Book – Sourcery
Author – Terry Pratchett
Year – 1988
Genre – Fantasy
Pages – 270
Series – Discworld
This is the fifth book in the series of Discworld books, and the third of the Rincewind books, and continues a run of books that are great fantasy, whilst also being immensely funny.
Following his explusion from the Unseen University where wizards train, a disgruntled mage has eight sons. However, if the eighth son of an eighth son becomes a wizard, then what does the eighth son of an eighth son of an eighth son become? He becomes a sourcerer – a wizard so powerful that his existence threatens to destroy the whole of the Discworld. Poor Rincewind, the inept wizard, is roped into trying to save the day – albeit somewhat reluctantly, and as ever, hilarity ensues.
With wizards, magical dimensions, flying carpets and levitation abound, Soucery adheres to so many of the standard tropes of fantasy writing, but by including an orang-utang librarian, a terrible poetic ruler, the four horsemen of the apocalypse getting smashed, and a dog called Wuffles, Pratchett churns out yet another fantasy book that will genuinely make you laugh.
Sourcery is not one of the books that I had heard of before in the series – the plaudits tend to go to more famous novels such as Mort, Hogfather and Making Magic but I was pleased to find that, whilst not quite as good as the previous book in the series, it is still a great read, and well worth a shot.
8/10