Audio - white noise

Would you consider the audio edition of The Colour of Magic to be better than the print version?

No.

What three words best describe Nigel Planer’s performance?

Excellent, cunning, clever. Alas, the audio quality is abysmal!

Any additional comments?

The audio quality of this recording is miserable. There is plenty of white noise throughout the recording which make this a very unpleasant experience.

97 people found this helpful

In the beginning...

As the first in the Discworld series, this is arguably the most important book of the lot (would the others have happened without this one?). But honestly, it's not the best.
The brilliant style and clarity of the later books is yet to settle down, and this - by comparison - is a little muddling.
However, a poor book by Terry Pratchett is a very great deal better than the best work of many other authors.

I would highly recommend this book to anyone wanting to complete the Discoworld series, but for anyone new to Discworld - I'd suggest starting a few books in and come back to this one once you've fallen in love with them.

I very much enjoy Nigel Planar's performance, although the sound quality isn't A1 - it sounds like a recording of a cassette playing on the other side of the room.

19 people found this helpful

I love this book but...

Colour of Magic is a great book but the sound quality of this audiobook is dreadful. Really not up to Audible's usual standard. I'm surprised by this and disappointed. Great story with good performance from Nigel Planer too. If you have never read or heard Terry Pratchett before don't start here because it will put you off.

62 people found this helpful

Sub standard

Terry has never done a bad book in my eyes and I enjoyed Nigels performance but the audio quality is terrible. Please address this as I would love to get the complete set but this is holding me back.

9 people found this helpful

Disappointing

Having been captivated by the Guards series from Discworld, this was disappointing. However it may have been better with a better delivery and recording - strange interval noises were very distracting and an echo on some sections may have sounded a good idea but did not work and made it difficult to hear.

12 people found this helpful

Might have been a good book..crackling put me off

This is not a quality recording. Audible should not be selling this substandard audiobook. The story might be wonderful but I gave up after 15 minutes because the recording is so bad - I missed words and phrases. Sort it out Audible!

58 people found this helpful

Pretty good story - low quality recording

What did you like best about The Colour of Magic? What did you like least?

I like the humour, the light heartedness, and many of the characters. Also enjoy Planer's performance. I liked the quality of the recording the least. This is not up to Audibles usual standard, unfortunately.

If you’ve listened to books by Terry Pratchett before, how does this one compare?

I listened to The Light Fantastic right after this one, and I must say I liked the second book better than I liked The Colour of Magic. I can't quite pinpoint why, I'm afraid. Maybe I like the characters from the second part better... Or maybe the author has more room to be playful and creative when the stage is set and the protagonists introduced. Either way - the first one is alright, but The Light Fantastic is what convinces me that this series deserves its popularity.

Which character – as performed by Nigel Planer – was your favourite?

I think Planer did a brilliant job with all of the characters - brought them to life and kept them apart. I must, however, say that the quality of the recording isn't very good. As someone who's native language is not English, I occationally couldn't even make out what word it was, due to the low quality production.

Was The Colour of Magic worth the listening time?

Absolutely, but the story gets better in the second book.

Any additional comments?

I've finally gotten started on this series - and I can't wait to continue. I enjoy how Pratchett is playing around with fantasy clichés.

18 people found this helpful

story & narration great -poor audio quality

unfortunately this gave poor sound reproduction. not sure why but spoiled my enjoyment (a bit). Nigel Planer was perfect the narrator for this wacky tale. It felt like hitchhikers guide to the galaxy, only with magic instead of space travel.

22 people found this helpful

the turtle moves for the first time

The first in Terry Pratchett's amazing discworld series, in which we meet Wrincewind, the failed wizard and champion runner away, and twoflower, a tourist in a world where most people don't even know what a tourist is, and of course who could forget the luggage? no one since it follows behind on its hundreds of little legs. This book, while not the best of Pratchett's works, is nevertheless the best introduction to the amazing discworld, and a marvelous parody of all worlds, including our own. Don't worry too much about following the plot of this one, just relax and enjoy the fun of a journey through a world where nothing is quite as you'd expect it to be. For the best reading of this book, I would recommend the abridged version, read by the unbeatable Tony Robinson. However if you're like me, and think there's no point in hearing a book unless you hear all of it, then Nigel Planer also does a very good job with the unabridged version. I'm not good at writing reviews, but I love every Terry Pratchett book I've ever read, and I have a great affection for this one since it's the first in the discworld series, and the discworld series truly is one of the greatest literary achievments of our time in my opinion. This book is as I said, mainly a parody of all things fantasy, particularly of fairytales and legends. But like all the discworld books, it contains an interesting sprinkling of satire and comment, but above all, it's an exciting and fun story to read, perfect if you want to unwind from a hard day, I've even heard that the first part of the book is a great help in sending you off to sleep. So in conclusion, if you enjoy fantasy, or even if you don't, please give this book a try, I feel confident that The Colour Of Magic, and indeed the rest of the discworld series has something for everyone

16 people found this helpful

Fantastic book and great narration...

The Discworld series is amazing. The dozens of books in the series can be daunting to tackle, but this first venture into the amazing world Pratchett has created stands on its own and can be enjoyed without ever moving on to any of the other books. Thankfully they found an excellent voice for the story in Nigel Planer, whose enthusiasm and changes in mannerisms from character to character give the story life. Well done.

3 people found this helpful