Yet another book starring our beloved Rincewind. In this book we meet the boy Coin, the first sourcerer in ages, posessed of his father's staff he begins to renovate first the Unseen University, then Ankh-Morpork, and spreading on over the remainder of the Disc. In the meantime, Rincewind is being forced first to hide away the remainder of the Wizard's Magic, with the help of Cohen's long lost daughter, Conina, a want-to-be hair dresser, that he finds he has feelings for. However, she has eyes only for the barbarian-hero-in-training Nijel. If that was not enough, let us drop in the Seriph of Al Khali, Creosote, an out of touch royal who does nothing more than write poorly thought out poetry and drink himself silly and his magical relics, including a Genie and a flying carpet. In Rincewind's final act of bravery he saves Coin and of course the Discworld, but will he survive? ( )

Rincewind and the luggage return for a really funny adventure, anything with rincewind in to me is always going to be funny, one of the best discworld novels. ( )

The fifth in the Discworld series of novels. Once again we meet the wizard Rincewind and his Luggage, the Librarian (ook!) and several staff of the Unseen University. The theme this time is heredity, or possibly destiny, and the hazards of having interesting parentage. We meet Conina, the epic daughter of Cohen the Barbarian; and Niijel, who yearns to be heroic. And then there's Coin, eighth son of an eighth son and destined to be an uber-powerful wizard, a Sourcerer -- except that Coin has other ideas. This comic tale draws on all the stereotypes and tropes of the fantasy genre, twisting them into an entertaining new yarn. ( )

Ah, this one was a page-turner -- something I've not really been able to say about Discworld books. It made me happy. ( )

#5 in publication order of the Discworld fantasy books, this one again features Rincewind, the Luggage, Librarian, etc. as they speed away from Ankh-Morpork with the Archchancellor’s wizard hat. The hat asked to be stolen, you see, to keep young Coin, a true Sorcerer who walked into the Univesity and proclaimed himself Archchancellor, from putting it on. As always, Pratchett’s books make me laugh out loud, and also make me read slowly because sometimes one of his puns or jokes won’t hit me til several pages later—then I have to go back and read it again to make sure I got it! LOL ( )

And we are back to Rincewind in the Discworld novels. can;t remember much about this one except to say that it kept me reading to the end, so it must have had something to keep me interested. Seemed like a short read too. ( )

Another installment in the tales of Rincewind the Wizzard, professional coward and reluctant hero. I think I like this the best on the Rincewind tales so far. The stories involving him are always a wild adventure ride.

The Librarian is great in this one. Can't wait to see him in the later books. ( )

I loved this one - the idea of a sorcerer orders of magnitude more powerful than the normal wizards is great, and is given a really cinematic feel, with the creatures escaping the university at the beginning and the very dramatic climax. There are also some tremendously likable, charming characters, such as Cohina the hair-dresser (daughter of the famous Cohen the Barbarian), and a really lively plot. Wonderful stuff and my equal favourite (along with Men At Arms). ( )

Rincewind returns and is now a more rounded character. When a sourceror arrives at Unseen University, it is up to Rincewind to defend wizardry against the newcomer. Some brilliant parody is to be found in this novel. Also to be found is Terry Pratchett's invitation to readers to draw their own map. ( )

The 8th son of an 8th son becomes a soceror, but it turns out OK in the end.

The story isn't as strong as the previous Discworld books (this is the 5th). The whole threatened-fabric-of-reality thing is getting worn a bit thin. But it has better, more humorous characters than the last two books, and it's a lot of fun. ( )

If an 8th son of an 8th son is a wizard what is the 8th son of an 8th son of an 8th son? Time to find out. Good to meet some old favourites, such as Rincewind and the Luggage, though we've left them on a bit of a cliffhanger. We meet Cohen the Barbarian's daughter who really wants to be a hairdresser but all those barbarian genes won't let her. I would like to know what happened to Cohen and his new bride. This story was stronger on plot, but not so many good one-liners and general verbal brilliance as in Mort. ( )

I think Sourcery is really the book where Pratchett starts to hit his stride as a writer. The humour gets more refined and more pervasive - in addition to at least one laugh per page, there are now numerous places where you can pause and smile a little to yourself. The little injokes he works in are used much more subtly in comparison to, say, The Colour of Magic - even if you don't know enough about the subject he's poking fun at, it's not blatant enough for you to feel irritated by it, or else it's subtle enough that you don't even notice it in the text. This is very different from TCoM, where the Wyrmberg section was a clear parody of a certain series of fantasy novels that I've not read, and large sections of which consequently went right over my head, to my annoyance.

Rincewind's character is developed much more in this, to the point where he's... well, not quite a hero. A reluctant coward forced into the role of a hero, perhaps. With half a brick in a sock. I'd still stick with Sam Vimes any day, though. The characters of Coin, Conina and Nijel also had a lot of potential, and I can't help but wish that Pratchett had developed them a bit more - especially Coin. It would have given the scene between him and Rincewind at the end a lot more kick. Still and all, a good read. ( )

See The Color of Magic. ( )

For a parody of the fantasy adventure genre, this book was a riot. I laughed through most of the book. Terry Pratchett has a turn of phrase that makes the best use of the english language and yet is understandable by almost anyone. I recommend this book. ( )

One of the weaker Discworld novels (and, not coincidentally, one of the earlier ones, and a Rincewind novel to boot). The Unseen University featured here is very different from that in the later books, with the familiar characters entirely missing, and the contrast is a bit jarring if you read the books out of order as I did. I'd recommend this for Discworld completists only -- I bought it when I realized that, weak though it might be, it was at least a Discworld novel I hadn't read yet. ( )

This was the first Discworld book that I ever read and I wasn't really sure what I had gotten into after the first couple chapters. I was a little confused at times, but Pratchett does a good enough job explaining things that you don't really have to read the series in order. This one hooked me enough that I'm now endeavoring to read them all (eventually).

This story of a not-quite-wizard who has to go on a great adventure was laugh out loud great at points. Discworld might not be Earth, but in some aspects, it might as well be - the irony and sarcasm Pratchett uses lets you see his opinions on politics, religion, and philosophy pretty easily. ( )

Link to a review on my personal website (might be in Swedish). ( )

http://nhw.livejournal.com/793235.htm...

I have to say that this is not one of pterry's greatest hits. Rincewind is really a one-joke character, and the proof of Pratchett's genuis is that he stretched the joke out over two excellent books, The Colour of Magic and The Light Fantastic. The wizardly bits of Sourcery are done better in the earlier books, and the exotic foreign parts are better done in later books; the humour hits unrelentingly on the single note of bathos, with very little wit to enliven it. ( )

Terry Pratchett is a god who walks among men. The entire Discworld series is a joy and only a strange mad creature cursed by gods and man would refuse to read and love these books!

Rincewind the worlds worst wizzard battles a Child who happens to be a Sorceror, the wizards of UU, the creatures of the dungeon dimension...and all he ever wanted was as nice boring life! ( )

An ensemble cast, you could say, perhaps. Pratchett comes up with the whacky sourcerers, throwing that into the whole discworld and the number eight thing, with the eighth son of an eighth son of an eighth son type deal.

Rincewind, Death, the Librarian, and others have to deal with one of these guys to again stop the discworld being no longer a discworld.

http://notfreesf.blogspot.com/2007/01... ( )

"He did of course sometimes have people horribly tortured to death, but this was considered to be perfectly acceptable behaviour for a civic ruler and generally approved of by the overhelming majority of citizens. [footnote: The overhelming majority of citizens being defined in this case as everyone not currently hanging upside down over a scorpion pit]" ( )

It's interesting to read this, another early Discworld novel, directly after The Colour of Magic. It still has some of the same flaws, but by and large you can tell Pratchett is really starting to hit his stride. The Librarian is fantastic in this one, as well. I haven't always been a huge fan of Rincewind as a character, but I do like him a lot in this installment. ( )

The first book in the Discworld series that I actually read in one sitting. I think I'm getting the hang of this and I literally can't stop anymore. I already have the next two lined up.
I love Rincewind and the luggage and we get plenty of both in this book. Whereas I found the first three books a bit of a mess, this one has a clear line it follows and has funny bits on pretty much every page. ( )

http://umberle.blogspot.com/2005/02/5... ( )