The Colour of Magic
by Terry Pratchett · first published 1983
24% recommend66% neutral11% critical
Why HN recommends it
Funny parody of fantasy tropes with a sharp feminist and social edge; a good starting point for the Discworld series, suited to fantasy fans who enjoy humor.
Common criticism: Some find the early writing weaker than the later Discworld books.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
Terry Pratchett's profoundly irreverent novels are consistent number one bestsellers in England, where they have garnered him a revered position in the halls of parody next to Mark Twain, Kurt Vonnegut, Douglas Adams, and Carl Hiaasen.The Color of Magic is Terry Pratchett's maiden voyage through the now-legendary land of Discworld. This is where it all begins--with the tourist Twoflower and his wizard guide, Rincewind.
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…story. If I would judge the scenes by themselves, I would say they are nice. However if you put them in order, it seems forced to put a story together. I had similar thoughts after reading Pratchett's The Colour of Magic. Though after I started reading The Light Fantastic it fell into place. I would say that those two books should be inseparable. Whatever happens in the first does not make sense until the second book.…
on “How I Consume Books” ↗…and so some people prefer to follow one of the many Reading Guides out there to determine which books to read and when. But a lot of us disagree and say that you should go to the very first book, The Colour of Magic, start there, and read the whole series in order, because it lets you experience Pratchett as he evolves from a pretty good writer into one of the best fantasy authors of all time. Plus you get to experience…
on “Ask HN: Which book have you re-read recently?” ↗…commentary on religion that I have ever seen. Try Small Gods for a rather unsubtle start. If you want to do Pratchett then start at the beginning and work out - that's my advice. I was about 15 when the Colour of Magic came out and now I'm 52ish. There is also absolutely nothing wrong with randomly diving in but why not start at the beginning - no matter how daft it looks now? I actually rather like the first two…
on “Discworld on Page and Screen, Part 1: Serious Comedy” ↗…geek novels". I immediately read a bunch of those. Recently I managed to find the list again, and it's been endless pleasure: - American Gods -- Neil Gaiman - Brave New World -- Aldous Huxley - The Colour of Magic -- Terry Pratchett - Consider Phlebas -- Iain M Banks - Cryptonomicon -- Neal Stephenson - Cloud Atlas -- David Mitchell - The Diamond Age -- Neal Stephenson - The Dispossessed -- Ursula K Le Guin…
on “Ask HN: What are you reading?” ↗A well done feminist critique of fantasy, literature, and "real life," and he pulled it off with a sense of humor. Read "The Colour of Magic" if you get the chance, it's hilariously funny in spots, especially if you're a little bit of a fantasy geek.
on “Terry Prachett: Why Gandalf Never Married (1985)” ↗I would start with "The Colour of Magic" which is the first book and gives an overview of "Discworld"[0]. After that there are quite a few guides relative to the preferred order and you'll have to make your own decisions based on your personal…
on “Novels with giant, possibly magical, libraries” ↗…experience - when I was young I was looking more for traditional fantasy and did not enjoy a Discworld book I picked up. Now that I am in my middle 40s I just got a couple of his books and I am enjoying the Colour of Magic so much right now, having a real blast!
on “I Miss Terry Pratchett” ↗Colour of Magic sets up the Disc, and how it works, after that you can do any of them. Fundamentally do you like, wizards, witches, guards, death, or the chancer (moist Von lipwig) ? I say this because the whole set…
on “Ask HN: Where to Start with Discworld?” ↗Just starting with the first book (The Colour of Magic) and continuing in release order is fine. No need to make things more complicated than that.
on “0% of the phrases of the original Wikipedia "Ship of Theseus" article remain” ↗…Given that, there are a lot of books here so I'm open to suggestions. [1] http://www.co.uk.lspace.org/books/reading-order-guides/index... Edit: Thanks for the responses, I had already reserved The Colour of Magic (you have no idea how nice it is to type that as a Canadian ex-pat) at my local library, I'm going to hunt down Guards! Guards! now. :) Edit 2: And... there's a waitlist. Thanks, everybody!
on “Sir Terry Pratchett has died” ↗Question 1: Are you fairly determined to read them all? YES: start with The Colour of Magic at the beginning and work your way through NO / Not sure: Don't start at the beginning, as the first few books are weird and will put you off. Question 2: What sounds more fun to you, reading about…
on “Sir Terry Pratchett has died” ↗…understand the founders are Terry Pratchett / Discworld fans from the name of the associations. For non french speakers, Deuxfleurs is the french traduction of the Twoflower character appearing in The Colour of Magic, The Light Fantastic and Interesting Times from Terry Pratchett's Discworld books series.
on “Garage, our self-hosted distributed object storage solution” ↗My "aha" moment for that one was when I read Terry Pratchett's first Discworld Novel, "The Colour of Magic", I guess when I was about 12 or so. First I laughed my head off at this ridiculous word and then, from the context, I worked out what it meant. A lesson I've never forgotten, as I'm sure this one will…
on “What It Means to Live in a Holographic Universe” ↗…point, both on it's own merits and as it introduces the Watch series which is terrific. It was also the author's favourite (or one of his favourites). Be aware that if you start at the beginning with The Colour of Magic the very early books are a quite different style to once he'd got into his stride, so unless you're absolutely determined to read them all I wouldn't start there. Edit: Btw, Guards! Guards! is early…
on “Sir Terry Pratchett has died” ↗…this : Terry Pratchett was right all along. We’re all wizards, and this is the manifestation human neural morphology to the octarine discharge of strong magical fields :-D FYI, I just finished “The Colour of Magic”, the first Discworld novel by Terry Pratchett, a few days ago and I’m currently reading its sequel.
on “Your Mind Is Eight-Dimensional – How Algebraic Topology Is Unlocking [video]” ↗