Terry Pratchett’s Discworld is distinct from most other fantasy series for many reasons: its satirical tone, the staggering 40+ entries, and chiefly, the fact that each novel is a stand-alone and that they can be read in any order. As such, I spent a lot of time going back and forth on where I wanted my Discworld journey to begin. Should I just pick up whichever book had the synopsis that sounded most interesting? Should I go for the fan favorites? Should I commit to a single sub-series. Ultimately, despite popular opinion (including’ the author’s) I decided to start from the beginning, with the very first entry, The Color of Magic. I did so knowing that this book ranks fairly low on many fans’ lists. I have seen many commentators note that this is not the best Discworld novel, that is does not represent the true quality of Pratchett’s work, and that it does not exemplify the wonder and whimsy of Discworld when Pratchett is firing on all cylinders. I hope these assessments are correct, because The Color of Magic is a fairly unremarkable book and I truly hope there are much better books to come. The plot is incredibly thin, disjointed, and hard to follow at times. However, the characters are pretty great.
In this book, readers are introduced to Rincewind the wizard, the main protagonist of the Wizards sub-series of Discworld books. Rincewind is a cowardly wizard who knows only one spell (which he cannot use) and whose preferred solution to all problems is to run away. Through Rincewind, readers get a taste of how wizardry works on the Discworld. The Color of Magic also stars Twoflower, the first tourist to visit the sprawling city of Ankh-Morporkh, and his companion, The Luggage. The Luggage, a large travelling chest that runs around on hundreds of little feet and bites people is definitely the standout of this book. On their journey, the Rincewind and Twoflower encounter all manner of thugs, dragons, tree spirits, trolls, and even Death himself. But the shenanigans are not particularly memorable.
While I did not love The Color of Magic, I see the DNA of something really special in this first Discworld entry, and I will withhold judgement until I get to the books that fans truly love.
The Once and Future Lit 