Review and quotes: THE COLOR OF MAGIC

Title: The Color of Magic (Discworld #1) by Terry Pratchett 

Book Beginnings quote:

Friday56 quote:

Summary:

The Discworld floats through space on the back of four elephants that, in turn, stand on the back of the Great A'Tuin, the cosmic turtle. It only gets weirder from here.

On the Disc is the ancient city of Ankh-Morpork, and it's here that a man named Twoflower begins his journey as the world's first tourist. At the Broken Drum tavern, he meets a failed wizard named Rincewind, who knows exactly one spell and exactly nothing about what it does. Twoflower hires Rincewind as his guide, wanting to see the heroes, wonders, and majesty (read: cutthroats, dangers, and utter shabbiness) of the city. 

This is the first of four stories within one book. From Ankh-Morpork, Twoflower and Rincewind escape in the nick of time to a forest where Rincewind is convicted of hurting a tree. Next stop is Wyrmberg, an upside-down mountain is a nation of dragon riders. The dragons are figments of the imagination, however. From Wyrmberg, the two travelers end up at the very edge of the disc, captured by Tethis, a sea troll. (Shmoop)

Review: Confused by the summary? Don't worry. The book is even more confusing. In the forward that Terry Pratchett wrote in 1989 one gets the idea that understanding everything isn't the point. The point is the humor and the fun.

The Color of Magic was originally published in 1983 in the U.K. with only 506 copies. From that very small start the Discworld series took off, eventually Pratchett published 41 Disworld novels, the last published after his death in 2015. As a high school librarian I tried, unsuccessfully, to figure out the series flow chart in order to make recommendations to my readers. There are some readers who think this, the first book in the series, is not a good place to enter the world. I understand this since I was confused for about 80% of the time I was listening to the audiobook and laughing the other 20%. I don't think words are adequate to explain the experience. I confess spending quite a bit of time marveling at Pratchett's wild imagination. I have entered Discworld finally and I plan to visit it often.

Book Beginnings on Friday is hosted by Rose City Reader. Share the opening quote from current book.
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-Anne