Ratings197
Average rating3.5
3 stars, Metaphorosis reviews
Summary
Attempting to summon a powerful demon, teenaged prodigy Eric ends up with dissheveled so-so wizard Rincewind instead. To everyone's surprise, Rincewind is able to grant wishes - just not in a way anyone wanted.
Review
Terry Pratchett does best when he's creating an original story, like Guards! Guards!. His pastiches of well-known stories haven't been as effective (with the exception of Wyrd Sisters). Here, the cover gives away that he's aiming in the direction of Faust, and he brings back popular character Rincewind, but frankly the whole thing felt a little half-hearted to me.
There's some good humour and both Rincewind and Eric are engaging enough, but the overall story framing (reforms in hell) felt thin and worn. Pratchett does seemingly take aim at some of his own quirks – e.g., constantly saying ‘wossname', a joke that was once funny, but was wearing out, becomes a target in this book. And there are the usual situational jokes, often funny. But this isn't one of the more stellar Discworld entries, especially after the excellent Guards! Guards!
Fine for Discworld aficionados, but very skippable for casual readers.
even a slight discworld book is wonderful! i feel like i've heard that rincewind is the least popular of the main discworld protagonists, but i can't help but love a character who's presence in a story even makes death groan out loud. strangely also felt like one of the most british books of the series so far, which is an amusing plus in my book.
Executive Summary: This was a quick read, even for a Discworld book, but not one of my favorites, especially following the excellent [b:Guards! Guards! 64216 Guards! Guards! (Discworld, #8; City Watch #1) Terry Pratchett https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1431127356s/64216.jpg 1128601].Full ReviewIt seems apparent that the Rincewind books are my least favorite sub-series of Discworld. So far I've only really enjoyed [b:The Light Fantastic 34506 The Light Fantastic (Discworld, #2; Rincewind #2) Terry Pratchett https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1389554927s/34506.jpg 592532]. It's not that they are bad exactly, they just aren't nearly as good as the City Watch, Death or Witches books have been so far.I'm not particularly fond of Rincewind either. The best part of his books seem to be the luggage that follows him around wreaking havoc. In this one we meet a young Necromancer named Eric and his rather obnoxious parrot. Things go a bit crazy and Rincewind does his best to run away as usual.There are some pretty funny parts, and a few good quotes, but far fewer than [b:Guards! Guards! 64216 Guards! Guards! (Discworld, #8; City Watch #1) Terry Pratchett https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1431127356s/64216.jpg 1128601] and some of the other of the past books. This is also the shortest book thus far. It made for a quick and easy read, that was good but not great. I'm glad I read it, but if/when I decide to reread any of the Discworld books, it won't make the cut.
While I was happy to see Rincewind and his luggage back, this wasn't as good as others in the series.
This is a short book about Rincewind, its main virtue being that it's shorter than the other Rincewind books. I don't hate Rincewind, I just find him rather tedious.
The book is quite fluently written and it has humorous moments, it's amiable enough, but as soon as I put it down I realize I've forgotten the story.
I loved The Color of Magic, book #1 of the
Discworld series. It was everything I want in a
book, with humor and silly puns and delightful characters.
Then I began to wait and wait and wait. I felt compelled
(yes, I'm a bit anal) to read book #2 next.
Today I could wait no longer. I dove into Eric and
took a trip to Hell, climbed out of the Trojan Horse,
and chit-chatted with a (not “the”) Creator.
Clever stuff. Ah, but I must be off. Mort awaits.