near ... ...the grimness of a tombstone on a dark night, make for great reading, although people on the bus will wonder why you are giggling to yourself on the way home from wherever.
A book that can make you laugh is hard to produce, but Pratchett can produce guffaws with each penned paragraph. A must buy for anyone who loves Fantasy, and for anyone that hates it. ...
MikeScoates 05.09.2000
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...order. Well, actually is the order they become available at the library, with one eye perhaps on series. I noticed that the later books have definitely for me been more enjoyable, and so I did not expect the first book to be good at all. It was pleasantly surprising. I knew the characters from other books and they were never my favourites, but Rincewind and Twoflower indeed have some great adventures in this one. The Colour of Magic also sets up ...
JeffSumm 31.08.2000
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The Colour of Magicis Terry Pratchett's maiden voyage through the bizarre land of ... more
Discworld. His entertaining and witty series has grown to more than 20 books, and this is where it all starts--with the tourist Twoflower and his hapless wizard guide,...
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The Colour of Magic is Terry Pratchett's maiden voyage through the bizarre land of ... more
Discworld. His entertaining and witty series has grown to more than 20 books, and this is where it all starts--with the tourist Twoflower and his hapless wizard guide...
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