The Colour of Magic: Discworld #1

Do you find the idea of getting started on a series of nearly 30 books a little, well, overwhelming? I know I did. There's good news. There are *four* major sub-series within Discworld that allow you to start a number of different places other than #1:

* Book #2: Rincewind, a spectacularly cowardly and inept wizard, is the "hero" of six books. These are mostly adventure romps and cover the entire geography of Discworld. The Light Fantastic gets into its story faster and you give up only a little in character development.
* Books #15 or #8: If you prefer who-done-its, and policemen who are self-proclaimed "suspicious bastards," then start the 8-book "City Watch" sub-series with Guards! Guards! or Men at Arms. Either will do.
* Book #6: Granny Weatherwax leads a coven of witches through six books, where "headology" is as important as magic. (The wizards only care about their staffs!).
* Books #4 or 11: Death (yes, the guy with the scythe!) is the most life-affirming character on Discworld, and he and his adopted family's exploits take up five exceptional books. It's best to start with Mort, but you can read Reaper Man first if you go back and read Mort second.

I am obviously a great fan of this series. Pick any of seven starting points, and ENJOY!

This series of books are very entertaining. Funny, good plot and characters. But Nigel Planer's performance is the reason that listening is far better than reading these books. He matches each voice perfectly with the character and reads the text in perfect harmony to the author's writing style. I can not imagine these books without him now.

Once you get hooked on Terry Pratchett, you can kiss your membership credits goodbye. I started with the Tiffany Aching trilogy: A Hat Full of Sky, The Wee Free Men, and Wintersmith. I loved them, especially the first two. Next, I listened to Nation, another excellent book. I think that all of these books are actually set in the Discworld, though it isn't mentioned in the books.

I went searching for more Pratchett novels after burning through the Tiffany Aching series, and wouldn't you know it, there is a 30+ book series called Discworld. Pratchett's stories are so fun to listen to and very engaging. His imagination and sense of humor (or "humour", since he's British) are addictive! I am currently on Discworld book #3. I have already downloaded 4 others. I now restrict myself to listening to Discworld books only when I'm away from home. Otherwise, I would be through the entire series within a few months.

I recommend starting the series in order, until you understand what the Discorld is all about.

As others have mentioned, the narrators are incredible! Stephen Briggs and Nigel Planer do a bang-up job narrating. Even Celia Imrie is enjoyable, once you get over the fact that she is neither Planer nor Briggs. Try to appreciate her for who she is rather than who she isn't (If you are new to Pratchett, those narrators will become familiar to you soon enough, even if you don't consider yourself a narration snob.) Then all of the reviews that mention them will make sense.

I've been ill, so forgive me if I'm babbling nonsense. I renewed my Platinum membership in August and am already down to 17 credits. Thought it only fair to warn you. Enjoy!

This is the book that did it for me...
Now, 127 titles later I am hopelessly addicted to Audible.

What can I say about T.C.O.M:
Great Story.
Creative, colorful and humorous.
Wonderful narration.
Tends to be habit forming!

Got this for my son. I listened to it to screen for questionable content and enjoyed it completely. Just a good story well told.

P.S. Nothing I would consider objectionable for a younger reader.

I imagine I will get dozens of unhelpful reviews for what I am about to write, but what can you do?
For a long time I have been hearing about this crazy and whacky series, but never thought of listening to it. When I choose to listen to fantasy, I prefer the more gritty stories, so I felt this would not be my type of story. However I watched the movie “Going Postal” based on one of these novels and really enjoyed the creativity and humor. I then listened to Good Omens and knew then I wanted to read more of Pratchett’s work. I read the first couple of chapters and was intrigued, but I really can’t read a lot in grad school unless it is a scientific article. I decided to listen to it instead and that is where I went wrong. I found I could barely make it through the first ten minutes, and it was not due to the story itself. The narration was not enjoyable to me, which is odd because in most cases the narrators do not bug me. Based on some of the other reviewers comments, they seem to like and enjoy the narrator. If you were to consider this book for your next purchase, it would probably behoove you to listen to the sample all the way through and determine if you like the narration or not. I hope that they will either find a new version with a different narration or I find the fortitude needed to finish listening to this version because I really want to listen to this series.

This is a fabulous book. It was a very entertaining fantasy with a fabulous narrator. Nigel Planer, the narrator does the voices of the characters with great accents and he gives you a real feel for the personality of the character. Each character is distinct and easy to pick out. I drone on about Nigel, but the book is extremely well written with a great balance between humor and fantasy/adventure.

Let me open by saying this book is excellent to listen to, but it is far from Pratchett's best. Pratchett, like we all hope to, has only improved with each effort. And I'm wondering if the dissappointment of a silent some, who began at the beginning, is the reason why such triumphs as Night Watch, The Monstrous Regiment, Reaper Man and Thief of Time aren't highly ranked.

You see I made my introduction to Terry Pratchett's Discworld with Thief of Time. I'd already been sincerely disappointed with the with audio adaptations of Asprin's Myth series, and was beginning to think that Science Ficton & Fantasy literary humor died with the passing of the great Douglas Adams, hallowed be his name.

After listening to Thief of Time, I found Carpet People, his first novel published, Colour of Magic and Weird Sisters to be subtly lacking. When I thought about it, it hit me, what was lacking was the pacing and wit that comes with experience.

So if you find this disappointing, use on of your free monthly downloads to grab one of Pratchett's later releases and you won't be dissappointed in the least.

Not deep at all, just perfect for a lot of laughing. A great way to clear your palate between more serious draughts.

This book had me LOL constantly. If you liked "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Universe", you will like this book as well. While totally different (and original) in its setup and events, it has the same humorously twisted outlook. Maybe because both authors are Brits. Buy it, you will like it, whether you are a fantasy fan or just looking for some good laughs.