“˜Light’ delivers despite lack of solid characters
By Daily Bruin Staff
Oct. 1, 2000 9:00 p.m.
BOOK INFORMATION Â Â
Title: The Light Fantastic
Author: Terry Pratchett
Publisher: Harper Paperbacks
Price:
$3.99Â Â Â Â Pages: 241
Rating: 7
Original by YU WANG/Daily Bruin Senior Staff Web Adaptation by
MONICA KWONG/Daily Bruin Senior Staff
By Michael Rosen-Molina
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
With the popularity of Terry Pratchett’s
“Discworld” series, it was only a matter of time until
HarperCollins decided to
re-release the original adventures to delight a new generation
of readers.
“The Light Fantastic,” Pratchett’s second
foray into the literary comic fantasy universe of Discworld, may
display all the weaknesses of a new writer, but it also showcases
the talent that has made Pratchett the celebrated author of over 38
books.
The story takes place on Discworld, the magical flat planet that
travels through space on the back of an enormous turtle. Great
A’Tuin, the celestial reptile that appears as incidental
background information in so many Discworld novels, takes center
stage in “The Light Fantastic.”
The entire plot revolves around A’Tuin’s final
destination, a riddle that has puzzled Disc philosophers and
scientists alike.
One theory claims that A’Tuin is slowly making his way,
through the vast wastes of space, to his ancestral mating grounds,
where he will fight star turtles to win a mate. Others imagine that
A’Tuin is actually a female, searching for the astronomical
spawning grounds, where she will deposit her eggs. Whichever theory
is correct, A’Tuin’s goal is sure to have far-reaching
consequences for the civilization riding on its shell.
And it’s on that flat world that the real story begins.
TwoFlower, the world’s first tourist, gets it into his head
that he’d like to see some of that civilization before its
imminent extinction. With nothing but his suitcase ““ a
fiercely loyal wooden trunk known only as “The Luggage”
that scampers about on hundreds of little feet ““ he sets off
across the ocean to the fabled city of Ankh-Morpork to gaze upon
its wonders.
Only Ankh-Morpork isn’t quite so wondrous; in fact,
it’s pretty much a sprawling metropolis ““ polluted,
decrepit and riddled with crime.
But, the awe-struck TwoFlower is oblivious to the grime and to
the fact that a naive out-of-towner would be the perfect target for
the city’s lowlifes if he didn’t have two friends on
his side ““ his homicidal Luggage, always eager to take a bite
out of someone, and his hired tour guide, the completely
incompetent and very cowardly wizard Rincewind.
Together, they travel to the Disc, and where they repeatedly get
into zany misadventures, avoid getting killed, and ultimately save
the world from impending apocalypse. All the while, A’Tuin
slowly but surely paddles ever closer to destiny and that menacing
new star on the horizon.
“The Light Fantastic” reads as a high fantasy
parody, gently mocking the absurd conventions that the genre
routinely insists on shoving at its readers. Rincewind and
TwoFlower meet Cohen the Barbarian, a thinly veiled spoof of the
famous Conan.
Cohen’s exploits have made him a legend in his own time,
and generations have grown up listening to bedtime stories about
him. He’s an old man now, in his late 80s, but he has no
intention of retiring. Spindly and ancient, Cohen’s ferocity
still inspires fear in the hearts of his enemies ““ who know
that, in the world’s most dangerous profession, Cohen has
managed to live for a long, long time. Something to think
about.
While it lacks the keen social satire that distinguishes many of
Pratchett’s later works, the author still peppers his text
with swipes at modern foolishness. A gaggle of druids construct a
giant “computer” out of enormous stone monoliths, then
struggle to work out all the bugs before the solstice virgin
sacrifice. The wicked red star inspires a millenarian cult
convinced that the Disc must be cleansed of magic to prevent
catastrophe.
“The Light Fantastic” is a fun, light read that
never gets bogged down in unnecessary details. Characterization is
conspicuously absent; the characters pretty much remain flat
stereotypes.
Beyond TwoFlower’s naivete and Rincewind’s paranoia,
nothing much is revealed about either of the book’s main
protagonists. The villain, a weaselly wizard named Trymon who plans
to play on apocalyptic fears in order to grab leadership of the
Disc’s wizards, makes a few token appearances yet contributes
little to the story. Mostly, his role involves lurking in the
background, acting vaguely menacing and then providing a convenient
opponent for Rincewind to battle at the novel’s
conclusion.
Although the humor works well, “The Light Fantastic”
lacks a solid plot. The coming apocalypse serves mostly as a device
for bouncing the heroes from one wacky adventure to the next.
Several minor adventures never meet a satisfactory conclusion, as
convenient deus ex machina allow Rincewind and TwoFlower to make
early exits.
Despite all these failings, though, the excellent description
brings the myriad oddities of Discworld ““ from mountain-sized
trolls to amazon warriors ““ to life. The jokes don’t
always work, but those that do more than make up for their failed
counterparts. It is a tribute to Pratchett’s style that a
book so devoid of plot, character, and, at times, common sense,
still captures the reader and refuses to let go.
