The Colour of Magic

I attempted the second Cannonball Read and failed miserably (seriously – looking back at the posts I made way back when shows that but a single book review ever got posted). I’m finally back to try again, although I’ve lowered the bar to just a Quarter Cannonball in the hopes it will be more manageable. I am the sort of person who buys books in the hopes that perhaps I will someday find a way to read them and this challenge may be the impetus I need to actually do just that. Also, 2018 seems like it could benefit from some literary distractions! 

I had been dancing around starting Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series for a verrrrry long time because I was intimidated by the scope. I finally went with Small Gods based on a recommendation and, not surprisingly, fell in love. I want to read the whole thing now and settled on just plowing through them in chronological order. I have managed to stick with the plan long enough to start with The Colour of Magic. Many people say this is exactly the wrong thing to do because the first Discworld books are lacking the, er, magic of the rest of the series but since I have sufficient faith in the series to stick with it I think the decision was a good one for me.

The book is a breezy and fun introduction to the Discworld universe, via Rincewald the magician and his association with Twoflower, the visitor from the far off Agatean Empire who comes to the twin cities of Ankh-Morpork with gloriously full purses and some truly singular Luggage. Soon enough, Ankh-Morpork burns and the two are forced to flee. Shenanigans ensue, along with amusing send-ups of the fantasy genre. There were a number of times I found myself literally laughing out loud as I read. I don’t have much to compare it to beyond Small Gods and Good Omens but this book did feel like an early effort to me in that it had the humor but not so much of the bite that I loved about the other two.

As a total aside, Bravd and the Weasel made me remember how much I loved Fritz Leiber when I was young. I may have to add him to my book list, although it was his short stories that were always my favorites.