The Colour of Magic is a great introduction to the Discworld Novels. On my first reading through of the series I often found myself looking forwards to the next 'Rincewind' book.
So who is Rincewind? Rincewind is a wizard of Unseen University, based in a fantasy city called Ankh Morpork. Rather than being the typical fantasy wizard, able to throw fireballs, summon demons and raise the dead... Rincewind is completely incompetant, to the point that he cannot even spell, let alone cast a spell. His hat is garishly embroided 'Wizzard' and is a reflection of his skills in the magic arts.
He is however, incredibly skilled at running, specifically away from things. When he teams up with Twoflower, the Disc's first tourist, then later with Hrun the Barbarian, they have a myriad of adventures. It starts by escaping a burning city, a fire which was indirectly caused by Twoflower, and his attempts to sell and explain insurance (Or Inn-sewer-ants) to an Ankh Morpork Innkeeper.
We see temples of ancient gods, dryads, Dragon Riders, Trolls and more...
All of these are dealt with in the spirit of humourus conflict, Rincewind generally preferring to run away from anything and everything and Twoflower being curious almost to the point of lethality.
The Colour of Magic is to Fantasy what 'The Naked Gun' is to cop shows, it's full of humourous references and part of the fun of reading it is to spot all the parodies of our own world.
It isn't a 'Bored of the Rings' it stands as a story in it's own right, and it's often not so much a parody of the fantasy genre, but the fantasy genre parodying real life or past fantasy fiction. I challenge anyone to read the Colour of Magic and NOT want to read the sequel 'The Light Fantastic'.
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