Customer Reviews

Sourcery

5 star:		(30)
4 star:		(22)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

As a big Rincewind fan, I count Sourcery as one of my favorite Pratchett novels. This fifth novel of Discworld is the first to have a real epic quality to it. Seeing as how the plot is hinged around the "Apocralypse" (even though an inebriated Pestilence, War, and Famine cannot remember the proper term for it), it pretty much has to be an epic. Ipslore was a natural-born wizard, the eight son of an eighth son, who did the unthinkable (not to mention unwizardly) act of marrying and having an eighth son of his own--a sourcerer. By tricking Death, he enters his own wizard staff and later guides the ten-year-old boy Coin in assuming the Archchancellorship of Unseen University and trying to take over the world. A sourcerer has free rein over the use of magic, unlike modern-day wizards who talk about magic but rarely perform it. Sourcerers almost destroyed the Discworld in ancient times in the Mage Wars, and young Coin sets in motion a modern-day Mage War that can only end in disaster. Only one man can stop the sourcerer and save the world--most unfortunately, that one man is the inept wizard Rincewind. His only allies are the wise and good Librarian (who happens to be an orangutan), the beautiful yet deadly thief Conina (daughter of Cohen the Barbarian), and Nigel, the skinniest hero on the Discworld whose only heroic wisdom comes from a ghost-written book by Cohen the aforementioned Barbarian. The Luggage also plays a part, but he/she/it is not there at Rincewind's side.

I love how the character of Rincewind is strengthened and expanded in this novel; he's still the funny little man in a pointy hat that we met in earlier Discworld novels, but instead of running around all over the world trying to avoid dying, Rincewind is transformed in these pages into a hero--not a very good one, of course, but a hero nonetheless. His commitment to wizardry is steadfast and firm, while the vast majority of successful wizards go along with Coin, delight in the new magical powers they gain through sourcery, and eventually wage a magical war among themselves in the pursuit of raw power. Rincewind redeems himself admirably here by actually performing some acts of bravery, risking his life--albeit reluctantly--for the sake of the Discworld.

The book starts out like gangbusters, and although it loses a little steam and wanders a little bit in the later stages, the conclusion brings everything together rather nicely. It does, however, leave a few questions unanswered for the time being. The character of Coin, the ten-year-old sourcerer, could have used more thrashing out, I felt, but Conina and Nigel are very interesting new characters in Pratchett's universe. Sourcery is overflowing with typical Pratchett humor, but it also features an exciting, narrowly-focused storyline that provides a wealth of new information about the wizards of Unseen University, the brave and wise banana-craving Librarian, and the crucial role and importance of magic in the Discworld. Whereas earlier novels sometimes seemed to have stories built around the jokes, this novel is built upon a solid foundation of an epic fantasy plot--the comedy is just icing on the cake. Of the first five Discworld novels, this is by far the most exciting and entertaining.

When the eighth son of an eighth son has an eighth son named Coin, that child is a wizard squared - a mighty sorcerer. Sorcery makes wizardry look like child's play, and ten-year-old Coin, guided by his staff imbued with the spirit of his wizard father, wants his magical power to reign supreme over all Discworld. Starting off by usurping the position of Archchancellor of Unseen University, he proceeds to overpower anyone and anything that stands in his way. The Patrician Vetinari, and even the gods themselves, are no match for Coin. The entire future of Discworld is at stake as it teeters on the brink of the Apocralypse. No, I didn't misspell it - the Aprocralypse is an apocryphal apocalypse in which magic will destroy Discworld and the Ice Age will return.

Rincewind, the bumbling and cowardly wizard of previous Discworld books, is back to face his most daunting challenge yet as he is commanded by the Archchancellor's magic hat to vanquish sorcery and save Discworld. He reluctantly joins forces with the beautiful but fierce Conina and an adolescent barbarian-wannabe named Nijel, and together they travel from Ankh Morpork to Klatch and back using some very unusual modes of transportation. Rincewind's many-legged luggage makes an appearance as well, but it keeps wandering off and it doesn't do much to advance the story line.

Pratchett delivers another madcap adventure full of satire and spoofery. He does a wonderful job of portraying a parade of funny characters. Among them are a filthy rich Klatchian ruler who spouts bad poetry, the One Horseman and Three Pedestrians of the Aprocralypse, the orangutan librarian of Unseen University, and a genie who doesn't obey commands very well. Pratchett can anthropomorphize objects like no one else. Besides the luggage, he animates an ill-tempered magic staff and the frightened grimoires of the university library. He enlightens the reader on the nature of hit-or-miss inspiration, warns of the flaws of the wizards' genetic experiments, and presents a magic lamp paradox that even the laws of physics can't keep up with. This is a hilarious story of magic gone awry. Since it builds on the characters from the previous books of the Discworld wizard track, I suggest you read "The Color of Magic" and "The Light Fantastic" first, if you haven't already done so. Then dive headlong into this one. You will be enchanted!

Eileen Rieback

Have you ever found yourself wondering why wizards don't go forth and multiply? Perhaps it's because they're usually too old to remember how the multiplying part works, or maybe it's because they didn't have access to spam mail with all the special "performance" tablets on offer, but most likely it's just to prevent the birth of an eighth son of an eighth son of an eighth son.

According to Pratchett, the little son of a gun that emerges from this equation is a super-mega-wizard called a sourcerer, someone who happens to be a source of magic and the cause of many a mage war with the accompanying wanton destruction and so on and so forth.

As you can probably tell by glancing at the title of this fifth book in the Discworld series, somewhere along the line a double eight wizard broke the rules, fell in love and had a bunch of kids, the eighth boy (this one with the unlikely name of Coin, although it DOES have a ring to it) obviously becoming a sourcerer. Soon Coin begins to cash in on his legacy, and before you know it, he's running a "Wizards Rule!!!" campaign, albeit with a little help from Dad who's sticking beside him for dear life.

Of course there's always a pesky fly or two to get into the ointment, and this time it's a mangy maggot named Rincewind (the world's most useless wizard) with his unlikely companions, Nijel the destroyer and Conina the Hairdresser (daughter of Cohen the Barbarian).

Pratchett fills this one with tons of wonderful characters, including the luggage with a mind of its own, Death with his Horseman and Three Pedestrians of the Apocralypse, a poetry-spouting royal, and a librarian who has no problems with a little monkey-business.

Insanely clever and hysterically funny.

Amanda Richards, December 9, 2006

I've said it before, Terry Pratchet is a real master of Literature. He demonstrates it in his Discworld series (or more accurately collection of books since it's not a traditional series where one book continues where the last book stopped) which is one of the greatest and best fantasy series I've ever read.

In Sourcery, Rincewind the inept and the most un-magical wizard on the Discword has to stop a great calamity. Apparently, a sorcerer appears, a source of magic, a doorway through which magic flows unstoppable into the world. Wizards, who till now have been content to lie back and enjoy six meals a day, each with at least six courses, now are filled to the brim with new fresh power burning in their bones. And when they are filled with power, old thoughts of conquest are rising again. But the wizards are about to start the wizards wars again, when magic weapons scoured the land and made life impossible.

One of the most amusing and at the same time interesting things in this book is the relationship between the wizards inside Unseen University, which mirror quite perfectly the relationships inside every big organization where the underlings fight with each other and try to dethrone their superiors in order to advance and the superiors try to keep their chairs and their heads while stamping down on underlings who are viewed as too ambitious. Everyone could find analogies to his work place, family or college.

In conclusion, this is a great book, filled with humor, action and describes quite accurately the true condition of the human soul. Go and get this book, you won't be sorry.

As you read in the reviews, there was an eighth son of an eighth son of an eighth son. He was a sourcerer, name of Coin. He was only 10 years old, but his father's soul was in Coin's staff, and he (the father) had many grudes against the Unseen University. So when Coin was ten years of age, he went to the UU and there lured all of the wizards with promises of power and threats to come to his side. He gave the wizards so much power that (as everyone knows wizards would do if they had enough power) they took over the Dic. No hope survived. Nothing could stand up to their magic. No wizards were left free from Coin's rule. Except for one. You see, when one wizard saw the hordes of rats, mice, bedbugs, gargolyes, ravens, and cocrouches leaving the UU, he decided to go out and get quietly drunk. While there, that certain wizard meet Corina, daughter of Cohen the barbarian, (who wants to be a hairdresser, but whose instincts keep getting in the way) who stole the Archchalcellor's Hat (which was the first thing that not only asked to be stolen, but gave instuctions in an athoritive tone as to how it would be disposed of.) Rincewind the wizard isn't much of a wizard, but he's the only hope the Dic has as the powers of the Hat fight with the powers of Sourcery,(both of which care nothing for what their stuggles do to the land.) After The Hat betrays him, this cowerdly wizard myust find a way to stop the Disc from being destroyed by the magical wars, the dungon dimensions from eptying into the universe, and somehow destroy Coin's staff, with only the help of the Luggage, a magic carpet, (One of Rincewind's greatest fears is heights) and a half-brick in a rubber sock. The ending left me hankering for Eric, the next book in the series.

While Sourcery succeeds at being a genuinely funny story with some interesting plot developments, I feel it is weaker tham most of Pratchett's efforts. Part of this is due to it's use of Rincewind as a main character. The world's most incompetent wizard is also the one Pratchett character who goes through little if any character development. Whatever book about Rincewind you pick up, you can count on him to be completely self-centered and cowardly. The best you can say is that his running skills steadily improve.

Pratchett's thesis here is that there is something out there far more powerful than wizardry. Something that tapped right into the world's magical forces and could change reality. This something is called sourcery and you have to be an eighth son of an eighth som to even qualify. Which is why Ankh-Morpork's wizards are forbidden to marry. The last time there were sourcerers they set about trying to kill each other and very nearly turned discworld into a radioactive Frisbee. Wizards try to kill each other too, but on a much more incompetent scale.

Unfortunately, Ipslore the Red cheated, got married, and was promptly thrown out of the Unseen University. Not a fan of birth control he promptly had eight sons (his daughters were uncounted). Coin was the last, and Ipslore, angry about the death of his wife decided to make the young boy into his means of revenge. When the wizards met to elect a new Chancellor, they found a surprise candidate - a 10 year old boy with a knack for turning people into greasy smudges.

Coin turns magic upside down, gives the wizards almost inexhaustible power, and starts coming very close to starting Wizard Wars II. The unlikely team to come to the rescue is Rincewind, Conina (the barbarian daughter of Cohen - capable of wiping out entire police forces while being a hair stylist), and Nijel - who learned everything there is to know about successful barbarianism from a comic book. And don't forget the Chancellor's what, which is so appalled by the mess that it sets out on its own.

As you can see, there's quite a bit of potential for a good story here, and much of it is realized. But Pratchett sets in to repeating his jokes just a bit too early, and some funny things become less funny too soon. This book is hardly a failure, it just suffers from too much type casting (if you can call barbarian women who just want to settle down and style hair 'types'). I prefer Rincewind tales like The Last Continent, which has less Rincewind and a stronger plot. Still, you will want to read Sourcery, and you'll probably like it despite this review.

I've decided he's too good and too prolific for me to write a brand new review every single time I read one of his books. Discworld currently has 34 titles and every one of them will probably knock your socks off. His mind bubbles and flashes like a boiling pot of electric eels, and I simply can't get enough of his writing.

A reviewer has compared him to Geoffrey Chaucer. He reminds me more of Douglas Adams, or perhaps S Morgenstern. Great company, isn't it? He's an extremely skillful and imaginative writer, damn funny, clever and observant to boot. He's also very easy to read. A master of characterization, and if there's anything else you like about reading that I didn't mention here, assume I simply forgot. He's awesome.

Another reviewer mentioned Jonathan Swift and PG Wodehouse. Why such hallowed company? Because Pratchett belongs there! Truly, I'm enjoying my quest to read every book in the series. You should do the same, and begin your quest at the library because he's got to be there. He's awesome!

Yet another reviewer said Jerome K Jerome meets Lord of the Rings. Yeah, that works too.

Why do we, as reviewers, compare authors to other authors? Because it's easier than thinking. In the case of Terry Pratchett, it's probably because we'd otherwise wind up quoting the guy. He's so unique that we just don't know how else to cope with his greatness. Even this paragraph sounds like foamy drool raving, doesn't it? That's how all readers react to Pratchett. Reviewers simply don't have the good sense to keep it to themselves.

I could call his writing fantasy, but I could likewise call what Douglas Adams wrote science fiction. In both cases, I wouldn't be wrong, but I'd be neglecting so much and just totally missing the point. A rare few authors transcend a genre to such a degree that you know they're shouting out, loud and proud, a big fat "Bite me!"

I love Terry Pratchett's writing, and I completely understand why some folks refer to him as their favorite author. Or favourite, I should say, since we're being British. He's one of those authors that makes you want to grab whoever's in hearing range and start reading passages aloud. I'm simply thrilled that there's such an extremely talented and prolific author who's been working for years without me being aware of him. Now I have much catching up to do, and I will love it.

The Discworld, being a flat world that is carried through space on the backs of four elephants, who in turn are standing - rather patiently, I think - on the back of a great turtle, is, understandably, a world awash in magic. There are magical creatures on the Disc - trolls and dwarfs and elves - and people who know how to use the magic that infuses the world. People like wizards.

If you want to be a wizard, there are ways to get there. The best thing you can do is to be the eighth son of an eighth son - that type is almost certainly destined for the more arcane arts. Once you've become a wizard, you dedicate yourself to one thing: magic. And late lunches, comfortable robes and your pointy hat, but mainly to magic. Wizards don't marry. Wizards certainly don't have children.

Except for one wizard. Ipsalore the Red, the eighth son of an eighth son, broke this law of wizardry. He fell in love, ran away from the University, and had sons of his own. Eight of them. His youngest son, Coin, was the carrier of a great power. He was the eighth son of the eighth son of an eighth son. Wizardry squared.

A Sourcerer.

Back in the old days, when the magic on the disc was much wilder, there were sourcerers everywhere. They built great castles and fought horrible wars of magic, the effects of which still scar the Disc to this day. Modern wizardry is a pale reflection of those days, and for good reason. If wizards continued to battle as the sourcerers did, the disc would be broken beyond recognition. Every wizard knows this.

And yet, when young Coin comes to the Unseen University of Ankh-Morpork, bristling with power and holding a staff possessed by the ghost of his father, the wizards are more interested in the power he can give them than the responsibility they have. A sourcerer has arisen, and a new age of magic has come, with all of the terror that implies. Coin reminds them of what wizards used to be, and the power they used to have. Through him, old men who could barely manage a simple illusion are now able to re-shape the world with their wills. With a sourcerer behind them, there is nothing these wizards cannot accomplish.

Only one man can stop them. His name is Rincewind, and he really, really doesn't want to get involved.

Rincewind is a wizard (or, if you go by his pointy hat, a "Wizzard"), although he is so deficient in magical talent that it is believed that the average magical ability of the human population will actually goup once he dies. He wants nothing more than to be left alone to live a boring, mundane life. The universe, it seems, has different ideas. Together with Conina - the daughter of Cohen the Barbarian - and Nijel the Destroyer, Rincewind has to figure out how to stop a sourcerer from destroying the world.

This book is one of the early volumes of the Discworld series, and so it doesn't quite have the depth that later books do. Oh, there's certainly a message to be found in it - mainly on the subject of identity. Rincewind identifies himself as a wizard, despite having all the magical talent of a lump of silly putty, and cannot conceive of being anything else. The sourcerer Coin, on the other hand, has been told who he is to become, mainly by the spirit of his dead (and rather monomaniacal) father. Conina has the blood of heroes in her veins, but her dream is to wield nothing sharper than a pair of beautician's scissors. And Nijel the Destroyer - who looks almost exactly the way his name sounds - desperately wants to be a barbarian hero, despite being about as muscular as a wet noodle.

Despite all of this, however, the characters succeed when they decide for themselves who they want to be. The ones who suffer the most are the other wizards - the ones who allow Coin to tell them who they are. They invest their entire sense of self in the inflated image fed to them by the sourcerer - an image of power and strength - and when it all comes crashing down around them, they are only left with shame and disappointment. In the end, the remain who they always were, and that is the tragedy of their downfall.

So if there's a lesson to be had in this book, that's it: know who you are and be it, as hard and as loud as you can. Other than that, it's a rollicking little adventure. Enjoy.

Terry Pratchett is my all-time laugh out loud favorite. His characters never get old, the laughs never stop surprising you... If you've read some of the later stuff... it's nice back-ground. If you're new to discworld, this is great stuff...

Heaven help us!! This book is funny and insightful. Pratchett manages to make you laugh (way out loud) and ponder about politics all at the same time. He has a mastery of the English language that is not always seen in modern fantasy novels. The novel is so cleverly written that it makes you wonder sometimes -is this fact or fiction.

The dialogue between the characters is "to die for". It goes way beyond some of the best comedy sketches one sees on television. His descriptions are wonderfully unique and refreshing. I read the entire book in less than two days. Then I had to run out and buy another.

Good read, great writing. Not to be read after Tolkien, Goodkind, Eddings or the likes - it's fantasy/comedy; not epic fantasy. But fans of the three mentioned above and anyone who appreciates the literary arts (fantasy reader or not) will like this book.

If this is the first Discworld book you are reading, it will take some getting used to. But once you get the jist and the joke, you'll get the book. Not to be missed. A definite keeper.