Breakaway Books

Authored by Terry Pratchett; Published 1983; Fantasy

⭐️⭐️⭐️ / 🏖️🏖️🏖️🏖️

I’ve never read Terry Pratchett’s novels before, but from what I’ve heard, The Color of Magic is a fair representation of his work. It’s zany and irreverent, even if it doesn’t contain the most compelling or straightforward plotline.

In The Color of Magic, we are introduced to Discworld, a world that is (aptly) shaped like a disc and, more bizarrely, carried by gigantic cosmic turtle gods. We come upon Rincewind, a would-be wizard who has flunked out of magic school and stumbles into Twoflower, a tourist from a ridiculously rich land who has left his country to seek out adventure, accompanied by his sentient luggage filled with more gold than Rincewind has ever dreamt of. Together, they meet dryads, dragons, and sea trolls, and Rincewind–who really had no need at all for adventure, thank you very much–is dragged against his will into being a hero of sorts.

When approaching this novel, it’s best to think of it as a set of stories, loosely strung together, assembled to introduce you to the concept of Discworld. You’ll get brief glances into several kingdoms, but you may not feel like you get a sense of completion from any of the vignettes—I certainly didn’t. At its worst, it can feel chaotic, like it’s jumping from myth to myth without fully explaining anything. But if you can loosen your grip on the idea of a point-A-to-point-B story, you’ll probably enjoy the ride. The stories will make you smile, even if they also make you scratch your head. They’re clever, witty, and wildly imaginative.

Twoflower showcases all the worst—and funniest—traits that a true tourist can exhibit. Jumping headlong into dangerous situations that he barely understands, it is his naïveté that sets Rincewind in the best light by contrast when the two are together. Otherwise, Rincewind simply is not that easy to like. He’s cowardly and greedy, in a way that seems ordinary more than villainous. But, by the end of the novel, I got an inkling that this is merely his origin story, and more and better things will be coming out of him in the novels to come. His back and forth with Death manages to bring humor to every situation that threatens great peril, and those situations appear with disturbing regularity.

The Color of Magic may not be a neat narrative with a traditional introduction, climax and conclusion, but it will definitely make you smile and stretch your imagination.