The Light Fantastic

The Light Fantastic by Terry Pratchett

Well, it's official, I'm hooked on the Discworld. After reading Color of Magic last year, and watching The Hogfather miniseries over the holidays, I decided to continue reading the books with The Light Fantastic, which is the second in the series and continues the story of Rincewind the wizard, Twoflower the tourist & his Luggage. I'm not entirely sure what to share without giving away major plot points, so suffice it to say that I really enjoy all the whimsy, satire, and magic of the Discworld thus far. In this book we get to meet some Discworld druids and trolls for the first time, as well as a couple more heros, and several more wizards.

Death is quickly becoming one of my favorite characters, and I had some legit laugh out loud moments in this book surrounding him, particularly when he is summoned by a group of wizards for a Very Serious Question, and is unprepared for said summoning.

I was curious about the title so I looked it up, and it's pulled from a John Milton poem, the line is "trip the light fantastic" and means to 'dance lightly with extravagance.' It seems a fitting title for a book that is all about a mad sort of rush to save the world, or maybe just not die today, by a wizard who has an incredible knack for not dying.

I'm already looking forward to getting Equal Rites from the library next month!

“He moved in a way that suggested he was attempting the world speed record for the nonchalant walk.”

“You haven't really been anywhere until you've got back home.”

“Not for the first time she reflected that there were many drawbacks to being a swordswoman, not least of which was that men didn't take you seriously until you'd actually killed them, by which time it didn't really matter anyway.”