Discworld marathon blog...
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REVIEW: Eric
The character of Rincewind, despite his one-note nature, is entertaining enough to be one of my favourite Discworld characters. Unfortunately, the stories he is in don't tend to match up, although to be fair, most of his stories are amongst the first Discworld books. And so, I come to Eric, Pratchett's attempt to parody Faust...
Rincewind is still running for his life through the Dungeon Dimensions, when a timely (or untimely) demon summoning spell pulls him out. Unfortunately, he is now in the hands of teenaged demonologist Eric Thursely, who demands three wishes: dominion over the Discworld, to meet the most beautiful woman in the world, and to live forever. Rincewind, who seems to have gained the powers of a demon, takes Eric on a journey through time and space. But Astfgl, the current ruler of Hell, is not amused, and is determined to get the hapless two in his clutches...
Perhaps part of the original charm of Eric was that it is meant to be an illustrated book. However, I only have the novel version, and the only really good thing about this story as I have read it is the concept of Hell as Astfgl has remodelled it into: a soul-crushingly boring place which is a combination of bad hotel and cubicle farms.
Eric is a one-joke character who quickly gets tiring, as does his 'wossname'-spouting parrot. The demons of Hell aren't much better, with Astfgl being a demonic version of the Pointy-Haired Boss from Dilbert, and only Vassenego being remotely interesting. The incidental characters are mostly uninteresting, with the only standout being Lavaeolus, and even that is only because he shares an attitude (and possibly genetics) with Rincewind.
While there are some funny concepts used in Eric, they fire off like damp squibs rather than the firecrackers that they should be. About the funniest jokes outside the Hell sequences include the parody of Helen of Troy and the sequence with the Creator. Everything else misfires.
The plot is nothing to speak of, making The Colour of Magic, The Light Fantastic, and Sourcery look like densely written epics. If the jokes were funny enough and frequent enough, this wouldn't be a problem, but unfortunately, this isn't the case. It dives beyond mediocrity into somewhere between mediocre and abysmal.
Eric is a major disappointment. This is in all likelihood the worse Discworld book ever. Thankfully, much better is to come...
Special New Utterance Rating Trial: Ugh!
First words: The bees of Death are big and black, they buzz low and sombre, they keep their honey in combs of wax as white as altar candles.
Last words: Of a sort.
The character of Rincewind, despite his one-note nature, is entertaining enough to be one of my favourite Discworld characters. Unfortunately, the stories he is in don't tend to match up, although to be fair, most of his stories are amongst the first Discworld books. And so, I come to Eric, Pratchett's attempt to parody Faust...
Rincewind is still running for his life through the Dungeon Dimensions, when a timely (or untimely) demon summoning spell pulls him out. Unfortunately, he is now in the hands of teenaged demonologist Eric Thursely, who demands three wishes: dominion over the Discworld, to meet the most beautiful woman in the world, and to live forever. Rincewind, who seems to have gained the powers of a demon, takes Eric on a journey through time and space. But Astfgl, the current ruler of Hell, is not amused, and is determined to get the hapless two in his clutches...
Perhaps part of the original charm of Eric was that it is meant to be an illustrated book. However, I only have the novel version, and the only really good thing about this story as I have read it is the concept of Hell as Astfgl has remodelled it into: a soul-crushingly boring place which is a combination of bad hotel and cubicle farms.
Eric is a one-joke character who quickly gets tiring, as does his 'wossname'-spouting parrot. The demons of Hell aren't much better, with Astfgl being a demonic version of the Pointy-Haired Boss from Dilbert, and only Vassenego being remotely interesting. The incidental characters are mostly uninteresting, with the only standout being Lavaeolus, and even that is only because he shares an attitude (and possibly genetics) with Rincewind.
While there are some funny concepts used in Eric, they fire off like damp squibs rather than the firecrackers that they should be. About the funniest jokes outside the Hell sequences include the parody of Helen of Troy and the sequence with the Creator. Everything else misfires.
The plot is nothing to speak of, making The Colour of Magic, The Light Fantastic, and Sourcery look like densely written epics. If the jokes were funny enough and frequent enough, this wouldn't be a problem, but unfortunately, this isn't the case. It dives beyond mediocrity into somewhere between mediocre and abysmal.
Eric is a major disappointment. This is in all likelihood the worse Discworld book ever. Thankfully, much better is to come...
Special New Utterance Rating Trial: Ugh!
First words: The bees of Death are big and black, they buzz low and sombre, they keep their honey in combs of wax as white as altar candles.
Last words: Of a sort.
I'm sorry to ask such an irrelevant question, but... did you see footnotes that might be said to occupy more than 75% of the page? (context here) sorry 
As for the review itself, although I haven't read the book in some time, it matches what I remember of it. The beginning, where Rincewind upsets the UU faculty and Death doing his gardening, and the Trojan War part were the most entertaining (to be honest I hardly remember the rest of the book)
I think Rincewind actually has some potential depth as a character, when he's allowed to do something else than run away, as in Sourcery and Interesting Times; which is why I'm especially disappointed with what actually was done with him. As for being an illustrated book, The Last Hero is a much more interesting story even if you only read the text; but it came much later in the history of the Diswcorld, which means Terry had more themes and characters to work with.
If you're interested, the original Kirby illustrations can be seen here and on the following pages. Even if one's not a Kirby fan, they're really impressive, and you can see how the story might have been calibrated to showcase his chaotic, Bosch-like style (hence the importance of Hell, probably).
As for the review itself, although I haven't read the book in some time, it matches what I remember of it. The beginning, where Rincewind upsets the UU faculty and Death doing his gardening, and the Trojan War part were the most entertaining (to be honest I hardly remember the rest of the book)
I think Rincewind actually has some potential depth as a character, when he's allowed to do something else than run away, as in Sourcery and Interesting Times; which is why I'm especially disappointed with what actually was done with him. As for being an illustrated book, The Last Hero is a much more interesting story even if you only read the text; but it came much later in the history of the Diswcorld, which means Terry had more themes and characters to work with.
If you're interested, the original Kirby illustrations can be seen here and on the following pages. Even if one's not a Kirby fan, they're really impressive, and you can see how the story might have been calibrated to showcase his chaotic, Bosch-like style (hence the importance of Hell, probably).
Still looking for that bet Anilori.
Fair review. Eric was constucted to show off Josh Kirbys illustrations and is therefore a thinner plot than any of the other books. Interesting twist on the whole Faust idea but largely unsatisfying. Did like the whole devil as an administrator idea though and the appointment to a meaningless position to get rid of someone is shown nicely.
Not a massive fan of the illustrated version either to be honest. I think it lacks something when compared to the Last Hero which i feel is far superior and i prefer Paul Kidbys style anyway
Fair review. Eric was constucted to show off Josh Kirbys illustrations and is therefore a thinner plot than any of the other books. Interesting twist on the whole Faust idea but largely unsatisfying. Did like the whole devil as an administrator idea though and the appointment to a meaningless position to get rid of someone is shown nicely.
Not a massive fan of the illustrated version either to be honest. I think it lacks something when compared to the Last Hero which i feel is far superior and i prefer Paul Kidbys style anyway
Anilori said:
I'm sorry to ask such an irrelevant question, but... did you see footnotes that might be said to occupy more than 75% of the page? (context here) sorry
*quick flick later...*
No. Two of the footnotes occupy about 40% of the page, while another takes up about 40% over two pages. That being said, it may depend on the edition. Mine's a Victor Gollancz paperback edition published in 2000, 155 pages long, no illustrations. It may be that way in the original illustrated version, though, Anilori. And I didn't mind answering the question.
Agreed. Rincewind does have more depth to him than just running away. But he isn't always used to the full potential, hence my comment of him being 'one-note'.
And The Last Hero, besides being illustrated by Paul Kidby, actually has some depth to its story, hearkening back to the ancient stories of heroes, as well as the myth of Prometheus. Plus, throwing together Rincewind, Carrot, and Leonard of Quirm was pretty damned good.
I'll have to be honest, I am not a fan of Kirby's frankly chaotic style. Too busy, too chaotic, and the characters look really weird. I like the illustration of Rincewind and Eric meeting Elenor, though.
Agreed on those points, Pip, except for the 'interesting twist on Faust' thing. Having that whole 'be careful what you wish for' thing was given a nice twist, but there was less Faust and more Dante.
I am over 15% of the way through Moving Pictures. Ridcully, as Brian Blessed, bellowing in my ear. "BURRR-SAAARRRR!!!"
There is one problem with some of these books: I don't get all of the references. Moving Pictures and Soul Music are particularly egregious offenders in that regard.
Still, good times ahead. Reaper Man, Witches Abroad, and Small Gods coming soon...
Speaking of Witches Abroad, I wonder whether the writers of Shrek 2 or The Princess and the Frog have read it? I think I read Witches Abroad for the first time after I watched Shrek 2, and I was gaping.
In the last review about Guards! Guards! I said that Carrot was used as a sort of literary tool to explore Ankh-Morpork. Well Rincewind is often used in much the same way to explore the Discworld. He's a bit like an indestructible cartoon character who never seems to get seriously hurt, against all the odds. You can magic Rincewind from one side of the Disc to another, or drop him off the edge of the Disc or do pretty much whatever you like with him and he bounces back. But importantly you can get him to visit places where other characters would have difficulty going.
If you want to get Sam Vimes to Uberwald, you have to have a reason and a logical means of getting him there. If you want to get Rincewind there, you drop him from the back of an imaginary dragon or some such.
He's a useful tool in Terry's toolbox of writing - the Swiss Army Knife of literary characters.
If you want to get Sam Vimes to Uberwald, you have to have a reason and a logical means of getting him there. If you want to get Rincewind there, you drop him from the back of an imaginary dragon or some such.
He's a useful tool in Terry's toolbox of writing - the Swiss Army Knife of literary characters.
Tonyblack said:
In the last review about Guards! Guards! I said that Carrot was used as a sort of literary tool to explore Ankh-Morpork. Well Rincewind is often used in much the same way to explore the Discworld. He's a bit like an indestructible cartoon character who never seems to get seriously hurt, against all the odds. You can magic Rincewind from one side of the Disc to another, or drop him off the edge of the Disc or do pretty much whatever you like with him and he bounces back. But importantly you can get him to visit places where other characters would have difficulty going.
If you want to get Sam Vimes to Uberwald, you have to have a reason and a logical means of getting him there. If you want to get Rincewind there, you drop him from the back of an imaginary dragon or some such.
He's a useful tool in Terry's toolbox of writing - the Swiss Army Knife of literary characters.
If you want to get Sam Vimes to Uberwald, you have to have a reason and a logical means of getting him there. If you want to get Rincewind there, you drop him from the back of an imaginary dragon or some such.
He's a useful tool in Terry's toolbox of writing - the Swiss Army Knife of literary characters.
Don't get me wrong, I like Rincewind as a character, when he's used properly. It's just that the effort isn't there as often as it should. In fact, Eric is basically a re-run of The Colour of Magic when you think about it, only with less excitement and interesting things.
Anilori said:
I am not giving up. A Rincewind mug is at stake
Thank you Q!
Thank you Q!
I agree that Eric is a let down (and a damned expensive letdown if you want to buy the original hardback nowadays). However I like Josh Kirbys work so I see it more as a book of pictures by Josh with interruptions for what passes as a plot by Terry. The only real use for the story is to get Rincewind out of the Dungeon Dimensions after Sourcery so that he can be used again as a character.
Still the series is really on the up (with a few minor failures) from here onwards
Still the series is really on the up (with a few minor failures) from here onwards
Ditto MAD The one thing I do like about Eric are the Hell sections and I really loved-hated the Astfgl approach as being utterly soulless in a superficially, yet psychologically, callous way (I'm an ex-civil servant remember and I know real people in RL like this ). It also put me in mind of the Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis -sure Terry's had a go at those too
The one thing I do like about Eric are the Hell sections and I really loved-hated the Astfgl approach as being utterly soulless in a superficially, yet psychologically, callous way (I'm an ex-civil servant remember and I know real people in RL like this ). It also put me in mind of the Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis -sure Terry's had a go at those too
Jan Van Quirm said:
Ditto MAD The one thing I do like about Eric are the Hell sections and I really loved-hated the Astfgl approach as being utterly soulless in a superficially, yet psychologically, callous way (I'm an ex-civil servant remember and I know real people in RL like this ). It also put me in mind of the Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis -sure Terry's had a go at those too
The one thing I do like about Eric are the Hell sections and I really loved-hated the Astfgl approach as being utterly soulless in a superficially, yet psychologically, callous way (I'm an ex-civil servant remember and I know real people in RL like this ). It also put me in mind of the Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis -sure Terry's had a go at those too
Jan Van Quirm said:
It's an interesting concept - it's like a masterclass in temptation for corrupted Jesuits
As I said previously, this thread is basically an adaptation of similar threads I've done on another BBS. One of them is a general book reading and review blog (origin of the infamous scale that caused the regrettable contretemps between myself and both LilMaibe and Willem), in which I have to read and review a book I haven't read before at least once per week. Maybe I should put The Screwtape Letters down for the next one, alongside a few of John Wyndham's novels and others...
Tonyblack said:
I've read all three of those, but Triffids is by far my favourite.
Speaking of authors you've never heard of, what about Nigel Kneale? He pretty much codified the three paradigms of alien invasion stories in his Quatermass serials, he predicted reality TV with The Year of the Sex Olympics, and he did science fiction-style ghost stories with The Road and The Stone Tape. Without his, it's unlikely that we would have had A for Andromeda or Doctor Who. And yet I doubt that anyone of my generation have so much as heard of Quatermass, never mind Kneale.
To those actually reading this thread, how many of you have heard of the Quatermass serials before I joined? I'll bet the vast majority of any respondents are British Baby Boomers, with very few from Gen X or Gen Y, and very few outside the UK.
