The Colour of Magic cover art

The Colour of Magic

Discworld, Book 1

Preview

£0.00 for first 30 days

Try for £0.00
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

The Colour of Magic

By: Terry Pratchett
Narrated by: Colin Morgan, Peter Serafinowicz, Bill Nighy
Try for £0.00

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £12.99

Buy Now for £12.99

Confirm Purchase
Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.
Cancel

About this listen

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

©1983 Terry Pratchett (P)2022 Penguin Audio
Action & Adventure Epic Epic Fantasy Humorous Fiction Comedy Fantasy Magic Users Funny Wizardry Witty
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2

Listeners also enjoyed...

Terry Pratchett: BBC Radio Drama Collection cover art
Good Omens cover art
Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy cover art
A Stroke of the Pen cover art
The Sandman cover art
The Name of the Wind cover art
Douglas Adams's Starship Titanic cover art
Ghost Stories: Stephen Fry's Definitive Collection cover art
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: The Original Albums cover art
Stardust cover art
Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency cover art
Truckers cover art
The Science of Discworld cover art
Nation cover art
The Graveyard Book cover art
Lord of the Isles cover art

What listeners say about The Colour of Magic

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    1,062
  • 4 Stars
    333
  • 3 Stars
    84
  • 2 Stars
    35
  • 1 Stars
    15
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    1,096
  • 4 Stars
    188
  • 3 Stars
    50
  • 2 Stars
    20
  • 1 Stars
    22
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    961
  • 4 Stars
    273
  • 3 Stars
    106
  • 2 Stars
    26
  • 1 Stars
    7

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Loved it

Great listen, look forward to the next one. Well read great characters, brings the dis world to life.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Wacky

The pacing and humor took me quite a while to warm up to, but it really is charming once you get into it.

Just give into it.

Don't resist.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Great introduction

A great intro to the discworld. A clever concept to have a tourist, so you can explore the world and learn about it as you go. Very funny too!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

audio

I have enjoyed this, this being the first audiobook, I would recommended to friends and family

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Good story, pointless music

Lovely initial development of STP's Diskworld, but I am a life long fan.

I'm getting used to the narration, I hope it grows on me.
I'm not a fan of the music, just seems out of place ...

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

The magic

The narrator was ok. The story was as expected. wonderus. Rincewind was hopeless as the tourists was hopeful.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Excellent performance

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.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

19 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

As brilliant as I remembered!

It must be 25 years since I read the book and this was a lovely trip down memory lane! Beautifully written. You do need to be concentrating as there are SO many characters. Fantastic fun though!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Loved it!

I can honestly say I loved this book and can not wait to listen to the next one in the Disc World series.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Fun. Brilliant sections, plot is a bit random

Moves all over the place imo
He keeps drawing you in with fun characters and imagined situations, beautifully written. I feel the plot pace and flow was off though. Will check the next i series see if it makes more sense over time. I stay open. As I’m so late in life to visit disc world

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful