The First Discworld Novels: The Colour of Magic and the Light Fantastic

Discworld - Rincewind #1-2

by Terry Pratchett

Together in one volume, here are the first two Discworld novels, featuring Rincewind the wizard and his Luggage, Twoflower and innocent tourist and Cohen the Barbarian, the world's oldest and greatest hero. And not to mention Death, who's not so bad once you get to know him.

Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, Humor, Comedy, Science Fiction, Satire, Magic

352 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1983

About the author

Sir Terence David John Pratchett was an English author, humorist, and satirist, best known for the Discworld series of 41 comic fantasy novels published between 1983–2015, and for the apocalyptic comedy novel Good Omens (1990), which he co-wrote with Neil Gaiman.
Pratchett's first novel, The Carpet People, was published in 1971. The first Discworld novel, The Colour of Magic, was published in 1983, after which Pratchett wrote an average of two books a year. The final Discworld novel, The Shepherd's Crown, was published in August 2015, five months after his death.
With more than 100 million books sold worldwide in 43 languages, Pratchett was the UK's best-selling author of the 1990s. He was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 1998 and was knighted for services to literature in the 2009 New Year Honours. In 2001 he won the annual Carnegie Medal for The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents, the first Discworld book marketed for children. He received the World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement in 2010.
In December 2007 Pratchett announced that he had been diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer's disease. He later made a substantial public donation to the Alzheimer's Research Trust (now Alzheimer's Research UK, ARUK), filmed three television programmes chronicling his experiences with the condition for the BBC, and became a patron of ARUK. Pratchett died on 12 March 2015, at the age of 66.

Reviews

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m reviewing these two books together, because despite being two books, they are two halves to a single story. The story of the first tourist on the Discworld, or alternately, the story of how the Discworld was nearly destroyed, or alternately the story of Rincewind and the Octavo, or even a story concerning how nice it is to have a hero around when you need one.

In the beginning of this two-part tale, we are first introduced to Terry Pratchett’s Discworld – an entire world in the shape of a disc, set on the back of four enormous elephants, riding on the shell of gigantic turtle flying through space. On the Discworld, magic is commonplace, the gods play dice games, and you really can fall off the edge of the earth. The future of Discworld will be forever altered upon the meeting of two unique individuals. First, there is Twoflower, the very first tourist on the Discworld. He is blissfully unaware of danger and dangerously full of imagination. He’s loaded to the gills with pure gold and has a luggage trunk that will follow him anywhere and protect him from anything. Or at least try. The second individual is Rincewind, a failed wizard who has been expelled from the Unseen University of Magic for being completely incompetent in the ways of magic. In fact, Rincewind has only ever been able to retain one spell – that of one of the great eight spells of the Octavo. Rumor has it all the other spells are so frightened of this one spell, they refuse to stay in Rincewind’s mind.

Rincewind is charged with keeping Twoflower safe and making him happy. This seems like it’d be an easy job, but considering their personalities are fantastically opposite from each other, Twoflower has quite the knack for irritating Rincewind. Between the two of them, they discover dragons, trolls, meet several gods, stop pagan sacrifices, arrange romances for heroes, visit Death’s house for a game of bridge, and fall off the edge of the Disc. We’re introduced to hundreds of violently alive characters, all of whom add a great depth (and often a high sense of hilarity) to the story and the Discworld itself.


Having never read any of Terry Pratchett’s works, I felt I should probably start at the beginning. “The Colour of Magic” was the very first book written about the Discworld which has now become so famous among sci-fi and fantasy readers. I feel I should say I’m forever indebted to my husband for introducing Pratchett and me. He has all the talent of a fantastically famous writer (he is one) and all the humor and randomness of Douglas Adams. There’s not so much that the story is lost, as in some of Adams’ works, but there’s quite enough to keep me giggling long into the night as I try and squeeze in just a little bit more reading. If you’re not a fan of either fantasy or sci-fi, but enjoy books with a social statement to make in a parable-like manner, these books would be a great place to start as an introduction to a phantasmagorically phenomenal series.

[Naomi Schmidt · Rating 5 out of 5]

My goodness, that Terry Pratchett has a gift for twisting language in a way that makes one's insides tickle irresistibly. The characters are amazingly well drawn, the plotlines are thoroughly engaging, and there is nothing like laughing your head off while your spouse looks up enviously from the papers he's grading. In these first 2 Discworld books, the society of Ankh-Morpork is introduced to reflected-sound-of-underground spirits, Death fails, multiple times, to collect a not-quite-wizard, the Discworld's first tourist finds the most decrepit structures "quaint" and "charming," and a sapient pearwood trunk repeatedly saves the day (and disposes of the body). Ingenious.

One comment on this particular edition: it's terrible. It seems that they scanned the text of a previous edition, and it didn't all get scanned correctly. It did not negatively affect my considerable enjoyment of the book, but, if you have a choice, get a different edition.

[Rik · Rating 4 out of 5]

Took me a while to get into it, but as I became accustomed to the style I began to enjoy the bizarre humour. The story takes second place to the funny aspects, but is still intriguing enough to keep the pages turning.

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

An odd world, with odd characters, and an odd sense of humour, though oddly this all works. For instance, in this world, the logic we know has been thrown out the window, and is considered illogical, like harnessing the power of lightning, aka electricity. In some ways Rincewind is more like us, and is therefore an apt narrator for us to follow, as he represents the viewer, and questions things like the viewer would. Rincewind's attempts to figure out words are funny, and technically incorrect, and yet are blunt realities of what they describe. This author is unbelievably good at stringing together random coincidences, in most books they would be frowned upon, but considering the nature of this odd world, they turn out humourous.

[Olethros · Rating 3 out of 5]

¿Quiere saber más de estos dos libros, sin spoilers? Visite:

http://librosdeolethros.blogspot.com/...

http://librosdeolethros.blogspot.com/...

[D.L. Morrese · Rating 4 out of 5]

I bought this combined hardcover edition to replace my worn paperbacks. The stories, of course, are wonderful. This is Pratchett, after all. Rereading these earliest Discworld books after having read all the others reminds us of how the setting and characters evolved from their beginnings as comparatively simple comic fantasy. They ended up being much more than that.

My one issue with this edition is the editing. It appears as though the text was digitized by an optical character reader, and no one verified the accuracy of the outcome. There are several errors. Commas turned into periods, letters were misread, (in one the letter 'm' was turned into 'in', for example). This is very shoddy and, I felt, an insult to the story and to the memory of the author. Bad job, Colin Smythe Limited. It's not like the copy I bought is a first edition. It's at least the fourth reprint. You've had time to fix this stuff.

[Prachi Pati · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely loved it! I haven't laughed so much reading a book since Douglas Adam's Hitchhiker's guide to the Universe!

My gosh, I cant believe these books have been around and there are 41 of them to devour and laugh to, for so long! These books are nearly my age! hahah

What characters and what analogies! Some of the dialogues between death and fate were so simple, and yet so funny. I can't write a review for this, because its just not possible to get into Terry Pratchett's brain! I wish I had half of his imagination :D

[May Freighter · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fantastic read with an adventure that will make you laugh out loud in a room full of people from time to time. I have no idea how the author managed to come up with such fantastic characters and interesting world. It’s definitely inspiring. The characters were all so different and well executed. Still am in love with the idea of an imp inside the camera, drawing all the photographs. Ahah. Wonderful story.

[Sonya Christine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not one of Pratchett's best, but it certainly has its moments of embarrassment (which always occur when someone reads Pratchett in public transportation and suddenly bursts out laughing like hell) plus the incredible duo Rincewind-Twoflower and the Luggage.

[Katharina · Rating 3 out of 5]

It took me a while. I really have ambivalent feelings about this book. On the one hand I do love the writing which is kind of funny and the charakters are just perfekt. Especially death who speaks in all caps. But it lacks speed on the other hand and I had to force myself to keep going from time to time. All in all solid 3 Stars :)

[Senni · Rating 4 out of 5]

Actual rating: 3.5/5

[Jonathan Terrington · Rating 4 out of 5]

I again find myself wishing that Goodreads offered me a half-star option. In the instance of this story I will grant it the higher of the options between three and four but I would prefer to diagnose it with a three and a half.

It was great, it was okay, it was weak, it was strong. It ebbed and flowed still holding onto Terry Pratchett's unique tone. Like Douglas Adams this tone is a blend of random detail and wit, utilizing deus ex machina elements at times for the sake of comedy.

On the whole it was an enjoyable fantasy and those who like a clever-enough plot that serves the humor of the writer should enjoy this. And what is it in short? A tale of a wizard who tries to escape death and the naive tourist in a dangerous land who he leads around. Only problem is there's a spell stuck in his head...

If that sounds interesting enough read it. I can't adequately describe the book in my review suffice to say it was enjoyable.

[Phil · Rating 5 out of 5]

About 16 years ago past me picked up Mort by Terry Pratchet. I didn't like it and since then I've avoided all the discworld novels. I hate past me and wish I could go back and shake him to explain why I could have read these books earlier. I love long book series and I can't wait to dive in to this wonderful series

[Sean Rich · Rating 5 out of 5]

great book everyone should read

[Alexander Theofanidis · Rating 5 out of 5]

1. Colour of magic ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

All legends must, inevitably, have a point of origin. For the inimitable Discworld series, this diminutive volume—oft-overlooked depending on the edition (particularly when deprived of Kirby’s illustrations)—constitutes the zero point, the Big Bang, the fiat lux.

A flat world, disc-shaped (a veritable delight for the modern flat-earther, albeit one lacking the cranial geometry requisite for such a read), rests atop the backs of four colossal elephants (a fifth exists, though we shall not entangle ourselves with it just yet), themselves poised upon the mighty carapace of the cosmic turtle, Great A’Tuin, who swims through the sparse aether of the universe, seemingly without destination. Of course, water cascades endlessly into the void from the rim of the disc; naturally, there is no 'north' or 'south', but rather 'hubward' and 'rimward'; and indeed, there is magic, heroism, cowardice, wizards, books so potent they must be chained down (yet still manage to plant spells into the minds of hapless apprentices), and—perhaps most fantastically—a tourist. With a trunk...

Terry Pratchett (who, most tragically, succumbed to Alzheimer’s disease in 2015—a cruel irony for a mind so incisive) skewers every cliché of the fantasy genre—swords, sorcery, and dragons, as one might say in plainer speech—with unparalleled wit, never missing an opportunity to draw trenchant parallels with our own world. These parallels, as the series progresses, become increasingly sophisticated, increasingly ludicrous, and, correspondingly, increasingly delightful—culminating in an entire spin-off metatextual series: The Science of Discworld.

The narrative is not, one must note, self-contained in this first instalment. It finds its resolution in the second volume, The Light Fantastic—in essence, the two comprise a single diptych. Nonetheless, the foundation is laid, the seed planted; whether you shall be enchanted by the exceptional prose of one of the 20th century’s most sagacious authors is now, quite simply, a matter for your own discovery. If you are only now embarking upon this journey, I must confess—I envy you. For before you lies a corpus of over forty unwritten (for you, at least) tomes, filled with marvel and delight. Granted, the later volumes bear the melancholy mark of Pratchett’s illness, and, lamentably, his publishers continued to exploit the franchise... yet, from a certain point onward—when his style attains full maturity—the humour gracefully yields primacy to philosophical resonance, without compromising the pleasure of the text.

Tarry no longer. Awaiting your acquaintance are the most ineffectual wizard in all creation (though he at least bears a hat which clearly proclaims his station), the most ingenuous tourist the Disc has ever known, and a magical world, vast and strange, for you to explore in their improbable company.



2. Light Fantastic ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

If The Colour of Magic was the initial spark — the proverbial kick to the gears — then The Light Fantastic is the blowtorch (or the choke, or the flap, or indeed the compressor) that irrevocably sets the Discworld engine in motion. It is not a "sequel" in the conventional sense; rather, it constitutes the indispensable second half of a single, continuous narrative. A book that commences precisely at the final page of its predecessor — almost as if that page had never been turned.

The thoroughly inept wizard Rincewind (rendered as “Ανεμοβρόχης” in the Greek translation) continues his valiant attempts not to die; the ever-optimistic tourist Twoflower (Δίανθος) persists in documenting, with charming naïveté, the most chaotic world in the cosmos; and the Luggage continues to scurry about on its hundred little legs, brimming with the zeal of a... homicidal puppy. Meanwhile, Magic begins to shake the very foundations of reality; the great turtle A’Tuin edges ever closer to a celestial consort; and the wizards of the Unseen (and highly magical) University — who never miss a chance for subterfuge — attempt to “resolve” the crisis in the most traditional of manners: with rather more magic, and only marginally less reason.

Pratchett retains the same frenetic, almost cartoonish energy that characterised the first volume, yet something here has shifted: one begins to perceive the cracks behind the smile. Not from fatigue, but from depth. Behind the humorous dust jacket and the linguistic acrobatics, the author has begun to assemble an entire world — one governed by its own peculiar laws (or rather, its own deliberate infractions of them). The first strains of seriousness emerge gradually, like a cello playing softly behind the orchestra of punchlines.

It is also worth noting that this is where we encounter the first genuine inklings of Discworld cosmology — something that shall evolve into a rich mythology, as resonant in meaning as it is abundant in trolls, elves, golems, bureaucrats, librarian-orangutans, and arcane metaphysical regulations.

If you finished the first book wondering, “Yes, but what happens next?”, then The Light Fantastic is not merely the next chapter — it is the inevitable continuation of a journey that was never about destination, but always about manic, unstoppable momentum. And now that the first foundations of this strange new world have been laid, its protagonists begin to resemble less caricatures and more... heroes. Or at the very least, people. Or something, at any rate, that carries emotions, terror, and perhaps a bit of sausage in a pouch inside the Luggage.

If you’re reading these books in order, congratulations: you’ve arrived at the end of the beginning. If not, do yourself a favour and turn back to page one — the worlds Pratchett has wrought deserve to be witnessed as they assemble, piece by absurd, affectionate, and razor-sharp piece.

Equal Rites are coming (pun intended). Hold on!

[Smaug the Unmerciful Editor · Rating 1 out of 5]

This lived up to it's title as a really strange book. An apparently random magic system, weird names, strange happenings and science, and dash of babe-obsessed wizards for good measure. There wasn't really a cohesive story either---I assume people just read it for the ride.
I stopped because I got mightily uncomfortable at the mention of a spell that summoned "nude virgins." Like, what the heck?!
And I had such high hopes for this book, too . . .

[Suzanne Conboy-Hill · Rating 5 out of 5]

How do you review an early Pratchett! Again via Audible, this first Discworld book is narrated by Nigel Planer who gallops along at the narrative's breakneck pace, inventing voices for characters like dads do when they're reading bedtime stories. It's fast and furious, linguistically clever in a way not seen in more contemporary writing, convoluted, rife with bizarre imaginary events, and almost childlike in its free-wheeling mental leaps. It's head-spinningly funny, crackingly inventive, and a total gas, as we probably said about cool things around the time it was written. Roll on next Audible credit.

[Emma Berg · Rating 5 out of 5]

Terry Pratchett is absolutely always worth a read. I'm in the process of reading the books in chronological order and it's been wonderful to see how his writing style has evolved even in the first two books! Lots of fun reading aloud (though doing the silly voices wears my vocal folds out haha). Always a blast!

[Melissa · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'd heard a lot about these books. The Disc World series is huge and even has a few movies to its name. I decided it had to be good right? Well, to be honest, I was very disappointed in this book. It wasn't near what I expected from all the hype that accompanied Pratchett's books.

The Colour of Magic is the first book in the series, although I've heard that they can mostly be read as stand-alones. Which is probably a good thing since I believe there are over thirty novels in the series. This one involved two main characters of Rincewood the incompetent wizard and Twoflower, a bumbling tourist. They encounter a myriad of characters along the way, including Death. Coerced into keeping Twoflower safe, Rincewood encounters all sorts of hazards and people trying to kill them. Especially since Death himself is interested in Rincewood. They travel and meet dragons, edge-worlders (Discworld is of course a disc, balanced on the backs of four elephants who in turn stand on a turtle), trolls, and other strange beasts, most of whom are not very friendly.

Rincewood and Twoflower are not very exciting characters. They don't have a lot of development and their conversations are not very intriguing. Rincewood especially I just found annoying. There is only so far you can make someone inept and he didn't really seem to have any redeeming qualities. Just a lot of luck. Twoflower is little better, but at least he has some interesting background compared to Rincewood.

The writing was very jumpy. So many characters and and places were introduced in the beginning that I never got them sorted out in my head before having to move on to the next thing in the plot. The story also jumped around a lot. I'd no sooner get to one point in the novel then it seemed that they were already on a new adventure without resolving the last. I just wasn't a big fan of the way it flowed. There were a few funny moments, but it wasn't enough to make up for the majority of the book.

I do hope these books get better. I'm going to try a few more because there's got to be a reason the series is so popular. I have heard that the writing and plots get better so I am somewhat excited to read more. Here's hoping that I can leap into Discworld with further novels.

The Colour of Magic
Copyright 1983
210 pages + extras

Review by M. Reynard 2010

[Susanne · Rating 5 out of 5]

A friend first told me about these books one day in the University library. (I should have been forewarned, she's one of my craziest friends.) She quoted the line from Feet of Clay, "We can rebuild him, we have the pottery." OK, you need to know about Golems and the Bionic Man TV series to get the joke, but I laughed so much I almost choked (while trying to be quiet, with students glaring at us indignantly.)

That's typical Pratchett. Not all of it (even not a lot of it) is laugh-out-loud funny, but a lot of it is very clever - subtle digs at "Roundworld" pretentions, particularly management-speak and religion. And there are big laughs - there's a long philosophical discussion in the middle of Small Gods which almost caused me a permanent injury.

Anyway, on Helen's advice I began at the beginning, with these two absurd tales featuring Discworld's (any world's) most incompetent but loveable wizard, Rincewind. I went on to know and love (from a safe distance) the formidable Granny Weatherwax, the ruthlessly effective Patrician, Vetinari, and the unexpectedly effective City Guard, some of whose members are convinced (on the evidence of narrativium... No, don't have time to explain that) that a million-to-one chance must always succeed, so the best way to achieve success is to stand on one leg facing the wrong way... Well, you get the picture.

[Matthew Sampson · Rating 3 out of 5]

When I previously left The Colour of Magic unrated, I was still trying to work out how I felt about the series—about the satirical style, which was new to me at the time, and about the confused worldviews of the characters.

With this reading I've come to appreciate Rincewind as a person, as a character who embodies many of the traits of what it means to be human. He and the eternally optimistic and idealistic Twoflower make an excellent pair. I did enjoy the book, for all its moral muddle, and Rincewind's character growth by the end—however slight—was inspiring. Inspiring? Ha. Rincewind is not a character to inspire anyone. But I was pleased with his growth anyhow.

I don't really like the magic. Talk of occult and demons leaves a bad aftertaste in my mouth, as with Eragon, which I've also been reading recently. But I'm learning to respect Pratchett for presenting a compelling moral worldview through The Colour of Magic and The Light Fantastic, even if it doesn't match the truth of our own world.

I'll probably pick up another Discworld book in the future. They make for interesting reading, if not a compelling truth.

[SheriC · Rating 5 out of 5]

My introduction to Discworld, and I loved it. This book combines the first two stories. I read the books separately and in stages, so the reviews are all in different places.

My original review of The Colour of Magic here, and the re-read for the Booklikes Discworld Book Club is here.

My review for the Light Fantastic, including the audio version, is here.

[Nikolina Dancheva · Rating 4 out of 5]

След дълго офлянкване, най-накрая и аз прочетох книга, изцяло написана от Тери Пратчет (правя това уточнение, защото първата негова книга, която прочетох, беше "Добри поличби" в съавторство с Нийл Геймън)! Нямам обяснение защо ми трябваше толкова много време, особено като се има предвид, че имам цели две негови книги, които седяха вкъщи на рафта и ме чакат, но по-добре късно, отколкото никога!

Цялото ревю може да прочетете тук: https://nikireads.wordpress.com/2019/...

[April Mccaffrey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Re-Read 2025

Rereading as part of the Discworld group on facebook where we read a Discworld book each month. I'm reading at my own pace, but still reading the books.

Rincewind is one of my favourite characters in this series, so it is always a joy to revisit him and the Luggage. I also enjoyed rereading this and noticing little details i have missed the first time round.

I'm looking forward to rereading my next Discworld book.

This version I read was two books in one, so it had the Colour of Magic and Light Fantastic.

[Caleb Ervin · Rating 4 out of 5]

You can call this Cost of Entry into the Discworld if you like, but the nature of the books is that you can grab any you like and will be sucked in just as surely as if you tried to go in order. All but one other book in the series rates a 5 for me. Read them if you like fantasy literature at all, it's just behind Tolkien and Lewis in that regard.

[Martha Ginny · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was such a delightfully, silly, entertaining read. I've been meaning to get into Discworld for approximately ten million years and I can't believe it's taken me this long! I'm off now to read all of them!

[Tinea · Rating 1 out of 5]

Surprisingly boring.

[Joan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Re-reading these books. The first couple are good, but not a patch on some of the later ones.

[Roman · Rating 5 out of 5]

I discovered Pratchett's work relatively late in life, but I'm glad I wasn't any later. Pratchett's world building is fantastic, and his word play/sense of fun is better than almost any other fantasy author I've ever read. I'd heard many people say that "The Colour of Magic" was a weak way to get into Discworld, but I thought it was great. For me, it was a perfect way to be introduced to the over-the-top series. I don't remember the last time I'd actually laughed and enjoyed a book the way I had when reading both "The Colour of Magic" and "The Light Fantastic" (as well as the way I have when reading any other of Pratchett's books). I was excited to pick these books up every time I did so, and finishing them was bittersweet. These will definitely be re-read in the future, and I can't recommend them enough.

[JS · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Colour of Magic" by Terry Prachett is the first book, of Diskworld series. Even thoug, it was one of Prachett's first books, it is the essence of this entire saga.

"Colour of Magic" operates with rather ironic humor, based on contrast. Diskworld is a mix of, our reality, and fantasy world, where instead of science, civilizations are based on magic. But this brilliant concept doesn't make the book flawless. In fact, it's far from it, and even though I had a great time reading I can't turn a blind eye over its mistakes. First, and most significant of them, is trying, to show us entire Diskworld in just two hundred pages. It makes this "vast" universe look small. The book is also very chaotic. Scenes of action change every moment and new heroes are introduced, just to be forgotten about on the next page. I find it reall hard not to loose myself in this chaos. I think, that Pratchett also lost himself in it, and while writing jokes and references, he forgot about plot