Week 6 and I’m very much ahead of schedule – I finished this book yesterday and I’m almost halfway through the Hobbit – yay for easter holiday! But without further ado, let’s dive into my review of Terry Pratchett’s ‘The Colour of Magic’.
Title: The Colour of Magic
By: Terry Pratchett
Pages: 285
Published by Corgi, 1998, London
First published 1983
On a world supported on the back of a giant turtle (sex unknown), a gleeful, explosive, wickedly eccentric expedition sets out. There’s an avaricious but inept wizard, a naive tourist whose luggage moves on hundreds of dear little legs, dragons who only exist if you believe in them, and of course THE EDGE of the planet…
***
Rating on Goodreads: 
(liked it)
Even before I read a review saying sir Terry Pratchett is ‘the Douglas Adams of fantasy’, that’s what I started calling him in my head. We like a bit of Douglas Adamsy writing, right?
First things first: I sort of expected one story, one plot, one quest or something of the sorts, but this book is actually, if I’m not mistaken, a collection of shorter stories that all have the same main characters and which happen in order. It’s not a bad thing – it just took me by surprise when I read it and it somehow muddled up my reading experience a bit because I read it as one thing while it was another.
Enough of that, this world is incredible. Terry Pratchett has an imagination that’s practically as twisted as Douglas Adams’ – he comes up with the most incredible people, the most crazy situations, the weirdest magical beings and artifacts and this book left me sorry that I didn’t think of these ideas myself. They’re magnificent. If anyone knows where I can buy an imagination like this, let me know!
What I see most people commenting on is how funny the book is. As is often said as well, it’s not ha-ha-rolling-on-the-floor-laughing funny, but it made me smile and I often say that’s a rare and precious thing in litterature. It is, we don’t necessarily need a reason to laugh out loud at books, but an involuntary smile here and there, I think, is very precious indeed.
Really, the writing, the humour, and the characters did most for me during the reading of this. The writing is highly engaging, twisting and turning and all over the places – the descriptions are vivid and unique, the humour I’ve already applauded and the characters are really good fun. There isn’t a fantasy clichée that Pratchett hasn’t turned into something funny and original and this he did in the 80s. Right now, imagine me looking sternly over me glasses at all fantasy writers because they’re using the clichées Pratchett made fun of in the 80s.
It is with some regret and shame I say that because of the different storylines I had some trouble following the plot. I know that’s mostly because I was expecting a different sort of story and because this isn’t your typical fantasy story. Letting your attention slip while reading this is not recommeneded. Unfortunately, it put me off the story a bit, and if I didn’t know that his books are very much loved by a lot of people, it might have discouraged me enough to give up on the whole story. For now, I’m telling myself that I’m just not smart enough to enjoy this fully.
With all this said, this is a nice book and I like it. It’s a quick read, it’s funny and with funny characters and though it’s a bit confusing, I blame that on my lacking attention span. Give it a shot if you feel like fantasy always makes you cry and roar instead of giggling to yourself.
