The Colour of Magic
On a world supported on the back of a giant turtle (sex unknown), a gleeful, explosive, wickedly eccentric expedition sets out. There's an avaricious but inept wizard, a naive tourist whose luggage moves on hundreds of dear little legs, dragons who only exist if you believe in them, and of course THE EDGE of the planet...
The wackiest and most original fantasy since Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy.
Terry Pratchett
Sir Terence David John "Terry" Pratchett, OBE (1948–2015) was an English author of fantasy novels, especially comical works. He is best known for his Discworld series of about 40 volumes. Pratchett's first novel, The Carpet People, was published in 1971, and since his first Discworld novel (The Colour of Magic) was published in 1983, he wrote two books a year on average. His 2011 Discworld novel Snuff was at the time of its release the third-fastest-selling hardback adult-audience novel since records began in the UK, selling 55,000 copies in the first three days.
Discworld
The Discworld series is a continuous history of a world not totally unlike our own, except that it is a flat disc carried on the backs of four elephants astride a giant turtle floating through space, and that it is peopled by, among others, wizards, dwarves, soldiers, thieves, beggars, vampires and witches. Within the history of Discworld, there are many individual stories which can be enjoyed in any order. But reading them in the sequence in which they were written can increase your enjoyment through the accumulation of all the fine detail that contributes to the teeming imaginative complexity of this brilliantly conceived world.
Discworld consists of thirty-four primary works, and includes one additional book that complement the series but is not considered mandatory reads. The current recommended reading order for the series is provided below.
Related series Discworld Mapps
Related series The Science of Discworld
Related series Discworld (for young readers)
Related series Discworld Reference
Related series Discworld (picture books)
Book Reviews
I fell in love with this author by the second paragraph. Here is a delightful satirical writing style, full of humour and eloquent in its execution. It’s clear right away if you are going to connect with the dry wit and the prose so beautifully crowded with lighthearted potshots at humanity.
The first of Terry Pratchett's Discworld series, this novel plays with conventional ideas about the world, especially mythological archetypes and their use in the sword and sorcery fantasy genre. His tongue-in-cheek physics adds a pinch of Sci-Fi to the mix. The Color of Magic is often compared to Douglas Adams’s The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy for its humour but is written with more finesse.
I actually read this book (or more like half of it) in Finnish a long time ago and decided to give the Discworld another try in the original language. Although this fist novel of the series is relatively short book, it's not a fast read, at least if you want to catch all the jokes. And there's plenty. I never thought Death could be so funny. I would have given this maybe 3,5 stars if it was possible, but ended up choosing 4. I will bankrupt myself purchasing the rest of the series.