The Colour of Magic: The First Discworld Novel (A Discworld Novel) (original 1983; edition 1985)

Yeah. Sorry. I tried. Not my cup of tea.

Inept, cowardly, and unintentionally hilarious wizard Rincewind becomes the guide for Discworld's first (and possibly last) tourist, Twoflower, and his extremely aggressive multi-legged trunk/bodyguard, Luggage. This is my first visit to Discworld and, while this introductory voyage can be a little overwhelming with all its details, it works on one level, since the many descriptions of the world's physical wonders and the various odd societal rules make the reader completely empathize with Twoflower's astonishment at all that surrounds him. It's not a flawless read by any means as it is very much an introduction to the world itself and the pace gets borderline frantic when it comes to rushing the characters around to various places on the disc, just to make sure they're on the map, so to speak, and the actual Rincewind/Twoflower story becomes secondary at time, which is a shame. I've been assured that future installments are better paced, have smoother writing, and make more room for Pratchett's completely bonkers characters. ( )

Whenever I talk with people and my favorite genre of books (fantasy) becomes the topic of conversation, everybody have asked me the same question: "Have you read Pratchett?". Like it is some criteria to test you if you really are a fantasy fan. And when I would reply: "No." they looked appalled and started to convince me: "But you must! blah-blah-blah..."

A couple of years ago, I tried to read [b:The Color of Magic|34497|The Color of Magic (Discworld, #1)|Terry Pratchett|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1168566155s/34497.jpg|194190] (Serbian translation)... and gave up at half. It was so confusing and I just could not keep up with events and characters. Conclusion was that I was some kind of freak who for some weird reason does not like Pratchett's style.

So why try again?
This book was stalking me! Believe it or not. It was everywhere I looked - at Listopia, Goodreads recommendations, in group topics... So I decided to try again this time original (in English). Just to be sure. And I am not sorry. Much of the Pratchett writing style was lost in a translation. Now I had no trouble following the plot.

I liked poor Rincewind and always optimistic Twoflower but my favorites were definitely side-characters like Luggage, demon-in-a-picture-box, Death, etc. :) ( )

The first Discworld book, in publishing order, is pretty fun. It's also pretty light, a bit scatter-brained: funny without really sticking in my mind. There's something compelling about it, but at the same time it's far from what it could be -- far from being, say, like Good Omens. Still, I know that Pratchett's writing changes and develops throughout the series, and this was enjoyable -- I'll be reading the rest, eventually.

My favourite thing about this book was the Luggage. I just... found it adorable, somehow.

Despite liking it in a vague sort of smiling-at-it way, I don't have much to say about it. ( )

I just adore Pratchett. The first thing I ever read by him was Good Omens, which of course, he co-wrote with Neil Gaiman. Some of the ideas, being very Gaimanesque, led me to the rest of Gaiman's books, but the snarky, playful humor is (mostly) all Pratchett. It took me quite awhile to figure that out, and to read anything in the Pratchett-universe.

Since then, I've read several books in the Discworld series. I figured it was high time I started at the (sort of) beginning. Like the books, the reading order is rather convoluted, so theoretically I'm starting with #1, then persisting with some sort of chronological reading order, within the general story arcs.

Hmmm...

A part of me expected this to be a weak entry in Discworld, given that it is book #1, and as a general rule, I've found initial books-in-series to lack development. Boy was I ever wrong.

From the Big Bang Hypothesis, to the Cliffhanger ending, I was teeheeing and snorting through the entire clever, funny, action-packed and reference-rich tale.

HIGHLY recommended, and if I could adore Pratchett anymore than I already do, I would. ( )