Terry pratchett - sourcery ebook

I'm just hoping to get more hooked on the series before too much longer Aug 05, Madeline rated it really liked it Shelves: fantasy. Once upon a time on the Disc, the eight son of an eight son eighth sons all become wizards, because magic on the Disc follows the rule of eights had seven sons.

And then he had another son, who was destined to be the most powerful wizard of his time: a source of magic. A sourceror, if you will. He was guided by his magic staff, which, naturally, was possessed by the spirit of his dead father. This book is not about the sourcerer. Terry Prachett only bothers to keep us updated on the movements Once upon a time on the Disc, the eight son of an eight son eighth sons all become wizards, because magic on the Disc follows the rule of eights had seven sons.

Terry Prachett only bothers to keep us updated on the movements of the sourcerer a boy called Coin when there's no other way around it. This is a book about Rincewind the wizard, which means that our protagonist spends the majority of his time hiding, if not actively running away, from the plot of his own book.

For anyone reading this book with no prior knowledge of Discworld, this will make him a confusing and frustrating protagonist. If, however, you're like me and adore him with all your heart, you will be delighted.

Honestly though, how can you not be delighted by a hero who's faced with a blatant Call To Adventure and reacts like this: "A thing with a goblin's face, harpy's body and hen's legs turned its head in a series of little jerks and spoke in a voice like the peristalsis of mountains although the deep resonant effect was rather spoiled because, of course, it couldn't close its mouth.

It said: 'A Ourceror is umming! Eee orr ife! So Rincewind sat and stared blankly at nothing much for fully ten seconds before giving a little scream and running as fast as he could. For example, in a tavern someone jogs your elbow and you turn around quickly and give a mouthful of abuse to, you become slowly aware, the belt buckle of a man who, it turns out, was probably hewn rather than born. In other words, it's the familiar hot sinking feeling experienced by everyone who has let the waves of their own anger throw them far up on the beach of retribution, leaving them, in the poetic language of the everyday, up shit creek.

Nijel was one of those people who, if you say 'don't look now,' would immediately swivel his head like an owl on a turntable.

These are the same people who, when you point out, say, an unusual crocus just beside them, turn around aimlessly and put their foot down with a sad little squashy noise. If they were lost in a trackless desert you could find them by putting down, somewhere on the sand, something small and fragile like a valuable old mug that had been in your family for generations, and then hurrying back as soon as you heard the crash.

The premise, as much as you can call it that, is the story of an eighth son of an eighth son of an eighth son. He was, quite naturally, a wizard. A wizard squared Sourcery died out on the Disc thousands of years ago. Magic has become old and lazy and life is calm. With a new source of sourcery the very Disc itself is in danger of being ripped apart.

Step forward Rincewind, prize coward and once more the Disc's unlikely saviour, with the help of the hairdressing daughter of Cohen the Barbarian, The Luggage and Nigel, first son of a Greengrocer but barbarian in training. Apart from that, he was nothing more than a comma on the page of History.

It's sad, but that's all you can say about some people. But after five books that almost all feature him in some way I'm pretty much fed up with him and the recycled jokes that go along with him. I remembered the boy wizard Coin as the reason why I disliked this book on first read but this time it became apparent that it wasn't his fault at all, it was Conina and Nigel and Creosote, the pointless threesome that seemed to exist solely as a running joke without driving the narrative.

Another point of annoyance is that Pratchett only acknowledges the previous instalments when it suits him, the reintroduction of Twoflower's luggage for example whereas he completely ignores the fact that Rincewind has met Death several times previously for the sake of reusing a lame joke.

It's very important. It isn't a good idea to rely on other people or things to do it for you, you see. They always get it wrong. In case you haven't been following my rereading of the Discworld, this time through I am using the audiobooks to exercise with to surprisingly good effect. Until now. Exercising to this is hard work, it's just not interesting enough, or funny enough, my mind certainly isn't distracted from the tedium of exercise that's for sure.

I always marked this as my least favourite Discworld and nothing has changed in the past 10 years. Bring on Wyrd Sisters! In common with Equal Rites the resolution in this book focuses on the need for self-restraint, the best use of power is not to use it at all view spoiler [ curious this for somebody who once worked as a press officer for a nuclear power station hide spoiler ].

This principle allows for the presence of the wizards as a whole in the Pratchett universe to be non-disruptive, but more broadly is a common theme in the Discworld novels and is true also of the Witches stories in which magical interven In common with Equal Rites the resolution in this book focuses on the need for self-restraint, the best use of power is not to use it at all view spoiler [ curious this for somebody who once worked as a press officer for a nuclear power station hide spoiler ].

This principle allows for the presence of the wizards as a whole in the Pratchett universe to be non-disruptive, but more broadly is a common theme in the Discworld novels and is true also of the Witches stories in which magical interventions are never without consequences and perhaps also in the politics of Lord Vetinari for whom self restraint is the nature of the exercise of power.

Suggestion and assumption have a greater and more successful effect than direct action in these stories. Some nice moments in this tale include Rincewind attempting to save the Discworld with a half brick in a sock, the comic-poignancy of the unconscious Rincewind attempting to build himself a proper Wizard tower as atavistic response to the Sourcerer was a nice moment, and the triumph of self seclusion in a garden, bringing back memories of the conclusion to Candide.

View 2 comments. Jul 29, Audrey rated it liked it Shelves: fantasy , audiobooks , books. Here we have the third book featuring Rincewind and the Luggage. The plot of this story is secondary to the quirkiness of the characters and the settings. Magic and some spoofing off the Arabian Nights. I was getting a little tired of it by the end. CATS, he said eventually. View all 7 comments. Oct 09, Christine rated it really liked it Shelves: fantasy-humor , sir-terry-pratchett , witches-and-wizards.

Why did I give this two stars the first time I read it? I have no idea. The whole thing with the library made me cry. I need a banana. Rincewind faces his most horrible situation yet. A pretty woman and a magic hat. Apr 17, Lena rated it really liked it. Rincewind - the most unfortunate wizard of the Discworld is saving everybody from evil sourserer and Aprocalypse. In a company of Luggage and other parody misfits.

It's funny but feels a lot like previous Rincewind's story. After the emotional pummeling that was Ken Liu's incredible, harrowing incredibly harrowing? Terry Pratchett's mix of humour, adventure and brilliant insights was much needed. This seems to be a less popular installment in the series, but I loved it. I was so pleased to be back with Rincewind, and of course, The Luggage. Rincewind blunders around, running away from things, c After the emotional pummeling that was Ken Liu's incredible, harrowing incredibly harrowing?

Rincewind blunders around, running away from things, collecting a new team of sorts along the way. The Luggage view spoiler [runs away, and gets drunk hide spoiler ] and a Sourcerer wreaks entertaining havoc. I enjoyed every moment. Next up, Wyrd Sisters , the 6th Discworld book and the second of the Witches series! This is the 5th Discworld book and the 3rd with Rincewind. He's not exactly a main character though, or at least not the only one. You see, we already know from the 3rd novel that the eighth son of an eighth son is predestined to become a wizard, but here we discover what happens if that eighth son of an eighth son then goes on and has an eighth son as well - the boy becomes a wizard squared, a sourcerer.

However, as you will This is the 5th Discworld book and the 3rd with Rincewind. Thus we are thrown into a turmoil, a quest to a number of corners of the Discworld with Rincewind, Luggage, Conina and, later, Nijel. Because though their adventure starts out more or less as a way of running away from the upcoming war, they will have to find a solution or the entire Discworld will be destroyed not to mention the trouble about the Gods.

I don't know what it is, but for some reason Rincewind isn't really all that funny. In general, but especially here. There is only so many times I can sympathize with the old bloke who wants to be a wizard more than anything even without the faintest talent.

Luggage only had one sort-of funny scene here, too when it got drunk. And although the sexism about Conina has got to have been deliberate probably why view spoiler [she fell in love with the guy who wanted to be like her dad but failed miserably, making her more the image of a barbarian despite the good looks she got from her mother hide spoiler ] , it couldn't make me laugh either. In fact, I'm sad to say that I didn't laugh while reading this book. Not once! There were a lot of topics thrown in for good measure like Norse mythology, tales from Nights, as well as a tip of the hat, pun fully intended, to Frank Herbert's Dune.

Maybe a bit too much in fact. So I can see why many say that this is one of the weakest in the entire series. View all 6 comments. Sep 18, Julian Worker rated it it was amazing. Wonderful imagination and terrific humour as usual from this excellent fantasy author. I got to of approx before I said "enough" so, what? It took over six and a half hours to get there because I kept falling asleep and waking up 45min later with no earthly idea what this narrator-man was talking about.

The Serif, Creosote, amused me, as did the Vizier. DEATH is always fun. But in the end, it's got two strikes and three balls against it for being Pratchett, having Rincewind, and being an audiobook. I wish I liked Pratchett more, and I just cannot believe that there's no audiobook on Earth that can convince me of the medium's pleasures. Feb 05, Simcha York rated it really liked it. Sourcery, the fifth book in Terry Pratchett's Discworld series, marks his first real triumph.

Like the previous book in the series, Mort , Sourcery builds on the humor of the first several books in the series and adds to it a depth of empathy and narrative prowess. The humor in particular is no longer derivative of Douglas Adams but has morphed into a style that is much more incisive and distinctive to Pratchett.

The story is similar in many ways to both The Light Fantastic and Equal Rites , but un Sourcery, the fifth book in Terry Pratchett's Discworld series, marks his first real triumph. The story is similar in many ways to both The Light Fantastic and Equal Rites , but unlike those two earlier entries, this book wraps up its narrative in a tight and very satisfying manner.

Like the first two Discworld books, this is a Rincewind book. But for the first time, Rincewind takes a much more active role the plot. He is still the coward and inveterate schlimazel of the earlier books, but he now carries the plot rather than simply floating along with it like a jellyfish. Pratchett's skills as a satirist are still not yet fully evident this early in the series.

The humor and plot to some degree both still rely on an appreciation of fantasy tropes - like both The Light Fantastic and Equal Rites , nothing less than the fate of the world is at stake - but his appeal is already become broader. Like Mort , this is an early Discworld novel that will probably have some appeal to an audience beyond fantasy fandom. View 1 comment.

An entertaining story and the typical, occasional very clever and funny observation about the world and things. More than 25 years after Sourcery was published, the final discworld book was posthumously released, called The Shepherd's Crown. It was woefully unfinished, but at least it gave us an example-in-print of Sir Terry's writing process, also described in the book's afterword by Pratchett's long-term assistant Rob Wilkins.

To paraphrase, he Pratchett would write the whole bones of a book, then zip all around polishing up scenes, improving linkages, and basically revising the whole thing repeatedly More than 25 years after Sourcery was published, the final discworld book was posthumously released, called The Shepherd's Crown. To paraphrase, he Pratchett would write the whole bones of a book, then zip all around polishing up scenes, improving linkages, and basically revising the whole thing repeatedly.

Because this process was cut short by, you know, Death, The Shepherd's Crown is a terrible book, excepting in particular one scene that if it did not leave you in tears you are either a heartless bastard or did not spend nearly enough time in the Discworld.

Go on, read it, then come back here. I'll wait. Oh, you're back! Now you see what I mean about The Shepherd's Crown being woefully unfinished? Sourcery is also unfinished. It's the only explanation for what a disappointing book this is. It is in dire need of rewrites, additions, fleshing out, better scene connections, smoother plotting, and more character development.

There are some good bones. The strongest element is Rincewind's dependence on his identity as a wizard and his reactions when this is challenged. This helped endear a character to me that I have previously had a hard time connecting with. This occurs in the setting of a discal struggle to define the role of magic and wizards overall.

Some new characters were welcome additions. Conina wants to be a hairdresser but is compelled to engage in barbarianism because of, as explained to her by an unnamed old witch, "herrydeterry" and if you can't figure out who that old witch was for yourself, then you seriously need to read more Discworld.

Nijel "the Destroyer", a barbarian for all of three days when we meet him, is a gas. Other new characters left a lot to be desired. Spelter and Carding are wizards who are devoid of personalities and fulfill such weak roles that I don't know why Pratchett bothered. Creosote is okay, I guess. A certain three horsemen could have been vastly entertaining but were reduced to uninteresting drunken sots. Coin was, plot-wise, a central figure, but apparently forgot to be written into the book for most of it.

And some old characters received mixed treatment. The Librarian received his largest role to date in this book and shined. After being called a "monkey" in a prior book without proceeding to rip the offender's limbs off, he finally builds his ape cred.

Terry Pratchett grew to advocate for orangutan preservation in the round world and you can see the beginnings of his appreciation for these creatures here. The Luggage The plot overall was a mess. The arch-chancellor's hat The towers The love triangle quadrangle when taken as a whole, really The whole armageddon thing It's just a bunch of scenes that, if you squint really hard kind of go together, but the overall effect is one of great randomness and poorly-executed ideas.

Sourcery desperately needed more pass-throughs to make it an intelligible book, so what happened? This was Pratchett's first book written after he quit his day job. Did he just not know what to do with himself at this point? Did he struggle to get on track with the two-books-per-year schedule that ran for several years? It is what it is, and, hey, we still have over three dozen terrific Discworld novels to go back to, so this aberration can be forgiven.

Jun 26, Emma Sam rated it it was ok. I've loved almost all the Pratchett books I've read in the past, but coming back to this one was unsatisfying. Partly because I started to notice the repetition in descriptions yes the air feels 'greasy' when magic's being used, and yes a surprising number of things feel like a sock or a glove full of something else ; but even more so by some of the characters and the ending itself which just seemed to Conina - introduced as thief among thieves, most deadly fighter, most beautiful I've loved almost all the Pratchett books I've read in the past, but coming back to this one was unsatisfying.

Conina - introduced as thief among thieves, most deadly fighter, most beautiful woman, daughter and student of the deadliest Barbarian of them all - becomes another pretty trophy to give to yet another awkward, gangling 'made of knees and ginger hair' hero.

And by the end of the story she's meekly submitting to his superior wisdom which he got from reading a guide book for 3 days. Apr 02, Klaus rated it liked it Shelves: fantasy , discworld , pratchett. Not the best Pratchett I've read, in fact, this may be the weakest Discworld I've read so far since the very first one. Still entertaining for most of it, but nothing special. Especially the characters failed to enchant me this time.

May 09, A. Neilly rated it liked it Shelves: fantasy , comedy. The idea was fantastic. The Sourcerer is the eight son of and eight son Of an eight son. But the story gets slow and a little boring as it goes on. There are some great laughs and I love the idea of a tower for every magician when they get wild. But still worthy of been read.

Mar 27, Jess rated it really liked it Shelves: books. A few weeks ago, I seriously injured myself. I spilled a crockpot full of boiling chicken broth on my arm and hand and sustained second degree burns.

It was incredibly painful and awkward not like I need my dominant hand for anything! So what do you do when you can't concentrate, can't care about anything, just float about in a drug-induced haze of no-thinking, no-feeling oblivion? You read Terry Pratchett, of course. Sourcery was the A few weeks ago, I seriously injured myself. Sourcery was the perfect book to read while I was recovering. It's ridiculous, hilarious, and full of completely random non-sequiturs and the kind of bald-faced logic by which I mean, poking fun at literary tropes of course that just makes me happy.

And because this was in the period before Pratchett decided plots were important, it didn't really matter if I couldn't focus for long periods of time or keep up with the complexities of the plot. Because there weren't really any. In addition to being the perfect I'm On Drugs TM book, this was the most recent in my project to read all of the Discworld novels in publication order.

While not quite as good as Mort , it's still obvious that the writing is getting better, the characters more creative, the world more lively. I might not wait very long to read the next one. I understand the purpose and utility of Rincewind, but honestly I connect more with the Discworld when it's through more earnest characters like Mort or Brother Brutha from Small Gods.

Or maybe it's just that I like to feel like a character's adventure is completely self-contained in a single Discworld novel. Not that Rincewind is a shit character: his noble cowardice and practice instincts for self-preservation lead to hilarity on multiple occasions.

In conclusion: maybe read the Discworld books high? Just a suggestion. Nov 03, Josh rated it really liked it. The Rincewind books seem to get better and better throughout the discworld series. This one features some of the best side characters that Pratchett has created, Nijel and Coin among the stand outs, as well as some of the most relentless Tom foolery.

Then it changed its position slightly, its little legs moving in a complicated tango pattern, and stared at Rincewind. It could outstare a glass-eyed statue. With an OverDrive account, you can save your favorite libraries for at-a-glance information about availability.

Find out more about OverDrive accounts. Terry Pratchett. Sourcery, a hilarious mix of magic, mayhem, and Luggage, is the fifth book in Terry Pratchett's classic fantasy Discworld series. Rincewind, the legendarily inept wizard, has returned after falling off the edge of the world. 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. Will the sourcerer lead the wizards to dominate all of Discworld?