4 out of 5 Stars

 

Welcome to the first instalment of our Terry Pratchett DiscWorld Read-a-Thon! Follow the read-a-thon and see what everyone else though of this book here!

Nina at The Cozy Pages

Meeghan at Meeghan Reads

Kathy at Pages Below the Vaulted Sky

Didi at Didi Oviatt

Alicia at Miss Honeybugs Reads & Crafts

A Storm of Pages

Nicole at The BookWorm Dinketh

Flowangelic

Emma @ The Stride of my Step

Synopsis

Together in one volume, here are the first two Discworld novels, featuring Rincewind the wizard and his Luggage, Twoflower and innocent tourist and Cohen the Barbarian, the world’s oldest and greatest hero. And not to mention Death, who’s not so bad once you get to know him.

My Thoughts

This book is so nostalgic to me! Sadly, I almost rated it a 3.5 though just because it’s only the first novel.. but that world building!! No one can build a world as intricate as Sir Terry Pratchett. He came up with EVERYTHING! The lay of the land from what the world is built on (The Great Turtle A’Tuin and a Disc held up by 4 Elephants), the Directions (Hubward, Rimward, Turwise and Widdershins), and the way the seasons work… I’ll let you figure that one out yourselves…. mind. Blown.

I think that I probably love this book more having read the whole series before in my life and, going back, seeing how much foreshadowing and build up there is for the rest of the series (anyone who DIDN’T like this book, remember that it gets SO MUCH BETTER! This is just the prequel to so much.)

Is it strange to have a favourite character that really does nothing at all??? The Luggage is my FAVOURITE!!!

I just picture that luggage like a faithful dog that you never wanted, and Rincewind’s poor fate to have to deal with it was hilarious,

“In any case, he told himself with sinking heart, the damn thing would follow him again. It had that dogged look about it. Even if he managed to get to a horse, he had a nasty suspicion that it would follow him at its own pace. Endlessly. Swimming rivers and oceans. Gaining slowly every night, while he had to stop to sleep. And then one day, in some exotic city and years hence, he’d hear the sound of hundreds of tiny feet accelerating down the road behind him…”

And, poor Rincewind, always thinking of money over his own safety and sanity. He’s such a wonderfully sarcastic character who always seems to get dumped on with the most ridiculous tasks that are harder than a job “juggling snowballs through Hell”

“You don’t understand at all,” said the wizard wearily, “I’m so scared of you that I’m suffering from an overdose of terror right now. I mean, when I’ve got over that then I’ll have time to be decently frightened by you.”

The one thing that I ABSOLUTELY loved, is the insertion of real world concepts into this world that is so foreign, you get an introduction to a world so different than our own and than you meet a character like Twoflower who is introducing normal things into this society,

“Inn-sewer-ants,” repeated Rincewind. “That’s a funny word. Wossit mean?”

“Well, suppose you have a ship loaded with, say, gold bars. It might run into storms or be taken by pirates. You don’t want that to happen, so you take out an inn-sewer-ants-polly-sea. I work out the odds against the cargo being lost, based on weather reports and piracy records for the last twenty years, then I add a bit, then you pay me some money based on those odds-“

“-and the bit-” Rincewind said, waggling a finger solemnly.

“-and then, if the cargo is lost, I reimburse you.”

 

“Bloody hell,” he thought. “he’s alive! Me too. Who’d have thought it? Perhaps there is something in this reflected-sound-of-underground-spirits?” It was a cumbersome phrase. Rincewind tried to get his tongue round the thick syllables that were the word in Twoflower’s own language.

“Ecolirix?” he tried. “Ecro-gnothics? Echo-gnomics?” That would do. That sounded about right.”

I learned a lot from this book, as Sir Terry Pratchett turns logic, and everything you thought you knew, on it’s head,

“Lightning is the spears hurled by the thunder giants when they fight,” it said gently. “Established meteorological fact. You can’t harness it.”

“All cats can see into the octarine.” (the basic colour of which all other colours are merely pale shadows impinging on normal four-dimensional space. It is said to be a sort of fluorescent greenish-yellow purple.)

I love the references from my childhood,

“Here’s another fine mess you’ve got me into,” he moaned and slumped backwards.” (full disclosure, I grew up with a father in a Laurel and Hardy fan club… if you don’t know who they are, they’re a comedy duo from the 20s-40s and they were AMAZING! Please check them out!!)

And DEATH!!! I can’t forget about him! And, I can’t wait to learn more about him!!! He has to be one of my favourite characters in this series!!

“Death, insofar as it was possible in a face with no features, looked surprised.

RINCEWIND? Death said, in tones as deep and heavy as the slamming of leaden doors, far underground.

“Um,” said Rincewind, trying to back away from that eyeless stare.

BUT WHY ARE YOU HERE? (Boom, boom went crypt lids, in the worm-haunted fastnesses under old mountains….)

“Um, why not?” said Rincewind. “Anyways, I’m sure you’ve got lots to do, so if you’ll just-“

I WAS SURPRISED THAT YOU JOSTLED ME, RINCEWIND, FOR I HAVE AN APPOINTMENT WITH THEE THIS VERY NIGHT.

“Oh no, not-“

OF COURSE, WHAT’S SO BLOODY VEXING ABOUT THE WHOLE BUSINESS IS THAT I WAS EXPECTING TO MEET YOU IN PSEPHOPOLOLIS.

“But that’s five hundred miles away!”

YOU DON’T HAVE TO TELL ME, THE WHOLE SYSTEM’S GOT SCREWED UP AGAIN, I CAN SEE THAT. LOOK, THERE’S NO CHANCE OF YOU-?

Rincewind backed away, hands spread protectively in front of him. The dried fish salesman on a nearby stall watched this madman with interest.

“Not a chance!”

I COULD LEND YOU A VERY FAST HORSE.

“No!”

IT WON’T HURT A BIT.

“No!” Rincewind turned and ran. Death watched him go, and shrugged bitterly.

SOD YOU, THEN, Death said.

All in all it is such a fun book that really sets the tone and builds the world for the rest of the series. I can’t wait for everyone to see where it’s all going and get introduced to some other residents of Discworld!

BUY YOUR COPY HERE!!!

 

The Colour of Magic is Best Served with a Tipsy Turtle

 

This drink is in honour of the Great A’Tuin! As the first book in the series I figured we could give a cheers to the Turtle that holds up this world!! CHEERS TO THE GREAT A’TUIN AND DISCWORLD! 🍻

“Although the disc’s sun is but an orbiting moonlet,its prominences hardly bigger than croquet hoops, this slight drawback must be set against the trmendous sight of Great A’Tuin the Turtle, upon Whose ancient and meteor-riddled shell the disc ultimately rests. Sometimes, in His slow journey across the shores of Infinity, He moves His country-sized head to snap at a passing comet.”

 

Ingredients

• 1oz White Rum
• 1 oz Melon Liqueur
• 2 oz Pineapple Juice
• 1 oz Sweet and Sour mix (I replaced this with soda water as I’m not a huge fan of drinks that are sweet and it was still good!)
• Ice

Directions

1. Add all ingredients to a glass full of ice and stir.
2. CHEERS!!