The Colour Of Magic, by Terry Pratchett

[nwhyte]

Second paragraph of third section ("The Lure of the Wyrm"):At its base it was a mere score of yards across. Then it rose through clinging cloud, curving gracefully outward like an upturned trumpet until it was truncated by a plateau fully a quarter of a mile across. There was a tiny forest up there, its greenery cascading over the lip. There were

Comments

[duck2ducks]

Oof. I'd definitely have to disagree about this being where a modern reader should start. I say that because I read this just a few years ago, and hated it.

(As mentioned in my review, part of my problem was a lack of context. But that's bound to be the case with any new, modern reader coming to it for the first time.)

A couple years later I tried reading the second one and found it far more enjoyable, more substantive, and less overwhelmingly in-jokey. It didn't blow me away or anything, but Pratchett's writing had significantly improved by Book 2 to the degree that I would totally be interested in checking out more some day! (Which was not the case after Book 1.)

[nwhyte]

this being where a modern reader should start

Not actually what I said.

[duck2ducks]

Gosh, you're ... right! (Oddly enough, it took three or four re-reads of the sentence to see what my words were actually *saying*. At which point I reacted strongly against them: "That's not what I meant at all!")

I suppose I meant to say "where a modern reader COULD (easily, viably) start". Although some still do...!

[redfiona99]

I got a few funny looks when I decided to start with this (because I like to begin things at the beginning) but I really liked it. Then again, Rincewind is still probably my favourite character.

[nwhyte]

Yes, I miss the early Rincewind in the later books!

[chess]

I really liked this and the other early Pratchetts and actively prefer them to the later books, which seems to make me unusual. I think various other people are better at doing Meaningful Story but no-one beats Pratchett at combining an actually pretty strongly self-consistent story and real relatable characters with huge piles of references and close parodies while keeping it actually funny.

[coth]

I reread this in 2015, and my then-self disagreed. I said: "...if I had been reading it now for the first time I doubt I would have finished it, let alone picked up any of the sequels. Books have their time, and this one caught it."

[irishkate]

I started at the beginning and probably only got to be a fan because a friend had all the first books (there weren't that many of them back then) and had lent them to me and was asking me what I thought fairly regularly. So I kept going. And eventually the flame caught and the fire was lit. But the first two books for sure did little to entice me. I considered them merely data once I actually got into the world.