Rincewind the Wizzard: The Colour of Magic; the Light Fantastic; Sourcery;… (edition 1999)

I have heard a lot of good things about Terry Pratchett and the Discworld here on LT, and had this book in my library for some years, so thought I would give it a try.

This books includes The Colour of Magic, The Light Fantastic, Sourcery and Eric.

The Colour of Magic is Terry Pratchett's first Discworld novel. It introduces many characters that will continue to entertain us in Discworld novels. The story is about how Rincewind the Wizzard meets up with Twoflowers, the first tourist of Discworld. Rincewind is supposed to protect Twoflowers, but as Rincewind is not really a wizard, and quite cowardly as well, this is not very simple. Luckily, Twoflowers is very rich and has The Luggage, a large wooden chest that moves on hundreds of little legs and will snap at Twoflowers' enemies. Twoflowers is naive, and believes that no one would want to hurt him, which continuously frustrates Rincewind.

The story progresses with Twoflowers touring the world and the Luggage and Rincewind trying to protect him.

I didn't find that there was enough story to suit my tastes. It is funny, with lots of satire and current cultural references.

The next story was The Light Fantastic, which was a continuation of Rincewind's, Twoflowers' and the Luggage's adventures. I liked this one better - there was a little more of an overall plot, and it was wrapped up nicely.

Sourcery was next, and I think I liked this the best. It is about the 8th son of an 8th son (who is a wizard) which makes him a Sourceror (I think I've got that right...). Wizards deal with magic, but they are not amazingly all-powerful. A Sourceror, however, is the source of magic, and is extremely powerful. This story is about what happens when the Sourceror comes to Unseen University and wants to change things, and how Rincewind helps to save the day.

I mentioned how Pratchett introduces a lot of pop culture in his books - here's an example:
"The Current patrician, head of the extremely rich and powerful Vetinari family, was thin, tall and apparently as cold-blooded as a dead penguin. Just by looking at him you could tell he was the sort of man you'd expect to keep a white cat, and caress it idly while sentencing people to death in a piranha tank..."

I thought this story was a real page-turner, and enjoyed it.

The last story in the book is Eric. Eric is a demonologist who summons Rincewind, apparently accidentally, as Rincewind is not a demon. Eric refuses to believe Rincewind is not a demon, and expects him to grant three wishes. Interestingly enough, special things happen when Rincewind snaps his fingers. We travel around the world with Eric, Rincewind and the Luggage, ending up in Hell.

This story had a bit of a trick in it, and I found it somewhat confusing until the trick was revealed. It was OK, but not one of my favorites.

So, I enjoyed Terry Practhett's Rincewind the Wizzard and Discworld, but not all of the stories equally.
I will give the whole book 3.5 stars - 4 stars for The Light Fantastic and Sourcery and 3 stars for The Colour of Magic and Eric. ( )

This was a collection of four Discworld books, The Colour of Magic, The Light Fantastic, Sourcery and Eric. The main character of course is Rincewind, but my favorite character is the Luggage. The wizard is good too. Never did a hero run so fast to get away, only to find himself saving the world instead. Eric was the palest of the four books for me, but a very amusing chase anyway. I do like the way morals are worked into this in an entirely sarcastic way. ( )