Eric by Terry Pratchett

Synopsis:

Eric is the Discworld’s only demonology hacker. The trouble is, he’s not very good at it. All he wants is the usual three wishes: to be immortal, rule the world and have the most beautiful woman fall madly in love with him. The usual stuff. But what he gets is Rincewind, and Rincewind’s Luggage into the bargain. Terry Pratchett’s hilarious take on the Faust legend stars many of the Discworld’s most popular characters in an outrageous adventure that will leave Eric wishing once more – this time, quite fervently, that he’d never been born . . .

This is the ninth book in Pratchett’s Discworld series, and features some of the favourite characters – Rincewind, The Luggage and Death – all of whom are hilarious and tremendously fun to read. They are three of my favourite characters in this series, and I am always happy to read about them. Death with his dry sense of humour makes me laugh every time he is featured in a book, Rincewind and his great philosophy: run away make great reading and the Luggage is legendary – with its sharp teeth and hundreds of legs, scaring even the most fearsome. Highly entertaining.

In the ninth installment of the Discworld adventures we are introduced to Eric – a teenager with an acne problem who tries to conjure up demons. Instead, he realises Rincewind. With a snap of the fingers, they are transported back into the Faust legend, where armies defeat their enemies by the use of a wooden horse. This was an interesting re-write of the legend, and I definitely prefer it with Rincewind as the star! We find ourselves transported off with Rincewind and Eric to see universes created and the problems with Hell, all in one short book.

I enjoyed this book, like all the others I have read, but it isn’t my favourite. I laughed and enjoyed Pratchett’s writing ability and sense of humour. I liked his take on the legend, making it his own. I think the problem with this book was that is wasn’t his own adventure and it wasn’t very long. That said, I did enjoy it and would recommend it as a quick-read Discworld novel.

7/10