Colour of Magic - My introduction into Discworld

[Iroscato]

Contains spoilers. Ye are warned.

As I mentioned in the 'Terry Pratchett has died' thread, I have begun reading the Colour of Magic to finally introduce myself to his work. I felt I needed to create a thread partly as a way of discussing the book as I work my way through it, and partly as a way of saying with the utmost delight; Terry Pratchett, where the hell have you been all my life?! In a sense, this is me finding an easy way to offload and geek out, with a crowd of people that should understand where I'm coming from.
I also welcome recommendations from other members concerning Pratchett's work, as I find the task of digging through over 50 books daunting to say the least.
Expect much fanboying. Not to mention spoilers.

As a kid, I was a massive bookworm, devouring all sorts of books as long as they were about science, dinosaurs or history. I read fiction relatively rarely, fantasy fiction even less so. I read the likes of Harry Potter of course. I grew up in the early 00's, so there was no escaping that shit. In the last few years, work, the internet and the occasional relationship meant I never had time to actually settle down and read my way through a novel, let alone a series. As such, this is my first real effort in about 10 years. So bear with me, I ain't exactly what you call a seasoned fantasy veteran.

First impressions.
- I have to say I was sold on the book pretty much from the first line, which sets the mischevious tone straight away. The humour of the book isn't just funny - it has a way of leaping off the page, grasping your hands and throwing you round the room in a joyful dance. I'm literally chuckling with almost every paragraph, and in stitches every other page.

- The world-building is superbly done, in a way that allows me to perfectly visualise and understand the setting, culture and people and barely break my stride. This is a world that feels alive, as daft and absurd the entire thing is.

- There still exists a foreboding sense of menace amongst all this whimsy, what with the constant plotting to kill Twoflower by the uber-haughty locals, the already alarmingly high body count, and an appearance by the literal personification of Death. It hasn't really felt 'dark' yet though, in fact so far it all seems to be part of the fun!

- Rincewind has got to be one of the least likely protagonists I've ever come across. A cowardly, woefully inadequate little psuedo-wizard who is so laughably out of his depth he gave up holding his breath and just let the insanity take him fairly early on. His interactions with Twoflower are thigh-slapping stuff, as he tries to both act as guide to the endearingly naive tourist and mentally grapple with this newcomer's strange ways, especially his inn-sewer-ants and echo-gnomics.

I have just finished the end of Rincewind recounting his tale to Bravd and Weasel, so I'm not too far in, but this has already become one of my favourite books of all time.

[Crossroads Inc.]

Ye gods, WHY did you start with CoM? Pratchett himself often said it was the worst of his books and personally recommended new comers to starts with Other early books Sure its funny, but, oh, theres so much More out there!

Since you are starting off, let me at least recommend the following... It's a basic; "Discworld Timeline" of each of the primary book series laid by "year" as they happen.

[Iroscato]

Forgive me sir! I had heard tell it was a decent starting place for a humble beginner such as myself!
Although holy crap...this is considered the worst of his books?
...
I'm really, really going to enjoy this journey, aren't I?
Thank you for the timeline, I shall peruse it carefully once it stops making my eyes scream

[Crossroads Inc.]

LOL Yeah that 'disc world timeline' is a HUGE File, i tried to shrink it as much as possible and still have the text readable...

CoM isn't really considered "Bad" it is just... In the context of the over all Discworld, it tends to have a LOT of things that... Later on... You find are far more 'over the top' then they need to be. A lot of it is because it was the first disc world book, Terry didn't have a firm grasp on WHAT he was doing. As you go on and read more, you might git hints of things being "Silly for the sake of Silly" which Terry did early on. It's hard to explain at this point really.

That said the book is still VERY FUN, just take some of the world building with a grain of salt

Also, time wise when you DO start reading others, keep in mind just how Far back IT takes place vs the bulk of most other books...

[Iroscato]

Indeed, it would make sense that he settles into a slightly more sane rythm as he progresses. It's certainly effective for hooking you in from the outset though, I'll say that.
I suppose part of my gleeful reaction is how refreshing the whole thing is for me. There has been for the past decade, perhaps longer, a constant push for dark, gritty movies and TV shows that are all very serious and have very high stakes. Like I said, I rarely venture into written fiction so to have this explosion of thundering insanity put before me is a breath of fresh air.
Having said that, I look forward to seeing the expansion of this obviously gargantuan universe.

[madd0ct0r]

CoM is straight satire on fantasy, while some of the other strands - the Guards and Death are more self contained pieces of literature. Still, it's not a bad place to start

[Simon_Jester]

The Colour of Magic and The Light Fantastic are fantasy pastiches that parody a lot of other fantasy- for example, the characters of Bravd and the Weasel are a straight lift from Leiber's Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser.

For someone who's already read a fair amount of mid-20th century fantasy and is familiar with the basic tropes of the genre, it's a lot of fun- and that's the audience Pratchett aimed the books at back in the 80s. It's written in his characteristically amusing tone, and the two books are good books.

They are not representative of the later Discworld novels, though- but is that really such a bad thing? Arguably, the sheer rollicking fun-ness of those first two novels is the best introduction to the Discworld a reader could ask for.

[Sinewmire]

Arguably, the sheer rollicking fun-ness of those first two novels is the best introduction to the Discworld a reader could ask for.

And the introduction to some recurring characters too!

I'm very interested in reading this thread - I love vicariously rediscovering things! Keep it up!

[bilateralrope]

LOL Yeah that 'disc world timeline' is a HUGE File, i tried to shrink it as much as possible and still have the text readable...

The biggest problem with that image is not the size (though the text is a bit small), but the fact that everything has a jagged white border around it surrounded by transparency. On a white background the image looks a lot better than on the BlackSoul background.

A better reading order guide exists, though reading the stories in the order they were published does work well.

[Iroscato]

The madness continues apace - Twoflower, Rincewind and Hrun survive the Worst Thing In Existence in one breath, then listen to a sentient sword muse on it's possible career options whilst munching on bear meat in the next
I like how magic is treated essentially like sapient radiation, able to literally leap off a page and create abominations analogous to Chernobyl mutants.
A question; how exactly did Rincewind teleport to Twoflower? It seems to have glossed over the exact mechanics, or is that sort of the point?

[Zaune]

I like how magic is treated essentially like sapient radiation, able to literally leap off a page and create abominations analogous to Chernobyl mutants.

Fun fact; Pterry used to be the press officer for four British nuclear power stations.

[SpottedKitty]

I like how magic is treated essentially like sapient radiation, able to literally leap off a page and create abominations analogous to Chernobyl mutants.

Fun fact; Pterry used to be the press officer for four British nuclear power stations.

And it shows, particularly in some of the books where the magic system¹ is explained in a bit more detail.

Note that there's a fair bit of Early Installment Weirdness² in the first few books, until Pterry got into his stride and ironed out some of the kinks.

Damnit, I hate using the past tense in comments like this.

¹ It also helps to remember that early home computers like the Sinclair Spectrum and BBC B were becoming popular.
² Not a link to TVTropes, I'm not that cruel.³
³ Beware the footnotes. Some of them are sneaky; you'll be halfway down the next page and suddenly start laughing.

[Batman]

As someone who pretty much had to read them in the order they were published (yes, I'm that old. Been in print since 1939, remember?) I say that's a perfectly workable way to read them. You'll possibly find you'll reread them (and trust me, you will) differently once you know the different narrative threads (as River Song would say, Spoilers ) but publishing order definitely works for starters.
And I'm afraid I'm in the camp of the people saying 'The Colour of Magic/The Light Fantastic' (which are essentially one book story-wise) are the worst Discworld books. I'm not saying they're bad books, mind-I too enjoyed reading them, I still love Rincewind predicting the coin would come down 'edge' without even bothering to check as they approached the Wyrmberg, or him arguing with the magical sword that, if he had his druthers, would drop at the earliest opportunity, but compared to what came after, yes, they're pretty weak.

[Crossroads Inc.]

The Colour of Magic and The Light Fantastic are fantasy pastiches that parody a lot of other fantasy- for example, the characters of Bravd and the Weasel are a straight lift from Leiber's Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser.

For someone who's already read a fair amount of mid-20th century fantasy and is familiar with the basic tropes of the genre, it's a lot of fun- and that's the audience Pratchett aimed the books at back in the 80s. It's written in his characteristically amusing tone, and the two books are good books.

THIS
I've listened to a lot of speeches and Terrys musings (mostly in a book put together by him OF speeches he did on the topic of fantasy)
In the late 70's early 80's there was this "Gold Rush" of Fantasy writing, and to Terry, it was mostly VERY BAD Fantasy. His first two books are a sort of direct response to this, One Massive poke in the eye of the Pulpy Fantasy mush of the time. So.... Someone reading them today who is NOT a big fantasy fan (or who is not British) has a hard time getting into it. So yeah, they are not BAD books, they are as we know VERY funny. It is simply it's hard for an outsider to sink their teeth into

LOL Yeah that 'disc world timeline' is a HUGE File, i tried to shrink it as much as possible and still have the text readable...

The biggest problem with that image is not the size (though the text is a bit small), but the fact that everything has a jagged white border around it surrounded by transparency. On a white background the image looks a lot better than on the BlackSoul background.

A better reading order guide exists, though reading the stories in the order they were published does work well.

Well keep in mind the chart I put together isn't really a direct 'reading list' It was mostly to represent the supposed "Discworld Timeline" as constructed by various sources over the years. I posted it mostly as a visual guide show WHEN various stories take place in relation to each other.
That said, yeah, should re-edit it at some point to clean up that white

I like how magic is treated essentially like sapient radiation, able to literally leap off a page and create abominations analogous to Chernobyl mutants.

Fun fact; Pterry used to be the press officer for four British nuclear power stations.

OMG You have no idea! Or maybe you do
Once again reading various species and essays over the years, A great deal of Terrys views on Magic came from his years working there. Not to mention sa lot of local mythos and views on how humans work.
Fun tale, during the construction of the Nuclear Plant, the work crew ALMOST Bulldozed a near by burial mound that was locally called "The Fairies Cave" where it was said fairies came out at night and danced on. At the time people joked how unlucky it would have been if they had done so "Those Fairies would have made a mess of our nuclear plant if we upset them, HoHo!"
Fast forward to the completion of the plant. A local sends the plant a statue of a Gnome with a letter along the lines of "I am sending you one of the Fairies to keep an eye on things! Make sure he is put somewhere to watch and you should never have problems with the Fairies!" Once again there was much 'Ho Ho!' and the Gnome became a 'Mascot' of sorts and was put in the Lobby.
THEN... during some cleaning, the statue was put away in a closet, less then 2 weeks later, there was a minor problem at the plant that had people more then a little worried about a possible radiation leak. What happened next? Well, the statue came out AND WAS NEVER MOVED AGAIN.
Now Did anyone there REALLY Believe the statue prevented accidents? That it was a Fairy Watchgaurd? Well no thats silly! But... Humans do love to tell Stories...

[LadyTevar]

The best thing about Discworld is that Pratchett never gave up on the parody/humor. Whether it was about Fantasty Life, about Computers, about Movies, whatever the topic; he took it, spun it on its head, and served it forth with that peculiar British sideways humor that left you sniggering. And, as all good parody does, it makes you see the Real World and THINK.

[Crossroads Inc.]

Ahoy Chimaera!
Curious how the book is coming along! I know the first book focuses mainly on Rincewind and Twoflower, Curious how much of the Wizards you have read up, Specifically one called "Trimon"

[Iroscato]

Twoflower is speaking to the defiantly-dead wizard Greicha and has just learned he can summon dragons with the power of the mind.
I love the twists on many of the conventions of fantasy, the nature of dragons being one of them.
Another quote for my box of favourites - "The only reason for walking into the jaws of Death is so's you can steal His gold teeth" - Hrun the Barbarian.
EDIT: Also, I haven't read anything about these other wizards. I have an e-book copy of the book as I just have no space at my place for normal books.
Is it in one of the footnotes?

[Crossroads Inc.]

Ah my mistake, I forgot how late in the book you run into them. The "Wyrmbog" Is barely half of the way into the book.

OH! You asked about the teleportation of Rincewind early... Was that when he was captured by the Tree people?

[Iroscato]

Ah my mistake, I forgot how late in the book you run into them. The "Wyrmbog" Is barely half of the way into the book.

OH! You asked about the teleportation of Rincewind early... Was that when he was captured by the Tree people?

Yes indeed, so far it's the only part of the book I haven't been able to figure out. Probably something obvious

[Crossroads Inc.]

Ah ok , so MY interapation of the event...

So the dryads wanted to show Rincewind the horrible fate of Twoflower.
Now they didn't have a TV, do they used magic to "summon" a "live" image of where Twoflower was. Not just a picture, but a sort of living 4dimension copy of where Twoflower was... Rincewind senses this, and jumps into the portal. Being magically inclined, was "teleported" to the "real" place that the dryads were summoning...

that's what I got out of it in any case lol .
Finishing the Wymbog story will take you to IMHO one of the weirdest parts in the whole book

[Ahriman238]

I first read Pyramids, then the Moist books. Bunch of standalones; Moving Pictures, Small Gods, Equal Rites, Reaper Man, Soul Music, Hogfather, then the Rincewind books and Weird Sisters.

....

I still need to give the Guards books a go.

[Alkaloid]

I started with the Last Hero, then Mort, then a few of the Guards books and then the TCoM. The thing with TCoM is like a lot of people said, it's good, but he just hadn't worked out why some of his stuff worked yet.

[The Romulan Republic]

I first read Pyramids, then the Moist books. Bunch of standalones; Moving Pictures, Small Gods, Equal Rites, Reaper Man, Soul Music, Hogfather, then the Rincewind books and Weird Sisters.

....

I still need to give the Guards books a go.

The City Watch/Guards series of books is so entertaining. Its also quite long- a fairly substantial series all on its own (their are eight novels I think).

[Iroscato]

Seeing as I'm roughly 2/3 of the way through, what do you guys recommend my next port of call be? The Light Fantastic, Guards, or something else?
And thanks for the explanation Crossroads, that makes sense in that delightfully twisted way

[The Romulan Republic]

Well, you could just read them chronologically or in the order they were published.

That said, Guards! Guards! is good, and it includes the fantastic bad asses that are Vimes and Vetinari.