The Light Fantastic

The Light Fantastic is Terry Pratchett’s second book in the Discworld series. Compared to The Color of Magic, TLF comes a lot closer to making sense to those of us with an IQ less than 170. The story continues with the main two characters of the first book. This is an interesting phenomenon because nowhere else in the Discworld series does Terry Pratchett write in serial. Any other books can be read in any order and yet they are all about the lives and tribulations of the people of Discworld, and Pratchett uses many recurring characters. The central character is Rincewind, the Wizard who never learned any magic. He did read a magic spell in a book once, and the spell invaded his head, and has been trying to get out ever since. And of course, he partner in confusion, Twoflower the traveler. Twoflower, the man on an endless vacation, and entirely oblivious to any hazards in the world.

The plot flows well, and humor is rich with hyperbole and absurdity. Absurdity and irony are Pratchett’s special gift. He also like to play with subtle, or sometimes not-so-subtle puns. I imagine he must be a hilarious person to have over to a cocktail party.

Where Pratchett grows weak is in character development. His main characters are interesting and quirky, and you want to see them fair well, but you don’t really learn as much about them as you would in a book by Jim Butcher or Carl Hiaasen, writers who develop characters with such depth I think they must be people the writers actually knew. His minor characters are even less well developed, and rely a little on the traditions of the fantasy genre for you to understand them.

But I do think that TLF accomplished what Pratchett intended. It is very funny. He uses his special brand of ludicrous to poke fun at humanity. I liked the book a great deal, and give it a 98. 2 points loss for lack of character depth.