book data
5592 ratings, 3.71 average rating, 390 reviews
(more data...)
edit
published
March 1st 2000
(first published 1983)
by HarperTorch
binding
Mass Market Paperback, 210 pages
setting
Unknown
isbn
0061020710
(isbn13: 9780061020711)
description
The Colour of Magic is Terry Pratchett's maiden voyage through the bizarre land of Discworld. His entertaining and witty series has grown to m...more
Sign in to Goodreads to see your friends' reviews of this book.
| topics | replies | views | last activity | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sci Fi and Fantas...: * Master Fantasy Book List | 32 | 750 | 7 days ago, 10:55AM | |
| Constant Reader: The 1000th Constant Reader | 49 | 156 | 20 days ago, 04:06PM | |
| Discworld vs. Spiderwick Chronicles | 6 | 22 | 02/29/2008 09:59AM |
friend reviews
To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.
other reviews (showing 1-20 of 7094)
All ratings
|
5 stars (1266)
|
4 stars (1935)
|
3 stars (1839)
|
2 stars (489)
|
1 star (91)
|
avg 3.71
Read in June, 2003
recommends it for:
Obsessive Completionists
Author Terry Pratchett may be the modern day Mark Twain, one of the most prolific satirical authors in genre fiction. The world he spins his elaborate metaphors is that of Discworld, a setting in which he has successfully parodied everything from opera to religion, from currency to war, from morris dancing to mall proliferation. But before Discworld was a template upon which all things modern could be parodied, it was simply a parody, and a mediocre one at best.
Pratchett's humor is similar...more
Pratchett's humor is similar...more
Like this review?
yes
(2 people liked it)
1 comment
Read in December, 2007
Before starting this one, I knew very little about the Discworld books, except that they were popular, were supposed to be funny, and involved a world that is carried through space on the back of a turtle. They always sounded pretty weird to me, but I wanted to try Terry Pratchett, so....
I am only a quarter of the way through this book, and so far, I am really glad I did try it! I am finding it more of a sword-and-sorcery fantasy spoof than a bizarre sci-fi (which is what I thought it was), ...more
I am only a quarter of the way through this book, and so far, I am really glad I did try it! I am finding it more of a sword-and-sorcery fantasy spoof than a bizarre sci-fi (which is what I thought it was), ...more
Like this review?
yes
(2 people liked it)
7 comments
First book in the excellent Discworld series by Terry Pratchett. Satire at its finest, this is not strictly a sci-fi/fantasy series. Yes, it is set in a world that is not Earth and there are werewolves, vampires, dwarfs and golems, but the stories revolve around things that are parallel to our modern world (or England's modern world). Discworld is like the end of the Dark Ages and the beginning of the Rennaisance, but is also like today.
I just love the details that Pratchett has created f...more
I just love the details that Pratchett has created f...more
Like this review?
yes
(2 people liked it)
add a comment
Read in January, 2002
Terry Pratchett is to fantasy what Douglas Adams is to Science Fiction. The Colour of Magic (I read it in England, thus the added u in colour) is a comedic introduction to the Discworld series in which we follow the inept wizard, Rincewind as he is unwantingly roped into guiding the clueless tourist Twoflower along with the ever faithful Luggage around the flat, disc-shaped world. This is a world where the gods gamble to decide the fates of the world and the ever-present Death, efficiently &qu...more
Like this review?
yes
(2 people liked it)
1 comment
Read this years ago but had forgotten all about it until I was looked at it in the bookshop and recognised the cover. It's next month's book for the science fiction and fantasy group, so it'll be interesting to read it again after all these years. It's the very first Discworld book and I originally read it to see if I liked it, but I didn't so I never read any of the other Discworld novels. Then again, I really can't remember anything about it! (Don't worry, I'll write a fresh review when I've r...more
Like this review?
yes
(2 people liked it)
add a comment
Read in August, 2008
recommended to Jon by:
SciFi and Fantasy Book Club August Book
Why did I wait 25 years to read this book? Of course, until recently, I wasn't even aware of it's existence. I have to thank the online book club here for introducing me to Terry Pratchett and his Discworld series.
It was a wild ride keeping up with the mad cap adventures of an improbable tourist, his indestructible over-protective luggage and his cowardly, incompetent wizard of a guide.
If you're looking for wit, humor and head-spinning antics, this is the novel for you!
It was a wild ride keeping up with the mad cap adventures of an improbable tourist, his indestructible over-protective luggage and his cowardly, incompetent wizard of a guide.
If you're looking for wit, humor and head-spinning antics, this is the novel for you!
Like this review?
yes
(2 people liked it)
add a comment
Read in August, 2008
I've never really been a fan of British comedy. I see the attraction to stuff like Monty Python, Faulty Towers, et al, but the humor's vastly different then what I enjoy. I think it's the propriety or formality that throws me off. People compare Terry Pratchett's work to Douglas Adams' Hitchhiker's Guide series and that seems pretty approriate. Both are outlandish and filled with silly inanity. That being said, it's not my cup of tea. There always seems to be those scenes where characters ...more
Like this review?
yes
(1 person liked it)
add a comment
Read in March, 2008
I'm pretty sure people have told me about Pratchett and his Diskworld series before, usually working in the phrase "He's the Douglas Adams of fantasy" into the description. But the problem was that I always felt that I had had enough of Adams after the third Hithiker's Guide to the Galaxy book, and whenever I scanned Pratchett's section in the bookstore I was immediately put off by not knowing where to start reading among the approximately five hundred thousand Diskworld books. I'm gla...more
Like this review?
yes
(1 person liked it)
add a comment
recommended to Dhendlowitch by:
Matt
recommends it for: anyone
recommends it for: anyone
I feel I found Discworld Very late in the game. There are like 30 books in the series now and the is a shit load to catch up on. I figured the best place to start in this epic series was with book 1, although I have been told that you can really pick up any of them and understand where you are in the series. Most of them have little if nothing to do with each other other then being in the same fantasy world, with the same impractical physics, and same greater beings such as Luck (the lady), Deat...more
Like this review?
yes
(1 person liked it)
add a comment
Read in July, 2008
Like Douglas Adams did with science-fiction, Terry Pratchett takes the typical conventions of fantasy and turns them on their head for comic effect with his popular DiscWorld series.
By having a slightly skewed view of fantasy conventions, Pratchett points out the strengths and the fallacies of the genre. And he always does it with a story that has more than its share of laugh out loud moments. Pratchett is also a master of construction language to come together in interesting ways. It's...more
By having a slightly skewed view of fantasy conventions, Pratchett points out the strengths and the fallacies of the genre. And he always does it with a story that has more than its share of laugh out loud moments. Pratchett is also a master of construction language to come together in interesting ways. It's...more
Like this review?
yes
(1 person liked it)
add a comment
Read in November, 2007
recommends it for:
fans of funny fantasy, ie Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
This was a really funny beginning to the Discworld series. It's the funniest book that I've read in quite awhile, and I'm now looking forward to the rest of the series.
The book tells the tale of Twoflower and Rincewind. Twoflower is a care-free tourist from a rich land, and Rincewind is a wizard who Twoflower hires to be his tour guide, since Rincewind is the only one who he can communicate with.
Each character has issues. Twoflower came from his land with a magical walking chest filled wi...more
The book tells the tale of Twoflower and Rincewind. Twoflower is a care-free tourist from a rich land, and Rincewind is a wizard who Twoflower hires to be his tour guide, since Rincewind is the only one who he can communicate with.
Each character has issues. Twoflower came from his land with a magical walking chest filled wi...more
Like this review?
yes
(1 person liked it)
add a comment
Read in November, 2007
I have to take breaks between reading Terry Pratchett books. My friend summed it up the best, I think, when he asked “Do you ever get the feeling that Terry is sitting in a room, writing and laughing to himself?” Yes, I do get that feeling. It’s kind of like one of those long-running jokes between friends that’s really funny when you forget about it for awhile then bring it up at a dinner sometime. But if you keep harping on it without giving it a break, it just loses the humor it once h...more
Like this review?
yes
(1 person liked it)
add a comment
Read in March, 2008
recommends it for:
Discworld completists
More like a two-and-a-half stars...I'm not a big fan of fantasy, but I read the 3 Tiffany Aching books (also Discworld) and liked them, so I thought I'd start at the beginning.
Well, it was his first try at Discworld. Entertaining. Kind of. I would have found this funnier in high school, like when I read "Hitchhiker's Guide." All the self-aware writing, and cheats to get through plot points (even if the excuse is the self-awareness and cheats are in the name of humor) hurt the book....more
Well, it was his first try at Discworld. Entertaining. Kind of. I would have found this funnier in high school, like when I read "Hitchhiker's Guide." All the self-aware writing, and cheats to get through plot points (even if the excuse is the self-awareness and cheats are in the name of humor) hurt the book....more
Like this review?
yes
(1 person liked it)
4 comments
Read in January, 2007
recommends it for:
nobody
I've always hated fantasy, and I still do. This book was disorganized to the point that reading it made my soul hurt. I guess part of that could have been trying to read it while sick, but even then, I didn't see that it really helped me any to put this in my brain. From what I understand, the books do get better as the series meanders along, but I'm not going to buy more. I might read them if I run out of anything else to read and happen to be in the “P” section of the library. Still, ...more
Like this review?
yes
(1 person liked it)
add a comment
Read in August, 2008
This story followed the misadventures of Twoflower and Rincewind, but never really pulled me in. Although I consider myself a sci-fi fan, I like sci-fi that is somewhat believeable. It can involve strange races of people and alien planets, but I could just never reconcile the idea of a discworld riding on the backs of elephants riding on the back of a giant turtle. A little too unreal for me. The characters were weak, I was never compelled to care about them or what happened to them. The book wa...more
Like this review?
yes
(1 person liked it)
1 comment
This is your ticket to a goofy, lifelong attachment. Pratchett is criminally overlooked in the US. In the UK, he's neck & neck w/ Dickens for scale of popularity. Hilarious stuff, sure, but once you get past the puns & the fabulous use of all things English, there's quite a bit of sharp satire. Here, he's just getting started, and you'll grow to appreciate Rincewind & Twoflower. The Luggage is the sort of inspired madness that takes on a life of its own on the Disc. Later, Small Gods...more
Like this review?
yes
(1 person liked it)
add a comment
Read in January, 2009
This was my first Discworld book and at the time I thought it was possibly the most hilarious thing I'd ever read; rereading it now, after I've made my way through most of the series, I can see that it lacks a lot of the subtlety and human insight of the later books. In The Colour of Magic Pratchett is still clearly trying to satirize fantasy, whereas he later uses fantasy to satirize a more broad base of targets - including other genres, other books, and ultimately human nature in gener...more
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in December, 2008
recommended to Jasmine by:
Tevid
It took me a bit to choose whether to give this book 3 or 4 stars. I found it entertaining and it read quickly, but it is missing that wow factor. There are of course moments of pure genius, but they are not to be expected on every page. The plot is identifiable, a very unlucky wizard getting himself in all kinds of trouble. It has four chapters that read more as self contained short stories than as a continuous piece, the only relation seeming to be that is how he got here.
The wizard has a...more
The wizard has a...more
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in January, 2005
I'm not a big fan of fantasy (I'm more a science fiction person). But Terry Prachett's Discworld series not only manages to be a great satire of all the trappings of the fantasy genere (particularly the sword and socerey branch), but also a great satire of modern day society.
Rincewind the Wizard (or as he spells it Wizzard) is one of my favorite characters of all time. And the Discworld itself is one of best imagined fantasy realms ever.
A couple of warnings, this book ends on a cliff ...more
Rincewind the Wizard (or as he spells it Wizzard) is one of my favorite characters of all time. And the Discworld itself is one of best imagined fantasy realms ever.
A couple of warnings, this book ends on a cliff ...more
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in October, 2005
This is the first of a long series of books about a fantasy world known as Disc World. Apparently these books have a cult following but I will not be joining in. I was not a fan of most the humor in this book. Though the humanization of Death always gets a good chuckle from me, and Death was certainly given personality in this book, and others that follow.
Like this review?
yes
(1 person liked it)
add a comment