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The Colour of Magic
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Terry Pratchett The Discworld series 1st novel – 1st Rincewind story  |
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| Outline | |
| Characters: | Rincewind Twoflower The Luggage |
| Locations: | Ankh-Morpork Krull |
| Motifs: | Fantasy clichés, Role-playing games |
| Publication details | |
| Year of release: | 1983 |
| Original publisher: | Colin Smythe |
| Hardback ISBN: | ISBN 0-86140-324-X |
| Paperback ISBN: | ISBN 0-552-12475-3 |
| Other details | |
| Awards: | |
| Notes: | 93rd in the Big Read |
The Colour of Magic is a comic fantasy novel by Terry Pratchett. It is the first of the Discworld series and was published in 1983. It is also one of only eight Discworld novels to be divided into sections or chapters, the others being Pyramids, Going Postal, Making Money, and the four books for young readers, specifically The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents and the three Tiffany Aching books, The Wee Free Men, A Hat Full of Sky, and Wintersmith. Each chapter is in fact a separate short story featuring the same characters. The idea of The Colour of Magic - that all that happens is due to the gods' gambling – is somewhat similar to traditional role-playing games, in that the roll of the dice determines what happens to the characters.
Contents |
The main character is the incompetent and cynical wizard Rincewind, who involuntarily finds himself as a guide to the naive tourist, Twoflower. After they are forced to flee from the city of Ankh-Morpork, they meet two barbarians, Bravd and Weasel, parodies of Fritz Leiber's fantasy heroes Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser.
Both characters also have a narrow escape from Bel-Shamharoth — a monster inspired by H. P. Lovecraft, who wrote many stories in a universe where unspeakable Evil lives, and where Ancient Gods (with unpronounceable names) play games with the lives of mortals. It is interesting to note that Lovecraft also wrote a story called The Colour out of Space, about an indescribable, unearthly colour.
The number eight is important on the Discworld, being closely associated with magic. Wizards avoid saying the number out loud, and Octarine is the Disc's eighth colour, the colour of magic as described in the title. This is reflected in the title of the French translation of the book La Huitième Couleur — (lit: The Eighth Colour).
After a visit to the Wyrmberg, an upside-down mountain which is home to dragons that only exist in the imagination, apparently inspired by the Dragonriders of Pern novels of Anne McCaffrey, and nearly falling off the edge of the Disc, their journey leads them to the country of Krull, perched on the very edge of the Discworld.
Their story is continued in the succeeding Discworld novel, The Light Fantastic.
A graphic novel illustrated by Steven Ross and adapted by Scott Rockwell, was published by Corgi in 1992. The Mob Film Company and Sky One are producing a miniseries, combining both The Colour of Magic and The Light Fantastic to be broadcast in 2008. Sir David Jason will be playing the part of Rincewind[4]. Christopher Lee will be taking over the role of Death from Ian Richardson[5] (a role he previously portrayed in the animated series Soul Music and Wyrd Sisters). The production team wanted to get fans involved in the adaptation so some of the extras used in the adaptation (in mob scenes and the during the fight in the Broken Drum) were Discworld fans who were selected via various website and Newsletters.
The plot was adapted for a text adventure computer game in 1986. Sources: Colin Smythe Ltd, Babelfish translation.
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