If you’re not a fan of either fantasy or sci-fi, but enjoy books with a social statement to make in a parable-like manner, these books would be a great place to start as an introduction to a phantasmagorically phenomenal series. There’s not so much that the story is lost, as in some of Adams’ works, but there’s quite enough to keep me giggling long into the night as I try and squeeze in just a little bit more reading. He has all the talent of a fantastically famous writer (he is one) and all the humor and randomness of Douglas Adams. I feel I should say I’m forever indebted to my husband for introducing Pratchett and me. “The Colour of Magic” was the very first book written about the Discworld which has now become so famous among sci-fi and fantasy readers. Having never read any of Terry Pratchett’s works, I felt I should probably start at the beginning. We’re introduced to hundreds of violently alive characters, all of whom add a great depth (and often a high sense of hilarity) to the story and the Discworld itself. Between the two of them, they discover dragons, trolls, meet several gods, stop pagan sacrifices, arrange romances for heroes, visit Death’s house for a game of bridge, and fall off the edge of the Disc. This seems like it’d be an easy job, but considering their personalities are fantastically opposite from each other, Twoflower has quite the knack for irritating Rincewind. Rincewind is charged with keeping Twoflower safe and making him happy. Rumor has it all the other spells are so frightened of this one spell, they refuse to stay in Rincewind’s mind. In fact, Rincewind has only ever been able to retain one spell – that of one of the great eight spells of the Octavo. The second individual is Rincewind, a failed wizard who has been expelled from the Unseen University of Magic for being completely incompetent in the ways of magic. He’s loaded to the gills with pure gold and has a luggage trunk that will follow him anywhere and protect him from anything. He is blissfully unaware of danger and dangerously full of imagination. First, there is Twoflower, the very first tourist on the Discworld. The future of Discworld will be forever altered upon the meeting of two unique individuals. On the Discworld, magic is commonplace, the gods play dice games, and you really can fall off the edge of the earth. In the beginning of this two-part tale, we are first introduced to Terry Pratchett’s Discworld – an entire world in the shape of a disc, set on the back of four enormous elephants, riding on the shell of gigantic turtle flying through space. The story of the first tourist on the Discworld, or alternately, the story of how the Discworld was nearly destroyed, or alternately the story of Rincewind and the Octavo, or even a story concerning how nice it is to have a hero around when you need one. I’m reviewing these two books together, because despite being two books, they are two halves to a single story. Sir Terry Pratchett passed away on 12th March 2015. He was awarded the World Fantasy Life Achievement Award in 2010. On 18 Feb, 2009, he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II. of 2007, Pratchett disclosed that he had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. Regarded as one of the most significant contemporary English-language satirists, Pratchett has won numerous literary awards, was named an Officer of the British Empire (OBE) “for services to literature” in 1998, and has received honorary doctorates from the University of Warwick in 1999, the University of Portsmouth in 2001, the University of Bath in 2003, the University of Bristol in 2004, Buckinghamshire New University in 2008, the University of Dublin in 2008, Bradford University in 2009, the University of Winchester in 2009, and The Open University in 2013 for his contribution to Public Service. In 2008, Harper Children's published Terry's standalone non-Discworld YA novel, Nation. The first of these, The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents, won the Carnegie Medal.Ī non-Discworld book, Good Omens, his 1990 collaboration with Neil Gaiman, has been a longtime bestseller and was reissued in hardcover by William Morrow in early 2006 (it is also available as a mass market paperback - Harper Torch, 2006 - and trade paperback - Harper Paperbacks, 2006). There are over 40 books in the Discworld series, of which four are written for children. Terry worked for many years as a journalist and press officer, writing in his spare time and publishing a number of novels, including his first Discworld novel, The Color of Magic, in 1983. His first novel, a humorous fantasy entitled The Carpet People, appeared in 1971 from the publisher Colin Smythe. Born Terence David John Pratchett, Sir Terry Pratchett sold his first story when he was thirteen, which earned him enough money to buy a second-hand typewriter.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |