Thursday, January 13, 2005
JUST FINISHED: The Color of Magic by Terry Pratchett. Although I'm not much of a fantasy lit wonk, word got back to me about the Discworld series, so here I am at the tail end of the first book This was the first book in a series that now takes up lots of shelf space at Barnes and Noble (and they were missing a few), so I figured it might be worth a shot.
The entire series is a send-up of various fantasy genres and the various cliches that have piled up at the base. Discworld itself is flat as a pancake, balanced on four elephants, who stand on the back of a giant turtle. There are wizards, warriors, trolls, and all those other types, but they don't necessarily act like they do in the other books.
Because of an annoying anal streak that surfaces in me at times, I started with the first book in the series. Magic is more of an episodic book, with four novella-length chapters concerning the wizard Rincewind, who flunked out of the Unseen University and has to get by on his wits (such as they are), and Twoflower, a tourist who never seems to realize what type of fierce danger he's in at any given moment. Although it has its own charming features, the Disc isn't a hospitable place for people who just want to look around, and Death himself has a funny habit of showing up to tell Rincewind they need to hit the road. Yes, this is a funny book, although I couldn't help but get the feeling that I'd get more of the jokes if I was hip-deep in fantasy arcana. There's not much I can do about that at this point.
The Discworld series has built up quite a following--four dedicated conventions already--so I might end up dipping my toe in a few others. Several websites tell me Pratchett was just getting warmed up with the first few books, and if they say it on the Internet, it must be so. *snicker*
The entire series is a send-up of various fantasy genres and the various cliches that have piled up at the base. Discworld itself is flat as a pancake, balanced on four elephants, who stand on the back of a giant turtle. There are wizards, warriors, trolls, and all those other types, but they don't necessarily act like they do in the other books.
Because of an annoying anal streak that surfaces in me at times, I started with the first book in the series. Magic is more of an episodic book, with four novella-length chapters concerning the wizard Rincewind, who flunked out of the Unseen University and has to get by on his wits (such as they are), and Twoflower, a tourist who never seems to realize what type of fierce danger he's in at any given moment. Although it has its own charming features, the Disc isn't a hospitable place for people who just want to look around, and Death himself has a funny habit of showing up to tell Rincewind they need to hit the road. Yes, this is a funny book, although I couldn't help but get the feeling that I'd get more of the jokes if I was hip-deep in fantasy arcana. There's not much I can do about that at this point.
The Discworld series has built up quite a following--four dedicated conventions already--so I might end up dipping my toe in a few others. Several websites tell me Pratchett was just getting warmed up with the first few books, and if they say it on the Internet, it must be so. *snicker*
|| Eric 10:46 AM#
