‘The Light Fantastic’ – Terry Pratchett (Corgi)

Page Count: 285 Pages.

I’ve got at least three TBR Piles on the go (that I can see right now, there may be more in the other room) but sometimes, you just have to set them all to one side and go with a book that barges in and demands you read it first. I had a lot of fun with ‘The Colour of Magic’, last week, and it felt natural to just jump straight into ‘The Light Fantastic’ so that’s exactly what I did ;o) Let me tell you all about it...

'What shall we do?' saidTwoflower.
'Panic?' said Rincewind hopefully. He always held that panic was the best means of survival.

As it moves towards a seemingly inevitable collision with a malevolent red star, the Discworld could do with a hero.

What it doesn’t need is a singularly inept and cowardly wizard, still recovering from the trauma of falling off the edge of the world, or a well-meaning tourist and his luggage which has a mind (and legs) of its own.

Which is a shame, because that's all there is...

So, more of the same then? Well, kind of yes and no all at the same time. All the stuff that made ‘The Colour of Magic’ such a fun read, for me, was still there; a story that I wanted to be involved in (even now, I still have to see what happened to Rincewind after he fell off the world) with characters that are never less than engaging, all wrapped up in some gentle poking of fun at fantasy fiction, a genre that can take itself a little too seriously if left to its own devices.

There’s more to it than that though. For a start, it feels like the humour flows a little more readily and, dare I say it, smoothly this time round. It’s like ‘The Colour of Magic’ burst the dam and all of a sudden, there’s a lot more puns, quips and general wordplay that makes you snort a surprised laugh. Well, it made me snort a surprised laugh, even now after many re-reads. All of a sudden, there is a lot of this happening on the page and it really is a ‘blink and you’ll miss something’ kind of affair. And the ratio of hits to misses is, well… I’m biased (in case you didn’t already know) but they were all hits from where I was sat. Especially the Luggage who seems to be able to say so much with no words… or face now I come to think of it.

There is also a more serious note amongst all the fun as Pratchett really goes all out to celebrate
humanity in all its weirdness and individuality, mostly by highlighting the soul crushing greyness that’s left when creativity and imagination is removed. Little moments like Cohen making his false teeth and the joy Twoflower finds in holiday souvenirs are amongst many examples that Pratchett makes of humanity being capable of so much, so long as it keeps dreaming big. That and the fact that he really doesn’t like Trymon, who is clearly set up to be the polar opposite of everything that Pratchett holds dear.

I think I feel a ‘Big Discworld Re-Read’ coming on, it’s pretty much inevitable now… ;o)