The Colour of Magic cover art

The Colour of Magic

Discworld, Book 1

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The Colour of Magic

By: Terry Pratchett
Narrated by: Colin Morgan, Peter Serafinowicz, Bill Nighy
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Brought to you by Penguin.

Over 1 million Discworld audiobooks sold – discover the extraordinary universe of Terry Pratchett’s Discworld like never before


The audiobook of The Colour of Magic is read by Colin Morgan (Merlin; Testament of Youth; Belfast). BAFTA and Golden Globe award-winning actor Bill Nighy (Love Actually; Pirates of the Caribbean; Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows) reads the footnotes, and Peter Serafinowicz (Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace; Shaun of the Dead) stars as the voice of Death. Featuring a new theme tune composed by James Hannigan.

'It was octarine, the colour of magic. It was alive and glowing and vibrant and it was the undisputed pigment of the imagination . . .'

Somewhere between thought and reality exists the Discworld, a magical world not totally unlike our own. Except for the fact that it travels through space on the shoulders of four giant elephants who in turn stand on the shell of an astronomically huge star turtle, of course.

Rincewind is the world's worst wizard who has just been handed a very important job: to look after the world's first tourist, upon whose survival rests the peace and prosperity of the land. Unfortunately, their journey across the Disc includes facing robbers, monsters, mercenaries, and Death himself.

And the whole thing's just a game of the gods that might send them over the edge . . .

You can listen to the Discworld novels in any order, but The Colour of Magic is the first book in the Wizards series.

The Colour of Magic is the first book in the Discworld series and was published in 1983. Some elements of the Discworld universe may reflect this.

'If you've never read a Discworld novel, what's the matter with you?' Guardian

'Pratchett uses his other world to hold up a distorting mirror to our own' The Times


© Terry Pratchett 1983 (P) Penguin Audio 2022

Action & Adventure Epic Epic Fantasy Fantasy Humorous Literature & Fiction Magic Satire Fiction Comedy Magic Users Wizardry Witty
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Critic reviews

One of the best and funniest English authors alive
Like Jonathan Swift, Pratchett uses his other world to hold up a distorting mirror to our own, and like Swift he is a satirist of enormous talent...incredibly funny...compulsively readable.
He would be amusing in any form and his spectacular inventiveness makes the Discworld series one of the perennial joys of modern fiction.
All stars
Most relevant
If you haven't tried a Discworld book before the general advice is don't start here - it's really a setting for various series of books more than a series by itself, you can safely start elsewhere to find out if you like the world (I'd recommend Small Gods, Guards Guards or Going Postal) without needing to know the plot of this book. You can always return to this later if you like the world but this and it's second half The Light Fantastic are a bit odd and chaotic compared to the later books.

Morgan did an amazing job narrating this, every character has a distinctive voice and his narration voice is excellent. He also happily avoided giving Twoflower (the Disc's equivalent of an asian tourist) an offensive accent. I'm looking forward to trying his version of the rest of the Wizards series.

Excellent performance

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I have been waiting for a new recording of the Colour of Magic for some time and this did not disappoint. Colin Morgon's narration of Rincewimd did take a bit of getting used to, those who have listened to Nigel Planer's narration will find this very different. But Colin Morgan's characterisation only adds to an already fantastic story.

I wasn't sure at first.

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ColinMorgan really knows how to bring a story to life!
《Discworld》series is my favorite Fantasy novel,as a non-native speaker of English I don't have too much
opportunity to visit Britain,reading and listening audio book are best way to know the background of the English culture.
As a narrator Colin is not just turn up and read the book,because there are multi characters and sprawling stories, it is been a bit of an eye opener for reader to understand exactly what is involved in it and what the outline it is, I think it is fun enough for me

interesting and amazing

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Brilliantly read by the talented Colin Morgan. Gripping and often laugh out loud funny. Recommended!

Magnificent narration brings characters to life

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Great telling of the first discworld book, the three voice actors were enjoyable to listen to, although Bill Nighy has a lot less to do in this one than others to come. The big let down for myself however is as the first book written all the way back at the start of the 80s it didn't hold up to Pratchetts masterpieces later on, so whilst I love it, I'm marking it down in preparation for the 5 stars I'll ultimately give more modern discworld books.

Loved it, but the story shows its age a little

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