My rating:

add to my books

The Colour of Magic (Discworld #1)

by Terry Pratchett

3.82 · rating details · 36,722 ratings · 1,602 reviews

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...

Paperback, 285 pages

Published April 1st 1990 by Corgi (first published 1983)

more details... edit details

Get a copy:

More…

There is a good chance some of your friends read this book. Sign in to see!

Friend Reviews

To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.

Lists with This Book

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone by J.K. Rowling

The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis

Best Series

48th out of 883 books — 1,932 voters

The Importance Of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde

The Dive From Clausen's Pier by Ann Packer

Luggage

2nd out of 31 books — 13 voters

More lists with this book...

Community Reviews

(showing 1-30 of 53,437)

filter | sort: default (?) | rating details

Jul 29, 2009

Brad rated it

Shelves: fantasy, sci-fantasy, speculative, political, doing-the-dishes

Before picking it up, I'd heard that The Colour of Magic was funny. Now that can mean just about anything because, let's face it, comedy is the most subjective of arts.

Funny is a deeply personal thing. The "funny peculiar" and the "funny ha-ha" might not be the same from person to person or even to the same person depending on their mood or their place in life. So knowing something is funny ahead of reading it really doesn't tell me much.

I'd read Terry Pratchett ...more

like 32 likes

· see review

Dec 03, 2007

Qt rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, science-fiction, humor

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. I wasn't sure they would be my type of book, 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 highly entertaining and quite funny. It has become one of those that I think of even ...more

like 6 likes

· see review

Aug 01, 2008

Jamie rated it

· review of another edition

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...moreI'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 glad I finally took the time to find out that these two books, The Colour of Magic and The Light Fantastic, jointly comprise the first tale in the series, and that they were definitely worth reading.

The Diskworld books are essentially satire of the high fantasy genre, or at least that's the foundation upon which everything else is built. This pair of books follows the misadventures of Rincewind, a utterly inept and thoroughly cowardly wizard, and Twoflowers, a clueless traveler who happens to be in possession of both endless optimism and a magical suitcase that's always wandering off and messily devouring people who get in its way. Things go from bad to worse for the two as divine powers both deliver them into and yank them out of all kinds of fantastic perils.

As someone who grew up reading plenty of this kind of thing and playing a lot of Dungeons& Dragons, I'm familiar enough with the genre and trappings that Pratchett lampoons. Yes, there's the Conan parody, there's the Dragonriders of Pern tribute, there's the in-joke about Leiber's Fafhrd and Gray Mouser. But that's easy. The thing that made me almost immediately fall in love with these books is the author's dry wit and his ability to derive humor not only from the absurdity of the story (and believe me, it gets plenty absurd) but also from just good old fashioned turns of phrase, wry commentary, and jokes. The guy just has an amazing ability to stuff five or six jokes into a single sentence, most of them making masterful use of that trusty standby of British humor, irony. It's really smart and really funny, and the fact that it builds on the inherent silliness of the high fantasy genre is just icing.

I should also note how imaginative Pratchett is, which is a useful quality given his subject matter. He bounces his heroes from one (generally horrible and dangerous) situation to another at a frantic pace, and his ability to come up with new material and new situations amazes me. And while many of them are obvious parodies of fantasy staples, just as many seem to be wholly new creations. As one small (and obligatory) example, the Diskworld itself is a flat coin of a world that rides atop four enormous elephants, who themselves ride on the back of a colossal turtle with two continent-sized flippers that it uses to swim slowly through the cold reaches of space.

But at the same time, if I have one complaint about these first two books, it's that they're almost maniacal in their plotting. While it's nice to see Pratchett's considerable imagination and humor on display as we go from situation to situation, the first book reads like an extended doodle with little plot and a whole "gods playing games with mortals" subtext that's entirely dropped in the next book. There's also one Conan the Barbarian parody that's abruptly dropped in favor of another Conan the Barbarian parody who Pratchett apparently liked better. It's not until the latter part of the second book does an overall plot come into play, but honestly I was enjoying myself so much I really didn't mind. Expect to see lots more Discworld books reviewed here in the future. (less)

like 14 likes

· see review

Aug 01, 2008

Jon rated it

· review of another edition

Recommended to Jon by: SciFi and Fantasy Book Club August Book

Shelves: science-fiction, fantasy, fiction, read-in-my-40s

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 ...more

like 13 likes

· see review

Feb 06, 2008

Belarius rated it

· review of another edition

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...more

like 4 likes

· see review

Oct 28, 2007

Keely rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, humor, reviewed

Tried to start him at the beginning, as many of my dear friends love him. However, this book showed no particular charm nor skill of construction. It is an early piece, so this unpractised work is to be expected. The jokes were more worthy of groans than guffaws, and I was left feeling rather let down, since he's been compared to the superlatively funny Douglas Adams.

After finding this one dull, a friend suggested I try one of his later books, so I started Moving Pictures, which was ...more

like 8 likes

· see review

Jun 24, 2010

Mike (the Paladin) rated it

· review of another edition

Ahh, the story of Twoflower and the "failed" wizard Rincewind. Although calling Rincewind a "failed" wizard is possibly not really fair to him as he's only a "failed" wizard because having sneaked a look at a forbidden spell book one the 8 Great Spells has taken up the room in his brain that would be needed for other spells and he can't get it out, at least not without casting it, and since neither he nor the other wizards know what it will do...destroy the world, t...more

like 4 likes

· see review

Apr 11, 2009

Werner rated it

· review of another edition

Recommends it for: Fans of humorous fantasy

Recommended to Werner by: Book was a gift from my wife

Shelves: fantasy

Having recently read Swords of Lankhmar, I was able to recognize a marked influence of Leiber on this opening volume of Pratchett's popular Discworld series. Like Nehwon, the Discworld is a swords-and-sorcery flavored fantasy realm where the social environment is generally not a benevolent one; Pratchett's corrupt and decadent city of Ankh-Morpork has certain similarities to Lankhmar, and Bravd and the Weasel here are very reminiscent of Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser. Potentates on the Discworld ...moreHaving recently read Swords of Lankhmar, I was able to recognize a marked influence of Leiber on this opening volume of Pratchett's popular Discworld series. Like Nehwon, the Discworld is a swords-and-sorcery flavored fantasy realm where the social environment is generally not a benevolent one; Pratchett's corrupt and decadent city of Ankh-Morpork has certain similarities to Lankhmar, and Bravd and the Weasel here are very reminiscent of Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser. Potentates on the Discworld even use albatrosses like carrier pigeons to transmit messages to each other, like their counterparts on Nehwon. But Pratchett provides some original touches all his own, especially in the Discworld's cosmology --as some primitive peoples once imagined the Earth to be, this fantasy world actually is flat, resting on the backs of four super-giant elephants who in turn stand on the carapace of an even more gigantic turtle, circled by a small sun and moon and slowly drifting through space in an alternate universe of flat worlds. (Pratchett suggests that different universes have different Creators/ pantheons, a literary conceit he uses to establish that the Discworld's panoply of not-always-nice "gods" --another feature it shares with Nehwon-- isn't intended to have any theological message for our world.)

Most of Pratchett's readers probably first encounter his work with this series. My first acquaintance with his fiction, however, was through his excellent Bromeliad Trilogy; and this novel suffers by comparison, and by comparison to Leiber. The Bromeliad novels are exuberantly humorous, but they have serious messages as well. Swords of Lankhmar has its humorous aspects, but it's kept within the bounds of the psychologically possible; and while you can laugh at, or with, Leiber's heroes at times, you can also respect them. This book is often literally laugh-aloud funny, but the humor here is virtually always satirical or gallows humor with a cynical tone, and it swallows up the whole book --it isn't leaven for the story, but rather the whole reason for the story's telling in the first place. Also, the quality of the humor, and the characterizations, is much more cartoonish than Leiber's (barbarian warrior Hrun, for instance, has to pause and move his lips to subtract one from three); the book is essentially a parody of swords-and-sorcery fantasy, rather than a serious example of it. Unlike the Bromeliad books, it has no serious message; it's more in the nature of cotton candy or funnel cakes for the brain --everybody enjoys the latter for a treat, but probably not for an exclusive diet. And unlike Leiber's heroes, Rincewind inspires no admiration; he's a coward and opportunist solely concerned with his own interests and saving his own skin. (Twoflower actually engenders more respect, but his calm unflappability usually stems from a total naivety about the situation.)

Rather than being divided into chapters, the book is broken down into four major sections. In each of these, Rincewind and Twoflower are introduced to new characters and situations, which makes the plot rather episodic and disjointed. (My wife, to whom I read the book out loud, complained that we just get used to one set of circumstances and people before Pratchett pulls us away to another.) Apart from that flaw, the writing is vivid and interesting, the plot busy and eventful, and Pratchett's imagination wildly fertile (the idea of the Luggage was absolutely inspired, but there are other ideas here just as original). In keeping with the author's comedic intent, the violence here usually isn't lethal; there's not much bad language, and while Pratchett's humor can occasionally be a bit off-color, there's no sex in the book.
Since the second volume of the series continues the adventures of the tourist-wizard pair, both my wife and I plan to keep our eyes open for a copy!(less)

like 4 likes

· see review

Aug 07, 2008

Rob rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: science-fiction

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 5 likes

· see review

Jul 06, 2007

Karen rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: scifi

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 c...more

like 2 likes

· see review

Mar 26, 2009

Izlinda rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy

Pretty funny, though sometimes it dragged or seemed too hard to be funny.

Unfortunately now I'm curious what that spell is that Rincewind has stuck in his brain. :-S I might check out some of the other Discworld bookss. I bought this one on a whim in the Chicago O'Hare Airport.

like 3 likes

· see review

Sep 19, 2007

Bethany rated it

· review of another edition

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 "...more

like 2 likes

· see review

Jul 09, 2008

Shannon rated it

Shelves: fantasy

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 2 likes

· see review

Jan 27, 2011

Hannah Mariska rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy

When the Disc’s first tourist, Twoflower, arrives at Ankh Morpork’s docks, failed wizard Rincewind, is ordered to look after the naive visitor. Determined to see all the local sights, Twoflower unknowingly leads the pair into pub brawls, dragon lairs and a dryad realm.

I never read The Disc World series when I was younger, because shamefully I thought the books were more for boys. Maybe that was down to their covers? But, how very wrong I was. In The Colour of Magic you are not just t...moreWhen the Disc’s first tourist, Twoflower, arrives at Ankh Morpork’s docks, failed wizard Rincewind, is ordered to look after the naive visitor. Determined to see all the local sights, Twoflower unknowingly leads the pair into pub brawls, dragon lairs and a dryad realm.

I never read The Disc World series when I was younger, because shamefully I thought the books were more for boys. Maybe that was down to their covers? But, how very wrong I was. In The Colour of Magic you are not just thrown into an extraordinary world of wizards and dragons, barbarian heroes and walking treasure chests, you are thrown into a whole universe!

Pratchett’s writing style is elaborate, describing the universal anomalies and features of magic and often going off on a tangent, but there is always an undercurrent of humour and wit. Well, more like a tidal wave. The pace is steady, with Rincewind and Twoflower being thrown from one danger to the next, amazingly unscathed.

During the book a number of scientific theorems are touched on in a more humorous than scientific way, including the time-space continuum, parallel universes, and Gods playing their cruel game with Fate. As long as I accepted them as part of the story, then I could get my head around the strange things that happen during the story. And yes, plenty of strange things happen.

There is a stark contrast between the two main characters Rincewind and Twoflower; one panicking at the slightest hint of adventure and danger, and the other enthusiastically seeking out adventure. I enjoyed the interplay between the two, and the addition of other characters including Death provided additional humour and action.

My one (tiny) bug bear is that certain background information was repeated several times throughout the course of the book. I understood that the information does have a significant bearing on what’s to come; I just found it interrupted the flow between scenes.

After their journey across the Disc world, both horizontally and vertically, the end of the story is literally left hanging. I wished I had had the next book ‘The Light Fantastic’ to hand to start reading it straight away and find out what happens.(less)

like 1 like

· see review

Aug 20, 2008

Kristjan rated it

Recommends it for: Fans of the The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Recommended to Kristjan by: GR Sci-Fi & Fantasy Book Club

Shelves: book-club-selection, pulp-fantasy, reviewed

This is The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy ... only for Fantasy. The two main, hapless characters lurch from scene to scene (or storyline to storyline) in what might be considered a classic epic ... If the scenes actually had anything in common other then the main characters. Along the way, Prachett humorously substitutes magic for science, frequently with the intent to play with our perceptions and fantasy stereotypes, while we explore the Disk World in his first novel of the series. It wa...more

like 1 like

· see review

Jul 08, 2008

Dhendlowitch rated it

· review of another edition

Recommends it for: anyone

Recommended to Dhendlowitch by: Matt

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...moreI 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), Death, and other gods. The first few books actually follow a few other characters throw their adventures, but then the series breaks off into different strings of characters.
The only way to explain the feel of these books is the setting and physics of the dragon lance books, with the humor and self awareness of the hitchhiker series. I love the hitchhiker books and have never really been able to dive into the DragonLance mythous, but the Discworld book ease you into that setting using the hitchhiker humor. It really helps. Orces, imps, elfs, demons, and trolls can be a little over whelming sometimes.
This being said the book is really just so much fun that it is hard to point out really what i loved about it. I just sets you up for laugh after laugh. You really just have to read it for yourself to find the charm in it. I promise you won't want to put it down after you start it, and i suggest the audio book version of it for the car or trip. A great reader can make the book 20 times better. They really translate to someone else reading them to you well. It is like a missed up bed time story where everything works backwards but it seems to understand that it does. Now if you want to see a adaptation of this and the second book, The light fantastic, then check out the SKY ONE (uk hbo) Mini Series, The color of magic part 1 and 2. This mixes both books together, so things happen out of the order they do happen in the books, and there is a lot of elements the either leave out or dumb down. REALLY good stuff to that made me love the book just never shows you in the mini series and other stuff is changed and it does not seem to be for any good reason. That being said it is still alot of fun for what it is and if you don't feel like reading you will get a idea of the style of the discworld books from it anyway. If you like the mini series, do yourself a favor and go back and read color of magic anyway. They are to different, totally enjoyable experiences. (less)

like 1 like

· see review

Jul 31, 2008

Michael rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, read-in-2008, discworld

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 way...more

like 1 like

· see review

Nov 26, 2007

Bonnie Gayle rated it

· review of another edition

Recommends it for: fans of funny fantasy, ie Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Shelves: reviewed, fantasy-sf, library-books

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 che...moreThis 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 with gold coins that are hardly worth anything in his land, but in this land, one of them could buy an inn. Because of this, thieves plague him constantly. Twoflower doesn't care though. His chest has a mind (and attitude) of it's own, and can defend itself, and he is the least worried person I've ever read. He goes from one deadly scene to the next, as carefree as can be.
Rincewind, on the other hand, was going to wizarding school when, on a bet, he looked in a secret book and instantly learned one of the 8 great original spells. This spell forced all the other spells out of his mind, but he is afraid to use the one spell he knows, because no one knows what it does, and for all he knows, it could blow up the Discworld. So, he is a wizard who knows no usable spells, and he is as terrified of every situation as Twoflower is carefree.
Together, these 2 characters go all over the Discworld, since Twoflower wants to see everything, and everywhere they go, there is danger, adventure, and humor.

I thought the book was remarkably well written. Pratchett is hilarious and brilliant. I never find books where I don't know a word, and 5 or so words in this book were brand new to me. That to me is really impressive.
The only negative is that I found the end of the 3rd chapter super confusing, and I had no idea what was going on. Other than that, hilarious, adventurous, and smart book. Highly recommended.

P.S. I forgot to mention that they ride on invisible flying creatures way before Harry Potter was written...I wonder if J.K. Rowling has read the Discworld books?(less)

like 1 like

· see review

Nov 22, 2007

Adrienne Brundage rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: comedy

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 had. For ...more

like 1 like

· see review

Mar 24, 2009

Beth F. rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, 2009, tnbbc-spring-2009

I admit it. I am probably not the intended audience for this book. I don't like elf and sword fantasies and have not read many. Regardless, I thought a parody of that sort of fantasy would be a laugh for me and I've had countless people recommend Terry Pratchett to me over the years. Unfortunately this book fell flat for me and many of the references were beyond my realm of giving a shit.

The introduction of a cast of forgettable characters from forgettable places was rushed and...more

like 5 likes

· see review

Mar 29, 2008

bup rated it

· review of another edition

Recommends it for: Discworld completists

Shelves: 2008, genres-i-hate

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 t...more

like 1 like

· see review

Feb 12, 2008

Danger Kallisti rated it

· review of another edition

Recommends it for: nobody

Shelves: sci-fi, crap-just-crap

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, the ...more

like 3 likes

· see review

Aug 08, 2008

TeraD rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: science-fiction

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 1 like

· see review

Jul 30, 2007

Jono rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy

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, Guards! Gu...more

like 1 like

· see review

Jul 11, 2011

Niall rated it

· review of another edition

Recommends it for: anyone with a sence of humour :)

Shelves: pratchett-shelf, discworld, kindled

the first of the Discworld novels is a good read, but not the best as this is where we find Pratchett finding his feet, for a Kindle book it's not overly expensive.
I always start this book knowing its a good read, but by the end, so many memories of the book appear with each page that by the end I remember its a great book.
If you have watched the TV adaptation (which I really enjoyed), this is so much better.

like 1 like

· see review

Feb 06, 2012

Dami rated it

· review of another edition

This book has received mixed reviews, some praise it as the best of the Discworld series, some say it's the worst. Personally I am one of those who didn't like it, but that's okay. It had its funny moments, but if your not a fan of the main character of an individual Discworld book, you won't enjoy the book so much. In other words, if you like Rincewind, you will love this book too and will want to reread the whole series of his books so that everything stays in context. if you don't like the fa...more

· see review

Dec 19, 2011

Maurizio Vicedomini rated it

· review of another edition

Da: http://www.mauriziovicedomini.heliohost.org/2011/09/recensione-il-colore-della-magia-terry-pratchett/

Ho finalmente messo mano ai romanzi di Pratchett che ho preso in vacanza, e ho deciso di cominciare dal ciclo di Scuotivento, di cui ho i primi due volumi. Ho sentito parlare molto bene sia dell’autore che del ciclo in sé, e forse questo mi ha fatto partire con aspettative più alte del necessario. Forse, chissà. Vedremo durante la recensione il risultato di questa lettura.

Come sempre, partiam...more

· see review

Feb 18, 2009

Phillip rated it

· review of another edition

This is my second time through this book. The ending left me so unimpressed upon the first read through that I had no inclination to read any more Terry Pratchett until my daughter Denice recommended "Guards! Guards!" which I thoroughly loved. This second read through of “The Color of Magic” was to see if having a better toehold on the mentality of Pratchett's Discworld would affect a better appreciation for the first novel in the series. Surprisingly this second time through was ve...more

· see review

Feb 16, 2009

Carrie rated it

· review of another edition

Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels are some of my favorite comfort reads. They're funny, they're short, I can read them quickly, and they are smarter than they seem, so I usually end up having thought a little bit about something more important that the fluorescent orange cover with a broomstick (or troll, or DEATH, or what have you) would imply. The Color of Magic is the very first Discworld book. I had been warned (by, um, the internet, since NO ONE I know reads these but me!) that the very fi...more

· see review

Jan 05, 2009

Laura rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: discworld

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 general.
...more

· see review

« previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 … 1781 1782 next »

new topic
Discuss This Book

topics	posts	views	last activity
Discworld vs. Spiderwick Chronicles	19	123	Dec 19, 2011 03:14pm
Off The Shelf: If You Like "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy...	3	9	Dec 19, 2011 08:48am

combine
Other Editions (82)

More editions...

Genres

Fantasy

2,743 users

Humor

524 users

Science Fiction Fantasy

145 users

Humor > Comedy

136 users

Science Fiction

83 users

Humor > Funny

68 users

Fantasy > Magic

47 users

Adventure

40 users

European Literature > British Literature

34 users

Novels

31 users

See top shelves...

Readers Also Enjoyed

Terry Pratchett's Mort
by Stephen Briggs (adapter)
Czas Pogardy
by Andrzej Sapkowski
Magician
by Raymond E. Feist
Another Fine Myth
by Robert Lynn Asprin
The Book of Ultimate Truths
by Robert Rankin

Share This Book

Facebook Twitter Your website

Pin It

About Terry Pratchett

Sir Terry Pratchett sold his first story when he was thirteen, which earned him enough money to buy a second-hand typewriter. His first novel, a humorous fantasy entitled The Carpet People, appeared in 1971 from the publisher Colin Smythe. Terry worked for many years as a journalist and press officer, writing in his spare time and publishing a number of novels, including his first Discworld novel,...more

More about Terry Pratchett...

Books by Terry Pratchett

More…

Trivia About The Color of Magic

23 trivia questions
1 quiz

More quizzes & trivia...

Quotes from The Color of Magic

“If complete and utter chaos was lightning, then he'd be the sort to stand on a hilltop in a thunderstorm wearing wet copper armour and shouting 'All gods are bastards!” — 387 people liked it

“You can't map a sense of humor. Anyway, what is a fantasy map but a space beyond which There Be Dragons? On the Discworld we know that There Be Dragons Everywhere. They might not all have scales and forked tongues, but they Be Here all right, grinning and jostling and trying to sell you souvenirs. ” — 109 people liked it

More quotes…

Groups That Shelved The Color of Magic

The Galley Readers

11 members

last activity Jan 24, 2012 04:29pm

shelf: currently-reading

SciFi and Fantasy Book Club

6058 members

last activity 1 hour, 30 min ago

shelf: read

Challenge: 50 Books

3930 members

last activity 34 minutes ago

shelf: read

title link	preview: The Colour of Magic
avg rating	preview: The Colour of Magic Goodreads rating: 3.82 (36722 ratings)
small image	preview: click here [close]
med image	preview: click here [close]
BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/601238.The_Colour_of_Magic?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1327877124m/601238.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/601238.The_Colour_of_Magic?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]The Colour of Magic by Terry Pratchett[/url]

The Colour of Magic (Discworld #1)

Friend Reviews

Community Reviews

Readers Also Enjoyed

Share This Book

Share This Book on Your Website