Subject: THE COLOUR OF MAGIC (review)

From: [email-masked] (Joseph Edward Herbers)
Date: 28 May 90 19:00:20 GMT

Ok, here's another book I shall attempt to review.  After seeing several
of Raymond's Reviews (keep 'em coming!), I decided to include some format
info, like number of pages, price etc.  Let me know what you think.

THE COLOUR OF MAGIC  by Terry Pratchett
Signet:  1985  $3.50  253 pages

Summary: Enjoyable fantasy, with magic, swords and liberal doses of humor.

THE COLOUR OF MAGIC is the first book in a series of books set in Discworld.
It is followed by THE LIGHT FANTASTIC, EQUAL RITES, and several others. I
have only (just) read this first installment, so my review will be brief,
and I would encourage others to comment on the rest of the series.

The quotes on the covers of Pratchett's DIscworld books say "Pratchett is
the Douglas Adams of fantasy".  I think while this gives one a good idea
of the flavor of THE COLOUR OF MAGIC, it is a little misleading.  The book
certainly contains more humor than most fantasy novels, including some very
amusing puns (although not near the number in Piers Anthony's Xanth books).

But, unlike Adam's HITCHHIKERS' series, humor is not the only point.  The 
book does create a detailed, albeit very strange, fantasy world.  (The disc
of discworld rests on the back of a giant turtle moving slowly through the
universe).  More time was spent developing the characters than in the very
satirical HITCHHIKERS' series.  The cover quote did cause me to be on the 
lookout though for some of the more subtle humor which the book contains
(I can be pretty oblivious to these things some times.)

Overall, I found the book to be an enjoyable excursion to an amusing land
of wizards, heros, assasins, trolls, imaginary dragons and tourists.  The
story is not overly complex, but the characters keep moving from one pre-
dicament to another with many funny consequences and asides.  Nothing too
intense, but enough action to keep things lively.

I really don't know what else to say about the book.  I liked it.  I would 
recommend it to anyone tired of reading serious or complex fantasy (or SF)
who just wants to enjoy a good story with some laughs thrown in (a good
read after, say, Thomas Covenant).  Don't expect quite the madcap zaniness
of Adams' stuff, but still quite enjoyable.

So, who knows more about the series and wants to give us details?

		Joe "read Liege-Killer" Herbers