Before all that, though, perhaps it's best to begin with the novel that started it all. Wow, that's a lot of Discworld goodness to consider. It even made its way into the video game scene as a text adventure for all you old-school gamers out there. It became a made-for-TV movie in 2008, and it was adapted into a graphic novel, too. The Color of Magic itself has been revisited in several different media. And if miniatures don't make for a success story, then we don't know what does. Since its release, around forty Discworld novels have been published, not to mention a plethora of movies, radio dramas, video games, board games, card games, game games, graphic novels, and miniatures all set in or themed around the Discworld. ( Source.)īut The Color of Magic did begin the Discworld phenomena all the same. It won no major awards, and Pratchett wasn't able to devote himself to full-time writing until the release of the fourth Discworld novel, Mort.

The novel was successful enough to warrant a sequel and a radio drama on BBC Radio 4, but its achievements didn't hint at the massive success story to follow. Together they travel from the streets of Ankh-Morpork to the literal edge of the world, and all the while, Rincewind must stay a step ahead of Fate, or else-should he be unable to wiggle away from it-become the hero he was never born to be. Thanks to equal parts misfortune and his own interference, Rincewind finds himself the guide and protector of Twoflower, the Disc's first tourist. The first Discworld novel chronicles the adventures of Rincewind, a gutter wizard whose talents include a single spell, a gift for languages, and the ability to severely annoy Death. Published in 1983, The Color of Magic is Pratchett's attempt to deconstruct and write against this 'consensus fantasy' and, while he's at it, tell a few good jokes. And why, oh why, is it just a given that magic works in fantasy worlds but not in our own?.

Why are all elves tall, beautiful, and shoot bows, but all dwarves are short, bulbous, and favor axes when they aren't sniffing out gold in their mines?.

How come all wizards are old bachelors with staffs and ZZ-Top beards?.

In other words, welcome to Discworld.Īn avid reader of fantasy novels in his youth, Terry Pratchett found himself wondering one day why all fantasy novels followed the same rules if they were supposed to be works of the pure imagination. Welcome to a world where barbarian adventurer is a totally legit career path, a dragon-filled mountain can plant its peak firmly in the ground without a care for what geologists might think, Death needs a better daily planner thanks to gambling deities mucking up his system with their dice games, and where a giant turtle swims through the cosmos as four elephants teeter on its shell under the weight of an all-together flat planet.

The colour of magic cover