SPOILERS The Colour of Magic Discussion *Spoilers*

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Tonyblack

Super Moderator
City Watch
Jul 25, 2008
30,841
3,650
Cardiff, Wales
#62
Welcome to the site! :)

As far as I know, the only people to have read the audio books are Tony Robinson - the abridged versions, Celia Imrie, Nigel Planer and Stephen Briggs.
 
Sep 19, 2015
2
1,250
#63
I am going out of my mind. This cannot be. I searched for this guy. I half remembered his name, and I put his voice together with his role in Blackadder, and I certainly searched for "colour of magic tony robinson". It is quite a distinctive voice after all, and he sounds particularly similar to his roles in Blackadder 3-4 where the idiocy makes his voice higher and quavier. How is it possible... Now, suddenly, I've found him on google and amazon... Thank you so much. I'm not going to contemplate how I could miss what I was sure was the truth.... that is bending my mind a bit right now. Maybe I do need help.

Well :animals-shaun: I am forever grateful.

Thank you, and the most pleasant of days to you both!
 

=Tamar

Lieutenant
May 20, 2012
11,959
2,900
#64
obsessivebloody said:
I am going out of my mind. This cannot be. I searched for this guy.[snip] Now, suddenly, I've found him on google and amazon... Thank you so much. I'm not going to contemplate how I could miss what I was sure was the truth....
It isn't you. It's the way most search engines work. They pick what to show you based on mysterious algorithms that include everything you ever searched for, plus whatever someone is paying them to show first. When I try to find something again that I know I found in the first search, it often takes several searches using the exact same keywords to get it back.
 

RathDarkblade

Moderator
City Watch
Mar 24, 2015
15,992
3,400
47
Melbourne, Victoria
#65
Tonyblack said:
Welcome to the site! :)

As far as I know, the only people to have read the audio books are Tony Robinson (the abridged versions), Celia Imrie, Nigel Planer and Stephen Briggs.
Which books did Celia Imrie read? *curious* I've listened to audio books read by TR, NP and SB, but the only CI audio book I've heard was Wyrd Sisters. Did Celia ever read any others?
 

Ook ?

New Member
Dec 27, 2020
10
600
49
#68
Í committed what some DW fans a cardinal sin and actually started with this book,as it happens i got on with it very well and found it rather immersive,ok so trying to read all the books in order probably isnt such a good idea but in my experience you find your fave characters and that dictates what order you read in from then on.
I went from here till ER when i found Granny Weatherwax and that was me going off on a witch tangent
 

=Tamar

Lieutenant
May 20, 2012
11,959
2,900
#70
Me, too. Actually, TCoM put me off because although I loved most of it, I hated the cliffhanger ending so much that I skipped the next book. Later I picked up Equal Rites, and then after a few more came out, somebody told me about The Light Fantastic. I think a lot of Americans had the same problem with TCoM, because for years I would check secondhand bookshops and if they only had one Discworld book, that book was TCoM. I was looking because getting them in the USA was a classic case of "barefoot and uphill both ways." I found most of them at SF conventions, brought in by independent book dealers.

I think the best results I've had in getting someone else to begin reading Discworld came from choosing a book that connected with an existing interest. After they are hooked, I emphasize that the first two are a duology. I do think TCoM should be read at some point, probably before Sourcery, because it introduces some major elements.
 
Likes: Tonyblack

Penfold

Sergeant-at-Arms
Dec 29, 2009
9,038
3,050
Worthing
www.lenbrookphotography.com
#72
Unlike many later DW fans, I also started with, and loved, the Colour of Magic. (I came in at around the same time Equal Rites had been published, so just a little later than Tony but thought I had to start there as they were a series.) I really think it helped that I was already a fan of the books COM & LF were lampooning (Moorcock, Leiber, and Lovecraft to name but a few).

I think reading in publishing order gives a greater scale to the extent of Terry's world-building as well as his development as an author and his ideas. Nowadays, I just dip in and out as the mood takes me but still find something new to appreciate no matter how often I reread them. :)
 

Mixa

Sergeant
Jan 1, 2014
1,017
2,750
Barcelona, Catalonia
#73
I definitely need to re-read "The colour of magic". I remember I didn't love it the first time I read it (maybe because it's a bit more chaotic and extravagant).

It's an absolutely valid starting point, though, but I know it has put off some potential fans. As I told you, "Equal Rites" and "Guards! Guards!" have been recently translated into Catalan, and many readers who had only read TCoM are giving Discworld a second chance and felling in love with it. :love:

Mx
 

RathDarkblade

Moderator
City Watch
Mar 24, 2015
15,992
3,400
47
Melbourne, Victoria
#74
TCoM was a product of its time. I was far too young to read it when it came out, but from what I understand, there were lots of fantasy books at the time (some of which were terrible). So Terry was parodying them with TCoM. :)
 

Cheery

Sergeant
Jun 22, 2009
1,280
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Switzerland
jellymish-art.tumblr.com
#75
I recently explained the plot of Colour of Magic and Light Fantastic to a friend and he replied "This sounds like a D&D campaign" and I will never look at the wonderful chaos of those two books the same.

It really IS like a D&D campaign and Rincewind has terrible stats but keeps rolling natural 20s in the right moments. Cohen is that Barbarian character with a really low strength score but with a ridiculous bonus on charisma. Twoflower is a strange take on a druid with a home-brew familiar. And the whole party totally missed the main plot and the DM had to make stuff up on the fly to steer the plot back to where it originally was supposed to go. But none of the players noticed because the DM was Terry Pratchett.
 
Jul 27, 2008
19,425
3,400
Stirlingshire, Scotland
#76
I recently explained the plot of Colour of Magic and Light Fantastic to a friend and he replied "This sounds like a D&D campaign" and I will never look at the wonderful chaos of those two books the same.

It really IS like a D&D campaign and Rincewind has terrible stats but keeps rolling natural 20s in the right moments. Cohen is that Barbarian character with a really low strength score but with a ridiculous bonus on charisma. Twoflower is a strange take on a druid with a home-brew familiar. And the whole party totally missed the main plot and the DM had to make stuff up on the fly to steer the plot back to where it originally was supposed to go. But none of the players noticed because the DM was Terry Pratchett.
Who also was big gamer.
 

=Tamar

Lieutenant
May 20, 2012
11,959
2,900
#78
What turned me off in TCoM was the end, because it was a Doug Adams type of end and I hated it. It was redeemed a few years later by TLF, but by then it was too late for a lot of people. In my experience it was the "most often found second-hand" Discworld book.
 
Jul 27, 2008
19,425
3,400
Stirlingshire, Scotland
#79
Well it was the the first discworld book, which did parody the fantasy genre, which was also its aim., so maybe people did not get the general gist and at the the time there was no thought it would take off in such a way as it was only for three book contract if memory serves but there again it may not.;)o_O:mrgreen:
 

Cheery

Sergeant
Jun 22, 2009
1,280
2,650
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Switzerland
jellymish-art.tumblr.com
#80
I do get why TCoM and TLF are among the less popular Discworld books, precisely because they're strong on the parody theme and a bit all over the place...

I used to not enjoy them a lot. But I've formed a different view over the years. The first few books I see as Pterry's first experiments and him exploring the Disc in his writing, before he knew where he truly wanted to go with it. No idea if that's the correct interpretation, but it feels like that. And I love the early novels for it. They're incredibly chaotic and I'm not always here for that but I've come to appreciate it with TCoM and TLF. Epic romps across the Disc, they are, highlighting all its weirdness.
 

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