Discworld #5

Sorcery By Terry Pratchett

Summary from Goodreads:

When last seen, the singularly inept wizard Rincewind had fallen off the edge of the world. Now magically, he’s turned up again, and this time he’s brought the Luggage.

But that’s not all….

Once upon a time, there was an eighth son of an eighth son who was, of course, a wizard. As if that wasn’t complicated enough, said wizard then had seven sons. And then he had an eighth son — a wizard squared (that’s all the math, really). Who of course, was a source of magic — a sourcerer.

Confession:

I have read all of the Disc World books, and have enjoyed and loved many of them, but not this one.  Not that this one was bad, it just is a little slow and the plot a little bit boring.  But the characters certainly make up for that, and it was very funny at times.  But if you are interested in reading these books, this is not one I would recommend starting with.  It certainly isn’t the best one.

Rincewind is back, and finds himself reluctantly saving the world, again.  There is a sourcerer running amok in Ankh-Morpork and making a mess of things.  So, Rincewind does what he does best, runs away.  But he runs into more trouble than he bargained for and when things get truly awful, he does go back and saves the world.  Rincewind is always good for a laugh, he is so fun to spend time with that the rather predictable  and slow moving story is tolerable.  

“Sorry. I don’t know why, but the prospect of certain death in unknown lands at the claws of exotic monsters isn’t for me.  I’ve tried it, and I couldn’t get the hang of it.  Each to their own, that’s what I say, and I was cut out for boredom.”

The Luggage is always a treat to see.  I love how loyal he is, when he wants to be.  He also goes off on an adventure of his own, after feeling spurned by Conina, Cohen the Barbarian’s daughter.  Which was epic, especially when he got drunk.  If you have never read the books, the Luggage is a suitcase made of sapient peartree, has a hundred feet and a mind of his own. 

“What is it?” hissed Conina.

“It’s just the Luggage,” said Rincewind wearily.

“Does it belong to you?”

“Not really. Sort of.”

“Is it dangerous?”

The Luggage shuffled around to stare at her again.

“There’s two schools of thought about that,” said Rincewind. “There’s some people who say it’s dangerous, and others who say it’s very dangerous. What do you think?” The Luggage raised its lid a fraction.”

Both Conina and Nygel were also fun characters.  They are both Barbarians, Conina by birth and Nygel is just learning, (he has a book!) But they help Rincewind save the world in their own bumbling way.   Conina was a strong female character who could kick ass, which was fun to see in such an old book.  She often took the initiative to get them where they needed to be and defended them all.  But she also had her softer side, she really wants to be a hairdresser.  But her genetics keep getting in the way.  She feels compelled to go on quests and help people.  There were some fun stories about how it was to grow up as Cohen’s daughter.

The characters certainly sell this book, much more than the story.   The war between the wizards and the sourcerer was interesting as well.  The hierarchy of the wizards and their history was explained a bit in this story, which was interesting.   If you have just started out reading these books and you have gotten to this one and thought, well I’m done now, please don’t give up.  This was not one of the best, but there are more to come that are excellent!.