The Light Fantastic

Discworld, Book 2

By: Terry Pratchett

Narrated by: Nigel Planer

Length: 6 hrs and 54 mins

Publisher's Summary

The Great A'Tuin, the heroic turtle who supports the weight of the entire Discworld, not to mention four giant elephants, swims through the galaxy day and night with the burden of being the only creature who knows exactly where the universe is going. Philosophers have long debated where this is, and are due to find out in about 2 months. Shall they worry? Well, they are on a collision course with a malevolent red star and only one person can save Discworld. Unfortunately, it's the cowardly wizard, Rincewind, who was last seen falling off the edge of the planet. This is the second book in the Discworld series.  

Please note: This is a vintage recording. The audio quality may not be up to modern day standards.

Browse more novels of Discworld.

(P) ISIS Publishing Ltd, 1995; Copyright © Terry Pratchett, 1986; Cover Illustration © Josh Kirby

Critic Reviews

"Planner is confronted by a variety of eccentric characters and with brilliant flair he brings them off well. Great stuff." (AudioFile)

audio quality

The story is good but the audio changes quality on different chapters. The audio doesn't make it too bad just distracting.

Good reading performance, good story

The reading and story were very well done, though the sound quality and recording quality was... crusty and uneven.

Wonderfully read

This narrator is really cool! Love the range of accents and vocal tones. Pratchett, of course, awesome.

Rincewind is back with a vengeance

The Story that began with the first Discworld novel, the Colour of Magic has its epilogue in the second one, the Light Fantastic. Download them both, listen to them one after the other. The cover image is mistaken again, like in the colour of magic, and low resolution too. this is why they get 4 stars and not 5. Reader, Nigel IS THE READER, the one and only, perfect! He embodies the spirit od the Disc characters that Pratchett created, never boring and always perfect being Death, Rincewind or even the Luggage or any othe character! Pratchett himself confirms yet again that you can have an Epic fantasy ...even with onions!

Audio quality is meh, but great anyway

The audio is of a varying quality, with random echos here and there sometimes for no reason. Great performance though, would be perfect if the recording quality was as good as the voice actor

loved it

I loved it. thoroughly enjoyed the voices and am sorry to see that Nigel Planer will not be reading the third book in the discworld series. it was captivating and you don't realise how time flies while listening.

Great book, annoying sound effects.

Terry Pratchett was one of the more enjoyable and downright fun writers - and this is no exception. That said the sound effects, especially the ringing, was tiresome.

Great book, not so good audio.

Loved the book. The performance was good, but the volume goes down and ambient noice comes on which is distracting when it happens. Not so often though, still recommend!!! So recommend, especially if you like witty commentary.

horrible sound quality

amazing story and performance, but the sound quality is abysmal. they didn't even take the time to properly EQ their recordings so the sound shifts heavily between chapters.

Good reading. Old recording.

it was an excellent reading. I wish it could be remastered to remove the fuzz.

The start of the legendary series...

While the Light Fanastic isn't the best of the Discworld novels it's certainly more humorous than the previous title 'the Colour of Magic', you can see the start of the writing style that made Pratchett's series so well loved.

The storyline continues directly from the end of the Colour of Magic and serves as a much more epic storyline than the previous novels now Rincewind and Twoflower are established, as well as introducing future Discworld star Cohen as well as the Wizards. It involves the miraculous saving of Rincewind and Twoflower and the threat of a Red star heading towards the Discworld.

There are a few places where the narrative feels a bit long winded in the middle but overall it is a well paced book that in conjunction with the previous novel form an excellent story.

I'd recommend it, if best served back to back with 'The Colour of Magic'

Loved it! Poor download quality though

The book is great! But sound quality is poor. Nigel Planner is really good and really adds to the book and story.

Save your ears

Two stars because the audio quality of this, even on 4 and enhanced, dreadful. There's a background hiss and it sounds tinny. I wish I'd sampled it first. Get the abridged version -- it's shorter, obviously, but the sound quality is much better and it costs less.

A lightness of touch, but don't start here!

I love the Discworld series, and this is an important part of it.
However, in this - the 2nd in the series - the style that we know and love from Terry Pratchett is still establishing itself. I"d recommend this to anyone who already loves his writing. To anyone new to Discworld I'd say start later in the series and come back to this one once you've fallen in love with it.

the sound quality isn't brilliant, but don't let it put you off - it's worth battling through!

Definitely recommended

Just Fantasytic.

Dear Terry Pratchett. One of the sorrows of my life is that I wasted a lot of years, thinking I didn't need to read about Discworld. A mistake I have repeated, several times elsewhere. Still, looking on the bright side, they're all still there, waiting to be enjoyed.
I was a bit puzzled by this, because, my introduction to Discworld came via the film made of 'The Colour of Magic', which I enjoyed, enormously. When I got to The Light Fantastic, I suddenly realised that the film contained a lot of this book too, which, I have to say, was a bit of a disappointment. Add the alterations, and adjustments made with any film, and it all becomes a bit overdone. I loved it, and the characters, and have plotted out the rest of the list. Long Live Sir Terry.

awesome!

loved it cos it's pratchett, planer is a great narrator altho I kept expecting him to turn into Neil from the young ones..
cheers

Excellent book

Brilliant as ever Mr Pratchett, my only problem with this is that the recording is very 'shushy' in places. On several occasions I thought there was some intrusive traffic noise, turned off the recording to find out what the problem was, only to discover that the 'traffic noise' was on the recording.

Following on from The Colour of Magic

'The Light Fantastic' follows on after the introduction of Rincewind and Twoflower in the previous novel 'The Colour of Magic'. Early in the book it becomes apparent that Great A'Tuin, the giant turtle that carries the Discworld is set a new course that leads it directly into a red star. Rincewind and Twoflower are soon accompanied by two new characters, Cohen the Barbarian, the ageing hero, and Bethan, a sacrificial virgin saved by Cohen. Having one of the seven great spells wedged in his head, Rincewind is tormented by the spell and eventually enters the realm of (my favourite character) Death.



Having read the previous book I was worried how this book would actually work as an audio book. I must say that I was impressed. Nigel Planer captures each of the characters personalities perfectly. I look forward to listening to his work in the near future.

Loved every minute

Terry Prachetts style is so cleverly descriptive and greatly amusing and this book is no exception. Brilliantly read by Nigel Planer who has just the perfect voice for a Prachett novel. Well worth every penny, I highly recommend it and guarantee you will not be dissapointed.

Same stuff love it

The voice of Neil makes it for me and the sheer variety of voices he can muster brings it to life