SciFi and Fantasy Book Club discussion

Post your thoughts on the first 30 or so pages of The Color of Magic.

I'm really enjoying this story. I'm breezing through it and hope to have it entirely finished by tonight or tomorrow.

I've never read Terry Pratchett before and I must say I'm really enjoying his work.

I am having a little trouble getting into the story. Just finshed the first 'part/chapter'. Not sure why it's bogging me down. I am enjoying the characters and the story and picking up on the humor everyone now and then, but I am not compelled to read every spare moment of the day.

Gbina, I had that trouble and it never let up. I think if it had been any longer, I probably wouldn't have finished it.

Sandi, I'm with you. There were a few parts that really shined but i found my self trying to rush through it just to get over with it. The main thing that kept me wanting to go on was the luggage, he/she/it was so damn funny.

I found the first segment to be my least favorite of the four and the one that took the most work to get through. There was still a lot of funny stuff happening, but I think it was too overpacked with chararacters to try and keep straight in the chaos ocurring.

Looking back on the first 30 pages - I agree that a lot of characters were presented. Also, describes the Discworld - and introduces and develops Twoflower and Rincewind. A lot happens in the first 30 pages.
I also breezed through this book - I like the combination of humor, science fiction, and fantasy, and like others, will have to say I am reminded of Douglas Adams and also of Christopher Stasheff.

I just finished the first 30 pages and am enjoying it. There are a lot of characters but I think I am following it, guess I will know if I am following it after I read a little further. I think it is also reading pretty fast. So far I have enjoyed some of the quirky characters introduced and I especially like the luggage so far.

I too found I had a bit of trouble with the first part of the book. Having already read Good Omens, it was easy to plow forward though and soon I found myself really enjoying the book.

Now, I'm much further than "initial reactions" and can say I definitely plan to read more in this series. Normally, I'm a very quick reader, but have found Color of Magic to be much slower going for some odd reason. Perhaps it takes a lot more daydreaming and visualization to "see" this novel than with other books with less descriptive and unique situations and scenery.

I agree with the visualizing was little harder in this book for me too. Sometimes I found myself re-reading parts to be sure I was imaging it right or maybe I missed something that would add to my imagination.

My initial reaction was to notice how different it was from the books I normally read. I, too, had a lot of trouble visualizing the story.

I have to admit, my initial reaction was, "Say what?!? Discs and turtle and elephants, oh my!

Once I got past the prologues, I was immediately pulled into the narrative. It has just the right amount of slap dash humor and creative world-building that I enjoy.

I am 15% into the book. So far, so good.

I read this so long ago but the luggage has always remained a favourite character of mine. I remember loving the book from page one and I read my way through the entire series hardly pausing for breath! I still read each of Terry Pratchett's books as they come out although sadly I think the Discworld is probably over.

I tend not to notice, for the most part, where an author is from but 10-20 pages into this book, I was remarking to myself "how British!" The humor is decidedly different than other english world authors. Different and good!

Some folks say 'start your discworld adventure with book 3 or 4 -- the first two aren't so good.' Well, it's been awhile, but I actually think they're my favorites. I absolutely adore the luggage, and Rincewind, and my interest in the series is about done (I've not gone beyond Going Postal).

Hank, I thought the same thing!

Cheryl wrote: "Some folks say 'start your discworld adventure with book 3 or 4 -- the first two aren't so good.' Well, it's been awhile, but I actually think they're my favorites. I absolutely adore the luggage, ..."

They may or may not be good according to people's evaluations, but they're definitely different. Much more satiric and satire-driven than the later ones, for instance.

My first reaction was: "oh, that smell!"

...yeah. I bought a physical paperback of this book a long time ago (10-15 years) and it's been untouched on my bookshelf all that time. I picked it up and flipped the pages and experienced that wonderful book smell for the first time in years. I've been reading mostly ebooks for years now and I'd forgotten it.

Ah yes, those sweet sweet tears of trees.

As Mr Pratchett himself once said. "It's dead tree technology, you know. Someone puts some ink on paper and with a minimum of care it lasts for thousands of years. I posted a story on a website, went in to check how many people had read it the next week, the site was down, the company went bust, my story vanished. Now with dead tree technology everything works everywhere, who'd have thunk it?

At the same time, when your double wide catches fire Amazon will still be there with all your books ready to download again.

And books fall apart. Paper crumbles.

I mean, I prefer DTBs, overall, but ebooks do have their uses.

Lol- you are right. Amazon will be there next week, In a year, ten years, maybe even fifty (though all evidence suggests otherwise) But Beowulf is old, The Anglo Saxon Chronicles are old. Sophocles plays, Herodotus, Histories, Thucydides, Homer and Virgil are even older. Not ten years or twenty or even fifty but thousands. Terry was right.

This is brilliant satire! I am already laughing so hard.

I know I'm getting on a bit, legs and teeth a little wobblier than they were, twinges in my back and I would never even mention the odd spiral hairs sprouting from ears and eyebrows. as if seeking to reach the heavens or open a bottle of wine sans corkscrew. Yet I have books I bought before the internet age began. They have tanned over the years, even in the weak Scottish sunshine, or perhaps that was my twenty a day cigarette habit but that (as most girls will tell you) just makes them sexier. "a good tan always helps" I have heard said. Yet what do think of when you consider books, pages, leaves, the building of it from roots and branches, off shoots, that you may trim and unfolding in the sunshine of imagination into Yggdrasil (the world tree) or your story. I'm with Terry. Dead tree technology is the future of books.

After reading the first part I remember why this book has been sitting unread on myself for several years. Going to give it more of a try this time. I only read about 10 pages the last time.

Cheryl wrote: "Some folks say 'start your discworld adventure with book 3 or 4 -- the first two aren't so good.' Well, it's been awhile, but I actually think they're my favorites. I absolutely adore the luggage, ..."

I gave a little smirk here -- I first found Pratchett in 1989, when my then-girlfriend loaned me The Color of Magic and The Light Fantastic (and Strata, which really is only an eensy-bit peripherally related to Discworld).

That was all there was to the franchise at that time. And I was still hooked.

I just read the first 42 pages last night. The first 20 pages were tedious, but it did pick up after that. I was up way past my bedtime.

I'd heard a lot about disc world I'm 60 pages in and Honestly I think its turning out better than I originally had expected, the story is excellent despite people saying to start with book 3 or 4. I've never read comedic fantasy before and perhaps I thought it would be nothing but overwhelming jokes to the point that it ruined the plot, its definitely not that.

It's not that the first two books are bad so much as that they are unrepresentative of Discworld. The satiric elements are much stronger, for instance.

COM is a decent read, but it's rarely anyone's favorite discworld book. You've got a great series ahead of you. There's a book club read of the series happening at Tor, on the third book now (Equal Rites), if you want to read along.

https://www.tor.com/series/terry-prat...

It's one great read. I didn't get around to reading The Color of Magic until I had read other Discworld books. I truly love The Color of Magic, though. Even the rest of Terry Pratchett's work.

Mike wrote: "Cheryl wrote: "Some folks say 'start your discworld adventure with book 3 or 4 -- the first two aren't so good.' Well, it's been awhile, but I actually think they're my favorites. I absolutely ador..."

I wished I had started reading his work back then. I was too involved with reading a lot of horror. Not that I still don't read it now, but reading other works, such as Terry Pratchett, you fall into his world and you really, really wish to stay put.