Today is my review for the second book in the Discworld series and the first step on a journey that Louise over at Lou’s Book Stuff and I agreed to undertake together whereby we read the entire Discworld series in order. You can check out Lou’s review here.

The Light Fantastic is book No.2 and pretty much continues where book 1 left off (my review here).  Okay, I will preface this review by stating that at the moment I’m not totally blown away by the Discworld, but, at the same time, I had been warned that this could take two or three books before it really took hold so I’m still very hopeful. I will also clarify that last remark by saying I’m not disliking what I’ve read so far, so much as it hasn’t quite knocked my socks off in the way I’d hoped, or more to the point, whilst there have been quite a number of moments that have made me smile I haven’t had a proper laugh out loud moment just yet.  I do have expectations though and I suspect that as I continue with Lou on this journey we will become attached to the characters and familiar with the world in a way that immerses us much more and provides a greater sense of connectivity.

What I will say about The Light Fantastic is that it felt like it had more of a plot than The Colour of Magic.  There is of course a lot of travelling around but this didn’t so much feel like a series of strange or unfortunate events that was the overall flavour of book No.1.  In a nutshell, an object is hurtling towards Discworld on a collision course.  Everyone is doomed.  Things are desperate, the naysayers are out in force and Rincewind, the failed wizard we met in Book No.1, seems to be the saviour of the piece  Really, it doesn’t bode well.

So, in terms of characters Rincewind and Twoflower are central to the plot, together with the delightful and sentient piece of luggage that scuttles around on multiple legs and swallows threats like a huge hound of hell.  Seriously, I want this luggage.  We do, of course, make the acquaintance of other characters in this instalment, the most noticeable of which, for me, was Cohen the Barbarian.  An elderly gentleman who has lived through many an adventure and intends to live through many more.  There are of course other characters, not least of which the entirety of the wizarding world trying to find Rincewind for the spell that he holds in his head – a very important spell that is needed, without doubt, to save the planet.

I really enjoyed certain aspects of this one.  The forest – which has a decidedly fairytale feel and the whole visit to the home of Death.  I loved both those scenes.  Of course, everything Pratchett does is tongue in cheek and softly fun poking at the fantasy tropes but those two particular scenarios particularly stood out for me.

To be honest, although I’ve not been totally knocked out by the two first books in this series, I can see myself already becoming attached.  I like the humour, it reminds me very much of Monty Python and obviously Douglas Adams.  To be honest, I know already, that I will love elements of these books because I’ve read the Tiffany Aching series which were excellent.

I have my fingers crossed (and my toes) for book No.3.  Will it be the one to blow me away?  Time will tell.

For now. I’m enjoying this, but, I think all my buddies who cautioned me that the first few books were not necessarily the best, gave me some excellent advice and helped me to temper my expectations.

My rating 3.5 of 5 stars

I bought a copy for kindle.