Can I do this? I sure as cuss hope so.

Let me start off by saying, “The Color of Magic” isn’t the typical book that I’d read. I’m not that in to fantasy (Harry Potter probably being the closest I’ve come), so take this review with a grain of salt. There are plenty of other books that I’d likely read before this, and honestly, I only chose it because I found it in my garage, and it looked like a short (210 pages, by mine, and the publisher’s count), easy, fun read. It wasn’t, for me at least. I labored through this book for the better part of two months. Sure, I was reading “To Kill a Mockingbird” (in my opinion, a much more engaging read, but it’s a classic, so maybe that’s not fair) at the same time, but it was still sort of a chore to read this “short, funny, easily-digestible fantasy parody. Anybody who has read a lot of fantasy will probably love this book. I, however, didn’t.

The book is set in a fantastical world (Discworld) which is, oddly enough, disc-shaped. The world itself has rests on the back of four giant elephants, who in turn rest on the back of a HUGE turtle, the great A’Tuin (who is, in theory, traveling to some cosmic mating grounds to mate, and spawn a whole new generation of A’Tuins. This is known as the “Big Bang Theory”) who is swimming endlessly through the cosmos. This obnoxious premise is a parody of the even crazier premises that, I guess, pop up in many fantasy titles. This book addresses many problems, one of which being, Discworld is not a very safe place, especially for the tourist Twoflower (a floundering, rich, over-trusting tourist) and his failed wizard tour guide Rincewind (the worst-as in bad at magic-wizard probably ever written; he is good at running away, and staying alive.)

The story begins when the out-of-plate tourist Twoflower arrives in the hard livin’ streets of the Twin Cities of Ankh-Morpork. Twoflower is from the Golden Kingdom, a far off land that seems surprisingly similar to our on world, in this medieval, magical Discworld (it has accountants, and in-sewer-ants). He has with him a pocket translator, and a magical, sentient luggage containing a large amount of gold, which causes him much grief as the lowlifes of Ankh-Morpork pester him for it. He meets up with the inept wizard Rincewind, who is forced by a city official to accompany Twoflower, and keep him safe so as not to tarnish relations with the Golden Kingdom’s Emperor. This odd successfully burns down the Twin Cities. After they flee into the woods, they encounter a mountain-troll (controlled by the petty Gods of Discworld, who are all explained in a very complicated chapter that I didn’t really understand), and are separated. They both, through teleportation and ineptitude, arrive in a temple, erected in tribute to Bel’Shammaroth, the Soul-Eater. In the temple, the meet a new traveling companion, Hrun the Barbarian, and his magical sword, Kring. They defeat the Soul-Eater with a camera, fight some dragons, go to space, everything. If this sounds pretty complicated for a relatively short book, it was, at least in my eyes.

I don’t know if fantasy is always this complicated and convoluted, or if Pratchett was going for comedic-ly long expositional chapters. Maybe avid fantasy readers will like this book more for it, but I found it kind of boring. Something that I did like was the few “broad comedy” jokes thrown in there (“Any suggestions?” “Obviously, you attack,” said Kring scornfully. “Why didn’t I think of that?” said Rincewind. “Could it be because they all have crossbows?” “You’re a defeatist.” “Defeatist? That’s because I’m going to be defeated.”), Kind of roundabout, I know, but I certainly got those. I’m sure that people who read a lot of fantasy will LOL (ha) at all the little fantasy inside jokes peppered in throughout the book, all the ones that I just couldn’t find.

I think that the main theme of this book was that sometimes those who people wouldn’t normally consider as heroic are actually the best heroes. It’s actually a kind of simple theme, for such a complicated plot. I guess all themes are, aren’t they. I would recommend this book to fantasy lovers, by the way. They’d probably get it more than me. I certainly hope so, because this spawned over thirty sequels. I sure hope that it wasn’t all fluff. I haven’t actually seen much parody books, and this one doesn’t really impress me. I’d like to read some stronger parody material.