The Light Fantastic is a comic fantasy novel by Terry Pratchett, the second of the Discworld series. It was published on 2 June 1986, the first printing being of 1,034 copies. The title, taken from a poem by John Milton, in which it refers to dancing lightly with extravagance. The events of the novel are a direct continuation of those in the preceding book, The Colour of Magic.
The Light Fantastic is a comic fantasy novel by Terry Pratchett, the second of the Discworld series. It was published on 2 June 1986, the first printing being of 1,034 copies. The title, taken from a poem by John Milton, in which it refers to dancing lightly with extravagance.
The events of the novel are a direct continuation of those in the preceding book, The Colour of Magic.
Preferred this over The Colour of Magic, mainly due to it having a single overarching plot throughout the whole book unlike the first which felt more like random adventures stuck together.
Excited to read more from Discworld as l've read these first two books are not "the best ones" in the series
Preferred this over The Colour of Magic, mainly due to it having a single overarching plot throughout the whole book unlike the first which felt more like random adventures stuck together.
Excited to read more from Discworld as l've read these first two books are not "the best ones" in the series
The sun rose slowly, as if it wasn’t sure it was worth all the effort.
This was a brilliant read. Really enjoyed it.
Where I felt the first one to be perhaps a little disjointed - lots of fun little scenes but maybe a bit less in the way of compelling overall narrative - this one is so much better.
I'm aware that Sir Terry recommended people ignore the first two books in the reading order, and whilst I can see why he may have said that about the first one, this one is very much worth reading.
It's funny, heartwarming, interesting; the main story is compelling and well-paced; there's plenty of sharp observations on humanity. His talent only develops upwards from here, of course, but the improvement between the first and second books is remarkable.
It's …
I love this opening quote:
The sun rose slowly, as if it wasn’t sure it was worth all the effort.
This was a brilliant read. Really enjoyed it.
Where I felt the first one to be perhaps a little disjointed - lots of fun little scenes but maybe a bit less in the way of compelling overall narrative - this one is so much better.
I'm aware that Sir Terry recommended people ignore the first two books in the reading order, and whilst I can see why he may have said that about the first one, this one is very much worth reading.
It's funny, heartwarming, interesting; the main story is compelling and well-paced; there's plenty of sharp observations on humanity. His talent only develops upwards from here, of course, but the improvement between the first and second books is remarkable.
The sun rose slowly, as if it wasn’t sure it was worth all the effort.
This was a brilliant read. Really enjoyed it.
Where I felt the first one to be perhaps a little disjointed - lots of fun little scenes but maybe a bit less in the way of compelling overall narrative - this one is so much better.
I'm aware that Sir Terry recommended people ignore the first two books in the reading order, and whilst I can see why he may have said that about the first one, this one is very much worth reading.
It's funny, heartwarming, interesting; the main story is compelling and well-paced; there's plenty of sharp observations on humanity. His talent only develops upwards from here, of course, but the improvement between the first and second books is remarkable.
It's …
I love this opening quote:
The sun rose slowly, as if it wasn’t sure it was worth all the effort.
This was a brilliant read. Really enjoyed it.
Where I felt the first one to be perhaps a little disjointed - lots of fun little scenes but maybe a bit less in the way of compelling overall narrative - this one is so much better.
I'm aware that Sir Terry recommended people ignore the first two books in the reading order, and whilst I can see why he may have said that about the first one, this one is very much worth reading.
It's funny, heartwarming, interesting; the main story is compelling and well-paced; there's plenty of sharp observations on humanity. His talent only develops upwards from here, of course, but the improvement between the first and second books is remarkable.
This feels coherent and raises the serious topics such as that one of fascism and fanaticism which are so often treated by Pratchett. Lovely parting with Twoflower and amazing outro. Hooked me hard on the wizards stories.
Setting aside the fact that I really want Twoflower's luggage, this was a good conclusion to the story set up in the Color of Magic.
Listening to the 2022 audiobook, I do like how they set off the footnotes and Death with different voices/special signals. That said, I'm not a fan of Twoflower's stereotypical nerd speech impediment.
Setting aside the fact that I really want Twoflower's luggage, this was a good conclusion to the story set up in the Color of Magic.
Listening to the 2022 audiobook, I do like how they set off the footnotes and Death with different voices/special signals. That said, I'm not a fan of Twoflower's stereotypical nerd speech impediment.
J’ai beaucoup aimé Le Huitième sortilège. Contrairement au tome précédent que j’avais trouvé un peu bancal, ici l’action est bien mieux dosée et le dénouement de cet arc "Rincevent" tient la route.
J’ai beaucoup aimé Le Huitième sortilège. Contrairement au tome précédent que j’avais trouvé un peu bancal, ici l’action est bien mieux dosée et le dénouement de cet arc "Rincevent" tient la route.
This was an absolute blast to read after The Colour of Magic. It's still nuts and kind of all over the place. But I was prepared for that and damn was it fun.
This was an absolute blast to read after The Colour of Magic. It's still nuts and kind of all over the place. But I was prepared for that and damn was it fun.
Ah, la joie de retrouver Rincevent et Deuxfleurs ! Oh, le plaisir d’entendre les clop clop CLOP CLAP ! du bagage, et toujours LA VOIX DE LA MORT. Bref, le disque-monde, sa lumière lente, ses sorciers. Et tout ça pour quoi ? Pour permettre à Rincevent d’accomplir sa destinée de mage couard (une excellente condition de survie, si on en croit [author:Pratchett] !). Je ne parlerai pas de l’histoire, puisque tout le monde s’en moque éperdument, je me contenterai de dire deux ou trois choses. D’abord, c’est le vrai départ des annales du Disque-Monde, car la huitième couleur n’est selon moi qu’une espèce de prologue dans lequel [author:Pratchett] ne sait pas encore trop comment maximiser le potentiel d’humour. Ensuite, Cohen le Barbare, le plus grand héros du disque-monde, une légende de son vivant, pour qui le bonheur peut se représenter par "du papier toilette frais !!!" lorsqu’il est avec une …
Ah, la joie de retrouver Rincevent et Deuxfleurs ! Oh, le plaisir d’entendre les clop clop CLOP CLAP ! du bagage, et toujours LA VOIX DE LA MORT. Bref, le disque-monde, sa lumière lente, ses sorciers. Et tout ça pour quoi ? Pour permettre à Rincevent d’accomplir sa destinée de mage couard (une excellente condition de survie, si on en croit [author:Pratchett] !). Je ne parlerai pas de l’histoire, puisque tout le monde s’en moque éperdument, je me contenterai de dire deux ou trois choses. D’abord, c’est le vrai départ des annales du Disque-Monde, car la huitième couleur n’est selon moi qu’une espèce de prologue dans lequel [author:Pratchett] ne sait pas encore trop comment maximiser le potentiel d’humour. Ensuite, Cohen le Barbare, le plus grand héros du disque-monde, une légende de son vivant, pour qui le bonheur peut se représenter par "du papier toilette frais !!!" lorsqu’il est avec une horde barbare (référence évidente et pleine d’une subtile dérision à Conan). Enfin, la Mort qui est toujours aussi joyeux(1) et qui découvre avec ses amis les joies de la couronne ou du plombage (enfin, un jeu de carte pour dentiste, quoi). Je ne parlerai évidement pas des subtilités comme l’obligation d’effectuer des descriptions exactes, mais je dirai qui les informaticiens du Disque-Monde sont tout de même de fichus comiques ! Tout ça pour dire que franchement, lisez-le, vous aurez la joie de passer pour un original dans votre train/métro/bus en vous esclaffant tout seul, alors que les autres passagers vous palpent de tous leurs pédoncules, vous pourrez rester tranquillement assis dans votre fauteuil, alors que votre Eurostar est coincé dans un tunnel sous-marin depuis plus d’une heure, en bref, vous savourererz la vie come pas un(2). (1) et dont la masculinité évidente, est toujours un motif de profonde joie, simplement parce qu’elle est expliquée à chaque fois dans une note de bas de page aussi longue que finement écrite (2) quoi que l’exactitude nous oblige ici à signaler que d’autres savourent la vie avec autant de plaisir, même si il est rare de les voir souvent, on peut donc se contenter de dire que vous savourerez la vie mieux que quiconque suffisement proche de vous, à moins qu’il ne s’agisse d’un béat
