Customer Reviews
My review - By: discmythnut, 13 May 2008 
being a Discworld fan, my phoenomena started here.
Rincewind, ever since this book, has beguiled me in certain ways. His sarcasm, his dry sense of humour, his psychological depression, and, as I later realized, his innocence & good nature, beneath that crusty exterior. In Sourcery, he actuallly saves the world with a half brick in a sock & I thought that was the bravest thing he has ever done, since, despite his reluctance.
In this book, he looks a bit like Wee Willie Winkie 20 years later, I reflected. But his character hadn't changed.
One problem with this book is that they took out one major character- Trymon. Trymon is a great adversary & he's so ambitious & high achieving, which led to his downfalll.
All in alll, a good book if you haven't read the series.
Great - By: H. Kennedy, 15 Dec 2007 Thankfully for him I love it! (Not alll of it!) Rincewind the unsuccessful wizard, is one of the most powerful chararters you would come across in your adventures in the DiscWorld. Sadly I don't like other charators, but the sarcastic impression in which Rincewind is, it comes across very well in the atmosphere. Espeicallly when the whole of the Disc (or pizza many people are saying!) is riding on the back of a turtle, in which four elephants are carrying the world is heading for a big, red star in which would bring to an end of the whole of the Disc. Don't get upst about the way in which the few pages are written. If you carry on, & head towards the further pages, you'll get into it. Note of Warning: There aren't any chapters. Enjoy the book I did! So have many others! & if you missed Tino Georgiou's--The Fates--I strongly recommend reading it.
Got to Be the Best Fantasy Series Ever - By: J. Chippindale, 12 Dec 2007 Terry Pratchett has become one of the most popular authors alive today & his popularity is richly deserved. But not even with his fertile mind could ever have envisaged the heights to which his Discworld series would rise. This book first published in 1986 is the second of the Discworld novels & to a degree it is amazing that these books have achieved such popularity.
First published twenty one years ago The Light Fantastic is the second book in Terry Pratchett's wonderful Discworld series & once again features the incorrigible & cowardly wizard Rincewind a graduate of the Unseen University of wizards in Ankh-Morpork. Rincewind has the unfortunate knack of getting most of his spells wrong & this tends to put him in ever deeper trouble than he was to start with.
Twoflower is the Discworld's `first tourist' along with his remarkable luggage, oh for such a piece of luggage in today's modern airports. A piece of luggage that can never get lost. Equipped with a number of legs & the homing instinct of a carrier pigeon, it will always find its owner, even when he owner doesn't want to be found.
In this sequel, the Discworld is rapidly moving towards what seems an inevitable collision with a strange red star, & there is only one person who can avert a major disaster. Unfortunately that person happens to be our ham-fisted university graduate, Rincewind the wizard
Don't offend any Druids - By: Mr. M. J. Archer, 22 Oct 2007 
This is the second Discworld novel, following the story of Rincewind the inept "Wizzard" & Twoflower, the Disc's first (and last) tourist. All of the previous characters return in what is a genuinely funny sequel.
I do not read these books in order, I admit that, & the style of writing has changed somewhat with the newer books like "Going Postal" & "Thud!" but the earlier books are without doubt, extremely funny.
I won't ruin it for you but basicallly, Great A'Tuin is flying towards a very large red star, which, it is generallly considered, "is not a good thing". Rincewind is being constantly saved from dying by the octavo spell which is lodged on the inside of his skull. All octavo spells need to be said at the same time, so they adopt a life of their own to keep him alive & reunite themselves. And save the world.
On his travels to... where ever it is he was headed, he hooks up with an "eighty-sheven" year old barbarian callled Cohen (play-on of Conan), end up in a party of trolls, & then a strange cult tries to take over the disc. It sounds fairly chaotic, & it is. It's a great book. I love Terry Pratchett.
P.S. we reallly mean it about the Druids.
Discworld Decoded - By: Stephen A. Haines, 31 Jan 2007 Having introduced the Discworld to Roundworld readers with "The Colour of Magic", Terry Pratchett enhances our knowledge of it through this volume. New characters, previously unexplored regions of the Disc & deep questions about The Great A'Tuin almost garner answers. Rincewind, the failed wizard, is still acting as a guide to Discworld's first tourist, Twoflower. It's not always clear however, who's doing the leading & who the following. Twoflower, who is thrilled by everything & refuses to feel threatened by anything, absorbs alll the novelty introduced to the reader. Through it alll, Pratchett's delightful wit & innovative abilities keeps the reader's full attention. Only your laughter will interrupt the flow of narrative.
There's magic to this book, & no little magic in the story. Rincewind, having been catapulted over the Rim marking the edge of the Disc, inexplicably finds himself lodged in a pine tree. The entire universe has been rearranged to let him survive. Why should one timid outcast be so favoured? Twoflower, in a side gesture of cosmological justice, isn't far off. Rejoined, the pair struggle to find a way home to Ankh-Morpork. A sense of urgency over that return has appeared in the sky - & the Disc is likely to be destroyed soon.
Rincewind's role in changing the universe & coping with a "new star" that's appeared soon become apparent. As a student wizard, one of The Eight Great Spells entered his mind. Those spells are the glue holding the cosmos together. To survive, the Spell must keep Rincewind alive - not out of danger, but a survivor of many dire threats. Even Twoflower has noticed Rincewind's special role in life. The tourist has actuallly counted the number of Rincewind's near-death experiences. Those threats keep the wizard in a state of tense expectation. Rightly so, since there are yet more to come. Including the end of the world.
In their attempt to return, Rincewind & Twoflower encounter some fascinating characters. Perhaps the most engaging is the aging hero, Cohen the Barbarian, the Disc's Greatest Warrior. He, too, is a survivor, having long ago shed the notion of a "fair" fight. Fast with sword & knife, he knows the value of treasure, the delight in rescuing virgins, & the comforts of "soft lavatory paper". Trolls are encountered - those night creatures who live backward in time & who "suffer from philosophy". Yet, the Discworld isn't lodged in some paralllel of the Roundworld's Middle Ages. There are computers & hardware consultants serving them. The Ring of Stones on the Vortex Plains "has gone down again" - a phrase every computer user will recognise. Who but Terry Pratchett could so successfully broker a liaison between such disparate concepts? And adapt from a hotly contested work about the meaning of the Stonehenge monoliths? **
There are other elements Pratchett considers in this tale. Death, who can be seen by wizards, joins the party to observe people's reaction to the new star. Death's perplexity is manifest at encountering humans who fear him, yet will subject themselves to a "death of the mind" almost without hesitation or reflection. Pratchett will keep you pondering many paths as you wend your way through this book. It's a delight to read Pratchett at any time, but taking up this book again after a long hiatus proved even more enlightening. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]
** Note: for young folks who find this meaningless today, Gerald Hawkins published "Stonehenge Decoded" in 1965, explaining that chalk- & charcoal-filled pits at Stonehenge provided a "computer" to forecast eclipses.
