As I said in my review of Guards! Guards!, please acquire a Discworld novel if you’ve never read one. Here is a primer: it’s a disc-shaped world riding on the back of four elephants that are standing on the back of a giant turtle flying through space (the sun orbits the disc, obviously).
If you’re not sure where to start, here is a reading guide to help keep track of the various primary storylines: Discworld Reading Guide
The Colour of Magic is the first book in the Discworld universe, although you’re certainly not required to read them in any specific order. In this novel, we are introduced to Rincewind the failed wizard, and his friend and ward, the Disc’s first tourist, Twoflower. And the luggage. Specifically, Twoflower’s luggage. It walks on many tiny feet, because that’s what sapient pearwood does, although I do wonder why the pearwood trunk has feet. Was it carved to have feet? Are they fleshy feet or wooden feet? The point is, there are two main characters and one very bitey trunk. They travel around getting into adventures, such as burning down a city, flying on illusory dragons, battling a god of chaos with photography as a weapon, almost unleashing one of the eight spells of creation, and falling off a planet.
Also nearly dying a great many times, much to the chagrin of Death, who is doing his best to correct the nearly.
Once again, just like Guards! Guards!, I was fairly certain that I had read this book before. In fact, about halfway through—right about the point that Rincewind was dangling from a ceiling using special hooked boots that latched onto iron loops anchored in stone—I became certain that I had read it before (I know this, because I stole that particular scenario and used it in a Dungeons and Dragons game, many years ago). Regardless, I thoroughly enjoyed reading the book a second time.
For all the incredible upsides in Terry Pratchett’s writing, of which I consider his characters to be his strongest talent, there are some downsides. The Colour of Magic is a very discordant book, with many events and side-plots seemingly springing up at random. It makes for a fun story, but it falls totally flat in allowing the reader to engage with the flow. It’s like you’re hooked by the nose and getting yanked along, while the heroes get teleported into (and out of) yet another totally unrelated hazard. At no point did I have any idea where the story was going, or how it would end, until the last few chapters. Thus, the entire book is one gigantic transgression against the 8th commandment. This doesn’t make it a bad book, it’s just extremely everywhere. In that same regard, I feel like the 5th commandment could have used some love.
SPOILER ALERT!
By the end, as Rincewind, Twoflower, and the luggage are hurtling headlong towards certain doom and a new life among the stars, Death has sort of given up on the whole messy affair. Instead of allowing himself to be disappointed again, he sends his lackey Scrofula to deal with the matter. Thankfully, nobody dies of Scrofula. Thus, we get a sequel! I can’t remember if I’ve read The Light Fantastic at any point, but I’m about to find out.
