# The Colour of Magic

By Terry Pratchett · Discworld, book 1

Profile: https://hahafiction.com/books/the-colour-of-magic-cb105f14/

Rincewind is a wizard with very little magic to offer and a dangerous assignment: keep Discworld’s first tourist alive. Twoflower wants to see the sights, accompanied by a trunk that walks on its own legs. Their route crosses a flat world balanced on elephants and an enormous turtle.

## What makes it funny?

As a city burns, two adventurers mourn the treasure and wine going up in flames, then remember an unpaid debt. Rincewind has a different practical problem: he is already so terrified that he cannot give new threats the frightened response they deserve.

### The comedy at work

Pratchett puts ordinary self-interest into the poses of heroic fantasy. His adventurers think about their finances, his wizard wants to escape, and a tourist’s fire-insurance transaction has consequences the local innkeeper takes far too literally.

### Try this if…

Fantasy readers who enjoy watching adventurers make a mess of their travels have plenty to work with here. The story moves through successive dangers with a poorly equipped guide and a tourist whose innocence keeps creating trouble.

### Good to know

This begins Discworld’s Wizards sequence. In the 2022 unabridged audiobook, Colin Morgan reads the story, Bill Nighy handles the footnotes, and Peter Serafinowicz voices Death.

## What to expect

- Genre: Fantasy
- On the shelf: Sword & sorcery
- Kind of humor: Dry wit · Parody · Situational comedy
- Story ingredients: Incompetent heroes
- Format: Novel
- Length: 288 pages
- Audiobook: 7 hr 58 min
- Published: 1983

## A few distinguishing details

- A walking trunk that follows its owner
- Heroic fantasy viewed through greed and cowardice

## Sources & further reading

- Author commentary: [Author estate](https://terrypratchett.com/books/the-colour-of-magic)
- Publisher: [Publisher](https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/389504/the-colour-of-magic-by-terry-pratchett/9781804990315)
- Reading sample: [Authorized excerpt](https://www.abebooks.com/9780552124751/Colour-Magic-Pratchett-Terry-0552124753/plp)
- Review: [Kirkus review](https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/terry-pratchett/the-colour-of-magic)
- Publisher: [Publisher audiobook](https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/389504/the-colour-of-magic-by-terry-pratchett/9781473588110)