Why wizard's don't have children16 September 2012tWhile the forth book in Pratchett's Discworld series is still amusing, and very colourful, I found it to be a little duller than the others that I have so far read. Some have suggested that it is because we have Rincewind and the Luggage but no Twoflower, however I didn't really miss Twoflower so I would have to disagree with that assessment. I don't actually want to say that it is boring, and I don't think dry is an appropriate word since it is still very amusing, though I notice that Pratchett doesn't use puns as much as he has done in some of his previous books (which is probably a good thing). Further, it is not that it was not well written either, but I guess maybe it has something to do with the plot: it is a well worn plot that even by adding Terry Pratchett's style does little to attempt to give it life.tIn the previous books we learn that wizards are not supposed to have sex though the reason for this is not given until now. Wizards are generally the eighth son of an eighth son (which is probably why Rincewind is not very good, though we are not told much of his background) however when a eighth son of an eighth son begins to have children, then children are automatically wizards, that is until the eighth son, who becomes a sourcerer.tBasically, where wizards use magic, sourcerers are magic, and there have been none on Discworld for a very long time, which is a good thing because these entities are incredibly powerful and as we all know, power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. However, as it turns out, one of the wizards of the Unseen University had fallen in love and was angered that he could not follow his chemical urges, so he leaves and has children, and it appears that it is his intention to have enough children to create a sourcerer and then get back at the university who expelled him. Obviously the University were not expecting that a wizard would purposely attempt to begat a sourcerer, so when a child rocks up one day and kills the arch chancellor, all hell breaks lose.tSome have said that the main theme behind this book is the idea of accepting who you are and that you are what you believe you are and not what others tell you that you should be. This is the case with Coin, the sourcerer, because he is merely the puppet of his father, who is using him to not only get back at the University, but also to take what he believes rightfully belongs to the wizards, and that is rulership of the world. The idea is that wizards have access to power that nobody else does, magical power, so one wonders why they let the mundane's walk all over them. The truth is that the wizards of Discworld are like the academics of our world: they are just not interested in ruling, only in studying, which is why they lock themselves away in universities.Plato, in The Republic, suggested that the only good ruler is a ruler known as a Philosopher King, though it is interesting that his teacher, Socrates, held a different view. Socrates believed that if one were to enter politics then one would no doubt become corrupted by the power that one had at their fingers. This in a sense is why the wizards do not go out into the world, and in this book we see what happens, and what happens is not at all nice. Pretty much things are destroyed and the end of the world is heralded, namely because the wizards get to a point where they have defeated everything beneath them, and then they turn to fight the gods themselves, and when that happens, the forces that the gods hold back are released.tThe ending of this book was actually quite substandard: it was not at all clear what actually happened to turn everything back to the way things were before. All I remember is that Rincewind ran away, the ice giants stopped advancing, and Ankh-Morpork was restored to its former ugliness. My friend suggested that Coin simply, with the power of Sourcery, set everything right again, but to me that just reeks of a Deus-Ex-Machina, which simply does not work in any form of literature, unless of course it was written by Euripides.
“Not much call for a barbarian hairdresser, I expect,' said Rincewind. 'I mean, no-one wants a shampoo-and-beheading.” For some reason this, the fifth instalment of the Discworld series, feels the most derivitive and the most puerile in terms of humour.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...a source of magic...a Sourcerer. 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. “There was a man and he had eight sons. 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.” It's easy to see why Pratchett kept returning to the cowardly wizard in the early books, his character traits allows for the explanation of magic without the need for obvious exposition and also drives the narrative when it falls in to dangerous territory that you can't easily write your way out of, just by having him do something cowardly. 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. Frustrating! “It's vital to remember who you really are. 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.”There's a lot of good to be found amongst the rubble of this Disc disaster, the developing of the Librarian as a character for example, the great Pratchett critical eye reflecting humanity like a fun house mirror, the best part for me though is the destruction of the wizard hierarchy whilst restoring the partially destroyed world with the Big Red Button trope, allowing Pratchett to actually develop real characters with his replacement wizards in later novels. Oh how I long to read about Ridcully and the Bursar and Stibbons and Hex once more.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!
What do You think about Sourcery (2008)?
This probably would've got itself 3 stars if I hadn't got myself a little Pratchett saturated. I think I've read too much, too close together. It's started to get a little repetitive; the familiar structure of the elaborate similes, and reading about the light of the Discworld for (what feels like) the 50th time. The plot didn't grab me as much as previous books either. But, again, maybe it's just because I'm a little Pratchett tired. Also, perhaps, because I read too much of this book while falling asleep. It's a pretty epic plot (apocalyptic even), and to really follow what's going on in the narrative it's best not to read it with one eye shut. The plot is rather ambitious, perhaps too much so I thought, and does not really wrap-up at the end either - which is interesting. Although it is so epic in scale that Pratchett is forced to (view spoiler)[reset (hide spoiler)]
—Fran
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... fizzle out.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. :/Often in Pratchett's books he deliciously turns tropes on their heads to show how ridiculous they are, this wasn't one of them though.
—Semma Am
Executive Summary: This one might be a tie with The Color of Magic as my least favorite of Discworld thus far. Full ReviewAfter how much I enjoyed The Light Fantastic I was looking forward to another Rincewind book. I just never got into this one as much. There are once again some great jokes, but many of them felt in one or two parts of the book and then longer stretches where I didn't even chuckle.The plot wasn't terribly engaging. It had potential. The Eighth son of the Eighth son is destined to be a Sorcerer, far more powerful than any Wizard of Discword. But I guess the execution was just a bit lackluster.Maybe I don't like the Rincewind books as much. Or maybe I'm getting burned out on Discworld after reading so many in a short period. I think it's most likely that in a series this large, they can't all be winners.The highlight of the book was Conina. The badass barbarian warrior women with aspirations of being a hairdresser. Most of the funniest quotes of the book seemed to involve her in some way. I hope we'll be seeing more of her in future books.
—Rob
