Eric

Terry Pratchett

Average Rating 8/10 (1 Review)

Eric is the Discworld's only demonology hacker.

Pity he's not very good at it.

All he wants is his three wishes granted. Nothing fancy - to be immortal, rule the world, have the most beautiful woman in the world fall madly in love with him, the usual stuff.

But instead of a tractable demon, he calls up Rincewind, probably the most incompetent wizard in the universe, and the extremely intractable and hostile form of travel accessory known as the Luggage.

With them on his side, Eric's in for a ride through space and time that is bound to make him wish (quite fervently) again - this time that he'd never been born.

Review by Chrissi (310301) Rating (8/10)

Review by Chrissi
Rating 8/10
This is a retelling of the story of Faust (the guy who sold his soul to the devil? - yeah, him). Only in this case, Eric is a fourteen year old boy who, in trying to bring a demon under his control to fulfil his wishes, he manages to get Rincewind from the Dungeon Dimensions.

What follows is a great romp from the beginning of time to the end, with Eric's wishes somehow coming true in some unlikely and not-really-what-he-wanted-after-all type ways. For example, he wanted to be a ruler, and he was taken to a tribe where he was worshipped as a god and then they wanted to kill him for being so useless for them - not quite so good, I think.

Needless to say, poor Rincewind remains a fairly unsuccessful Wizard, so in trying to convince Eric that he is not a demon, he clicks his fingers, only to find that they do actually work. But unfortunately for them both, this is done with the aid of an outside agency with ulterior motives, and serious aims.

The Luggage, Rincewind's faithful travelling companion, is very unhappy that poor Rincewind is being dragged back and forth through time, and is not particularly chuffed to find that it becomes a god in its own right. (I love the Luggage…didn't you know?)

This is a great story, it takes an idea we are familar with, and translates it onto the Discworld, giving it a much greater appeal. It is also a way of bringing Rincewind back from the Dungeon Dimensions and embroiling him in another mad adventure which I am sure he would rather have slept through.
Chrissi (31st March 2001)