The Colour of Magic (Discworld #1)

Author: Terry Pratchett

Rating: 2/5

Twoflower, a rich tourist, hires Rincewood, a failed wizard, as a guide around the city of Ankh-Morpork. And then stuff happens so they go on the run.

Spoilers ahead.

Detailed Summary

The book starts with two knights(?) watching Ankh-Morpork burning. Rincewood, the wizard, comes riding by with Twoflower and his Luggage. He tells them how the city came to be on fire. Rincewood, who failed wizarding school because he accidentally read this ancient spell which is lodged into his brain, becomes Twoflower’s guide. Twoflower has Luggage which moves on its own and is richer than he thinks. He keeps getting attacked by people and then this results in a tavern burning or something so the two flee. It’s revealed that the two are just objects of a dice game that the gods are playing. Rincewood keeps getting visited by Death. Rincewood is captured by a dryad who takes him to this temple where Twoflower is. Hrun the Barbarian comes in somewhere along the way. They can’t say the number eight in the temple but someone does and this demon comes along? Twoflower’s camera blinds the monster and Hrun kills it. Then the three are captured by Dragonriders who ride imaginary dragons. Liessa, the daughter of the late ruler, tells Hrun that if he kills her two brothers, he’ll become the lord of the place. Hrun does kill the brothers but Rincewood and Twoflower rescue him anyway. Hrun and Liessa disappear with the luggage? Rincewood and Twoflower are onboard a ship and then they end up near the edge of the world where they’re caught by this troll. The troll sends them to Krull where they’re going to be sacrificed but Lady Luck helps them escape. She was one of the dice game players. The book ends with Rincewood and Twoflower attempting to board the spaceship (which wanted to figure out if the turtle was a male or female) but Rincewood falls off the edge.

Plot and Pacing: Ugh. I really want to like Terry Pratchett’s writing but I just can’t bring myself to do so. One of my block mates (hi, Emma) is a HUGE fan of the Discworld series and she convinced me to read a book from the series. And then my other friend happened to have the first book so he let me borrow it (bless him). So, you see, I did have good intentions when I read this book even though I’ve had terrible experiences with Pratchett’s writing. I thought the pacing of the first quarter was excellent. It was quirky, it wasn’t a linear narrative and it was interesting to read. And then things got slower and slower and slower with each part of the book–it’s divided into four parts. I was almost skimming the last few pages because I just wanted to stop reading at that point. But I couldn’t DNF it because I just felt guilty.

I had heard a lot about the great turtle holding the world on its back and how funny Pratchett’s writing is. I didn’t get any of that. I mean, yes, there were some bits that made me smile but that was it. Nothing more than that. The plot was also all over the place. I didn’t mind that so much because I know Pratchett has a tendency to pull stuff out of thin air, kind of like Douglas Adams. Unlike Douglas Adams, Pratchett doesn’t have consistency. It starts off silly and very enjoyable and then it’s almost like Pratchett’s done with the joke and wants to make things serious and in doing so, ruins the story.

Characters: I really liked Rincewood and the fact that he was a failed wizard. I found that awfully quirky and I LOVE quirky. I also liked how he just felt obligated towards Twoflower although now that I think about it, that was probably because the gods were playing their little dice game. I loved Rincewood’s conversations with Death. They were brilliant. Twoflower was endearing and innocent and so, a great foil character. However, after the first part, I felt he didn’t really have much of a role to play. He became a bit redundant. I can’t remember half the characters’ names so I’m going to stop.

Writing Style: Prior to this, I had read A Hat Full of Sky and Good Omens and the start of this other Discworld book which my Performing Arts teacher loved. I didn’t like any of them. So I think Pratchett’s writing style just isn’t for me. Some of the descriptions were hilarious and I really loved his syntax. But, as I mentioned, it felt like Pratchett got lazier and lazier along the way and there’s a sharp plummet downward in the quality of the language the more you read.

I know that sounds very harsh but I seriously can’t understand why people enjoy his works so much! They’re so boring!