The Light Fantastic

Terry Pratchett

Average Rating 7/10 (1 Review)

'What shall we do?' said Twoflower. 'Panic?' said Rincewind hopefully. He always held that panic was the best means of survival.

When the very fabric of time and space are about to be put through the wringer - in this instance by the imminent arrival of a very large and determinedly oncoming meteorite - circumstances require a very particular type of hero. Sadly what the situation does not need is a singularly inept wizard, still recovering from the trauma of falling off the edge of the world. Equally it does not need one well-meaning tourist and his luggage which has a mind of its own. Which is a shame because that's all there is...

The funniest and most unorthodox fantasy in this or any other galaxy.

Review by Chrissi (190101) Rating (7/10)

Review by Chrissi
Rating 7/10
Strangely enough, here we find Reality being rearranged in order to make Rincewind not fall off the edge of the world. He is rescued by the Octavio in order that one of the great spells is not lost. So, now that Rincewind and Twoflower are back on the Discworld, it appears that there are other players interested in them, and who take their game playing very seriously indeed.

This is an aside to the fact that the sky is starting to be dominated by a strange, red star towards which the Discworld is travelling. People are starting to believe strange things and it would appear that the only way to save the Discworld is to keep all of the spells of the Octavio apart so they cannot be said together.

The Luggage remains one of the best things ever to be let loose on the Discworld. We meet Cohen the Barbarian who is 87 years old and still rescuing virgins (although he plans to marry this one, providing that she is strong enough to survive the wedding night), and we get to see Dragons, imaginary ones, I accept, but still...

We also learn the reason that strange magical shops exist, travelling throughout the Universe, selling strange things like the Luggage and not being there when you go back to change the item that you bought.

The adventures had by Rincewind and Twoflower are many and varied, but at the end, Twoflower decides that the best way to be able to appreciate travelling is when you have returned home, so he takes his belongings from the Luggage and gets on a ship to take him to the Brown Islands, from which he can travel home. He tells the Luggage that it now belongs to Rincewind, who tells it that it belongs to itself, but it looks so unhappy at not being owned that he gives in and takes it back to the Unseen University with him for a nice quiet life...
Chrissi (19th January 2001)