The Light Fantastic

I started reading The Light Fantastic before I left on my honeymoon. Then I forgot to pack it and bring it with me. So I came back to it two weeks later with only the vaguest memories of what had happened. But that's mostly okay because this is my second time through the book and the plot is sort of barely-there anyway.

The second Discworld book is the only one that functions as a direct sequel to what came before. Rincewind and Twoflower spent The Color of Magic traveling farther and farther from Ankh-Morpork in the their adventures. Now they must race back to save the world from a mysterious star that's threatening to crash into the disc.

As plots go it's pretty straight-forward. Everyone, including Rincewind, wants him back in the city. But they all have different ideas about how he's going to get there and what he's going to do when he arrives, so Rincewind continues to run away from nearly everyone he meets.

Overall this book is a lot better than the first one. The plot is much more cohesive. The puns are better and sprinkled more liberally through the text (that's probably only a plus if you like puns). The characters are better drawn, the women in particular. And Pratchett does a better job of balancing the serious with the hilarious. It's still not quite up to the standards of the later books, but it's impressive just how much of an improvement it is.

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