Bobby reads Discworld: The Color of Magic

So I finally took the plunge and started reading Discworld. It’s something I’d meant to do for a long time, especially after thoroughly enjoying the Good Omens miniseries. I figure I owe it to myself as a comedic fantasy writer to read arguably the most beloved comedic fantasy series in the literature world, right?

Of course, I did the stupid thing, and started at the first book. Oops! Scribd was giving away a free month to give folks something to do in quarantine, meaning I was able to read it for free, so I figured why not? I like to look at franchises in chronological order and see how they evolve. (I also wanted to test the waters and prove that my horrible ADHD brain can still handle reading novels before getting serious and buying myself an e-reader.) And now I’ve read it, and I have thoughts on it, so what the hell, might as well make this a thing on my blog as I work through this series. This isn’t an in-depth review, just something that’s too wordy for Twitter and that doesn’t fit on Thanks Ken Penders.

Anyway, so: The Color of Magic. The first book about Rincewind the funny wizard.

Even though I started at the very beginning of the series, I found the opening kind of rough. It throws a lot at you right out of the gate. If it weren’t for the up front explanation of the nature of the Discworld, it would almost feel like I was jumping into the middle of an established series. There’s some terminology you have to pick up on quickly, and it felt like characters rarely got more than a sentence or two of introduction, making it hard at times to paint a clear picture in my head. But perhaps some of that was intentional, making the book feel like a random entry in the sort of pulp series that this first book was parodying. Or maybe it was just an attempt to immerse the reader in this fantasy world by immediately shoving them into the deep end and hoping they figure out how to swim.

Y’all don’t have to tell me that Pratchett’s style evolved after the first few books because trust me, I know. I have heard this many, many times, and again, I’ve seen Good Omens. (I know half of that’s Gaiman, but whatever.) But it’s interesting to see the humble beginnings of the series. There are flashes of brilliance here and there, and I found a lot of the worldbuilding stuff interesting–especially the colorful descriptions of how magic works in the Discworld universe, and the stuff about the gods, and a lot of the ideas in the final chapter. But aside from these bits that he really seemed to get into, you can tell Pratchett didn’t have high aspirations at the start, and really just wanted to write an amusing little parody of high fantasy cliches starring a cowardly wizard and an eager tourist.

They really are funny characters, though, and there were a good number of bits where their personalities played off of each other well that made me grin, like this:

"What a strange creature," Twoflower remarked. "Is it dangerous?"

"Only to people!" shouted Rincewind. He drew his sword and, with a smooth overarm throw, completely failed to hit the troll. The blade plunged on into the heather at the side of the track.

Unfortunately, you really can tell that the story of this first book is just an excuse to put these two characters into different amusing situations, and as such the book didn’t quite grab me as much as it could have. Characters don’t have much in the way of arcs, there isn’t a real plot, and there aren’t even really themes. The supporting cast and most of the locations are painted in broad strokes to provide temporary obstacles for Rincewind and Twoflower to overcome, but there’s rarely more to them than what’s on the surface. For nearly half the book, the two are joined by Hrun, a stereotypical Conan-style barbarian hero who exists only to gently poke fun at Conan-style barbarian heroes. He enters the story randomly and exits it just as suddenly. The wiki tells me that he never appeared again for the entire rest of the series, although he gets briefly mentioned six books later to establish that he’s doing okay. This is pretty much par for the course in this first book.

After the events of the first act set the story in motion, the main duo just kind of wanders around with no goal or destination and stumble upon various setpiece moments until the book suddenly ends on a cliffhanger, with Rincewind, quite literally, hanging off a cliff on the edge of the disc. It sort of reads like a book inspired by a handful of loosely planned DnD sessions. (The bit about the gods treating Rincewind’s life as a board game and rolling dice to determine what happens next definitely plays into this as well.)

I’ve used it several times now, and “amusing” really is the word I’d use to describe this first book. While it has its share of funny moments, as a whole it isn’t that funny, and often isn’t even trying to be. I’d say a lot of what makes it funny is on a conceptual level as opposed to the moment to moment writing. The idea of Rincewind being a shitty wizard who’s terrified of most magic, meaning he probably has more sense than his peers. Or the fact that the Luggage consistently manages to be such a formidable force. That sort of thing. The ideas have a comedic air to them, even if it isn’t constantly making you laugh.

It’s also very funny to see how Death started out. While I’m only vaguely familiar with the rest of this series, I do know a bit about Death and how beloved of a character he is. But here he’s little more than a straightforward parody of the Grim Reaper who pops up in the book at inopportune times, generally taunting Rincewind and trying to take his life. He is genuinely funny here, though, so I can’t complain. It just makes me curious to see how exactly he turns into the sympathetic, lovable character I’ve heard so much about.

Overall, I enjoyed my time with The Color of Magic, even if it didn’t really wow me. It was a fun little weekend read, and I think that’s all it really wanted to be. I can already see the first hints of what people really love about Discworld, though, and I’m very excited to see how the series evolves as I continue my reading. Even though I easily could’ve just started with something like Mort or Sourcery or Guards! Guards! like most people say, I think this’ll give me a greater appreciation of the later books as Pratchett finds his voice.