Eric by Terry Pratchett (Discworld Book 9, Rincewind Book 4)

Book Review

Title: Eric by Terry Pratchett (Discworld Book 9, Rincewind Book 4)

Genre: Fantasy

Rating: 4 Stars

So, I’ve had the 50th edition of this book on my shelf for a long time, and while I knew the Discworld was a large and expansive series, I didn’t know where to start as they are multiple ways to read it. In the end I decided to just pick up this book because it was short (less than 200 pages) and it would give me an introduction to Pratchett’s writing so I could decide if I wanted to read the entire series.

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We are introduced to Eric, a 14 year old who considers himself a demonology hacker although he isn’t very good at it. One day he is trying to summon a demon to grant his wishes for immortality, wealth and a beauty woman when he instead summons the useless wizard, Rincewind and his sentient companion, Luggage. The initial interactions between these two were hilarious and getting a small insight into the wider Discworld universe was also interesting.

Eric doesn’t believe Rincewind when he claims not to be a demon and his use of magic just cements his status as a demon in the mind of the young boy but they are soon sucked into an adventure that neither of them was planning on. These adventures bounces them to different timelines and dimensions including Hell where Rincewind isn’t well liked by the current King of Hell. My favourite part by far was the witty banter between Eric and Rincewind as they try to get themselves out of these situations with minimal injury. However, Luggage’s thoughts were even better as he is often stressed out by the situation Rincewind finds himself in since they are bound.

In the end, Eric doesn’t get the wishes he initially wanted but he seems to understand a lot more about himself and demonology. Overall, I found this introduction to Discworld interesting and I will definitely be continuing with the series. Pratchett’s writing was simple and yet conveyed these ideas with ease and the length of the Discworld books seems to be very short so you are able to read them in one sitting as I did with this book.

Buy it here:

Paperback/Hardcover: amazon.co.uk amazon.com

Kindle Edition: amazon.co.uk amazon.com