REVIEW: The Colour of Magic
So...yeah. Coming back, to the very beginning of the Discworld series after so long is strange. It's a shock, rather like jumping into a vat filled with ice-cold hydrofluoric acid, and yet, reading The Colour of Magic is considerably more pleasant than that...
Rincewind, a failed wizard with only one, possibly world-ending spell in his head, is roped into becoming the guide for Twoflower, the Discworld's first tourist. From the town of Ankh-Morpork to the temple of Bel-Shamharoth, from the Wyrmberg to the deadly country of Krull on the edge of the Disc itself, Rincewind and Twoflower are on an insane odyssey across one of the strangest worlds in the universe...
I have to confess, this Discworld novel feels very different from the later ones that I am used to. Pratchett was still feeling around as an author, and you feel, at least looking back on it in retrospect, a lot of mythology and background that was later discarded, or at least ignored. The Colour of Magic hasn't much plot to speak of, being mostly a fantasy-style road trip from one adventure to the next.
And yet...what is actually there is so entertaining that you forget about the lack of plot, and merely sit back and enjoy the spectacle. Pairing one of the most cowardly characters in fiction this side of Flashman (whom Rincewind was based on, apparently, though Rincewind is more likeable) with a fearless one (who defies all conventions of being heroic, being, instead, a mildly insane tourist with little sense of personal safety or self-preservation) is a good move.
The opening segment set in Ankh-Morpork is perhaps the most interesting overall, given that it sets up Rincewind and Twoflower's relationship, as well as establishing other characters and organisations that would later play a role in the mythos. It is interesting to read of a Patrician (said by Pratchett to be Vetinari, albeit one who is either obese, or has at least two chins), and the Guilds, even before they develop properly.
I feel it disappointing that the incidents and concepts in later parts of the book weren't developed later in the series (although the Wyrmberg concept does get re-developed into Guards! Guards!, and Krull gets mentioned in The Last Hero), as they were entertaining enough and intriguing enough in their own right, if fairly underdeveloped. There was real, but wasted, potential here.
Overall, The Colour of Magic hasn't aged well as a Discworld book, especially in light of the later books and retcons. But as a stand-alone book, and as a piece of entertainment, it is still damned fine.
8/10
First words: In a distant and second-hand set of dimensions, in an astral plane that was never meant to fly, the curling star-mists waver and part...
Last words:There didn't seem to be any alternative.
Have you never heard of LSpace Bouncy? 
