The Colour Of Magic - Terry Pratchett
- Soph
- Oct 30, 2019
- 4 min read
"In the beginning there was...a turtle.
Somewhere on the frontier between thought and reality exists the Discworld, a parallel time and place which might sound and smell very much like our own, but which looks completely different. Particularly as it's carried through space on the back of a giant turtle (sex unknown). It plays be different rules.
But then, some things are the same everywhere. The Disc's very existence is about to be threatened by a strange new blight: the world's first tourist, upon whose survival rests the peace and prosperity of the land. Unfortunately, the person charged with maintaining that survival in the face of robbers, mercenaries and, well, Death, is a spectacularly inept wizard..."
Pages: 287
The Colour of Magic is the first book in Terry Pratchett's Discworld series and kicks off the Discworld Challenge for my blog! I created this challenge mostly because I wanted to read all of the books in the Discworld series, and it was great motivation to actually get this blog started. If you like the sound of this challenge then please feel free to join in and read the books with me! If you do I'd love to read your posts on what you thought of the books as well! Additionally, if you'd like to keep track of my progress throughout the series you can find it here.
This book mostly concentrates on the two main characters Rincewind & Twoflower and the funny challenges they somehow manage to get themselves in to. I don't want to spoil the book for anyone but I will be talking about our two main characters.
Rincewind
Rincewind is a wizard who clearly just wants to stay out of everyone's way. I mean, I say he is a wizard, however he never actually finished his training at the Unseen University. In fact, he only knows one spell and no one has any idea of what it does, which makes it all the more dangerous.
It is really refreshing and funny to have a character that is supposed to be a wizard but can't actually use magic. Usually in a lot of books, TV shows and films wizards are depicted as cocky, arrogant and using magic for every little thing.
Rincewind is kind of forced to look after the new tourist in town called Twoflower. The reasoning behind this being that Twoflower comes from an influential town and it wouldn't look good for one of their citizens to come to any harm. I don't know if 'cowardly' is the best way to describe Rincewind. Though he definitely is a reluctant hero. He develops a blossoming friendship with Twoflower and keeps having to save him from whatever trouble he has gotten himself in.
I really enjoyed Rincewind as a character!
"What he didn't like about heroes was that they were usually suicidally gloomy when sober & homicidally insane when drunk."
Twoflower
Twoflower is a charmingly naive character. He is a typical tourist on his holiday, bumbling about, wanting to see all of the sites and the heroes from legends. I think we can all admit we've been a Twoflower at one point!
He keeps accidentally walking into danger and he is generally chaotic without knowing what he is doing. For example, telling a bar owner about the his work and giving him an "inn-sewer-ants-polly-sea" and the next minute the bar has been set on fire (with the bar owner still inside) and consuming most of the city! Twoflower also somehow has a lot of money on him but no idea of how much it is worth, causing a lot of people wanting to take advantage of him. It has also set a target on his back from some very dangerous people like the Guild of Assassins. However, he is a really sweet and friendly character.
Twoflower is travelling with "The Luggage" which seems to have a mind of its own. (It definitely has enough legs of its own!) The Luggage seems to have taken a liking to Rincewind and is fiercely protective and loyal towards Twoflower. I love this character so much, it has so much presence without having any lines!
"Twoflower was a tourist, the first ever seen on the Discworld. Tourist, Rincewind had decided, meant idiot."
The Colour of Magic is a great set up for many characters which I am sure we will be seeing again! For example, it was great seeing the banter between Death & Rincewind. I loved how Pratchett game Death a sense of humour and human emotions, I can't wait to see more of him in future books. It was hilarious to see how frustrated Death was getting every time he went to collect Rincewind's soul and Rincewind escaped him again and again.
(Disclaimer for a little spoiler: I love how Death ends up giving the job to someone else which Rincewind refuses to accept because it is his right as a wizard to see Death before he dies.)
This was a really enjoyable book & what am amazing start to such a fantastic world! It's genius to have a world balanced on the backs of four elephants on the shell of the turtle Great A'Tuin. Terry Pratchett's imagination really was second to none. How he takes the mickey out real life is so funny too! Especially the "inn-sewer-ants-polly-sea" which I found particularly funny as I was working in insurance at the same time as reading the book!
Super fun start to my Discworld Challenge & I am so excited to start reading the next one!
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