The Colour of Magic

Discworld, #1

No cover

The Colour of Magic (AudiobookFormat, Penguin Audio)

7h 58m

Published by Penguin Audio.

4 stars (3 reviews)

Somewhere between thought and reality exists the Discworld, a magical world not totally unlike our own. Except for the fact that it travels through space on the shoulders of four giant elephants who in turn stand on the shell of an astronomically huge star turtle, of course.

Rincewind is the world's worst wizard who has just been handed a very important job: to look after the world's first tourist, upon whose survival rests the peace and prosperity of the land. Unfortunately, their journey across the Disc includes facing robbers, monsters, mercenaries, and Death himself.

And the whole thing's just a game of the gods that might send them over the edge....

34 editions

reviewed The colour of magic by Terry Pratchett (Discworld -- 1, #1)

Terry Pratchett

4 stars

Nun habe ich also mein erstes Scheibenwelt-Buch gelesen. Ich las es auf englisch, und das hat sich als Problem herausgestellt. Obwohl mein Englisch eigentlich nicht schlecht ist, hatte ich hier doch einige Probleme mit dem Verständnis. Viel zu viele Wörter kannte ich nämlich überhaupt nicht. Das hat den Lesespaß ein bisschen getrübt. Wobei ich nicht weiß, ob das überhaupt alles reguläre englische Wörter waren, oder ob T.P. sich die nur ausgedacht hat. Ich werde auf jeden Fall dranbleiben, weil ich skurrile Welten mag. Vielleicht lese ich den nächsten Band der Reihe aber mal auf deutsch.

reviewed The colour of magic by Terry Pratchett (Discworld -- 1, #1)

Torn between 3 and 4 stars

3 stars

Enjoyed it - a fun read!

Discworld and Sir Terry were a big part of my life growing up, he had a large impact on who I became.

I'm not sure for newcomers to his writing I'd fully recommend The Colour of Magic - I believe Sir Terry himself said to start from book three (Sourcery) - but this is an interesting historical artefact.

I plan to read through the entire Discworld series in the coming months (and years, I guess - I don't plan to only read Discworld non-stop), so starting from the very beginning to experience how Sir Terry's style developed was a key choice for me.

I did enjoy it a lot though! Torn between 3 and 4 stars. It's good! But I feel like 4 stars requires a level of excellence not quite attained here - it does feel a little disjointed at times, and some …

Subjects

  • Discworld (Imaginary place)
  • Fiction
  • Romans
  • Merveilleux
  • Fantasy
  • Samuel Vimes (Fictitious character)
  • Rincewind
  • Twoflower (fictional characters)
  • parody
  • humour
  • Dollhouses
  • Doll furniture
  • Miniature objects
  • Collectors and collecting
  • Miniature dolls
  • Fiction, humorous
  • Fiction, fantasy, general
  • Discworld (imaginary place), fiction
  • Fiction, humorous, general
  • Rincewind the wizard (fictitious character), fiction
  • Fiction, satire
  • Geographical myths