Eric

Eric is a wonderful story, with plenty of laugh out loud jokes, typical of Pratchett. My only complaint is that in the Kindle edition, the footnotes don’t work as they should. In most Kindle books now, footnotes are hyperlinked in such a way that they either appear in a popup at the bottom of the page, or clicking the asterisk takes you to the footnote on its own page, where you can click the asterisk again to return to where you were in the main text. In Eric, the footnotes don’t return you to the main text. First World Problem, I know, but still a bit irritating.

I always enjoy Pratchett’s Diskworld books. However, Pratchett’s humor includes a lot of footnotes that are fun to read. On my new Kindle (unlike the old one that went straight to the footnotes) I never know when I click on the footnote sign whether my Kindle will go to the sign, flip to a different page, or do nothing. (It also will occasionally change the font size instead of turning the page. But that’s another story.) I tend to give up on the footnotes because of the Kindle’s quixotic responses, so I can’t give more than three stars, feeling like I’m missing a part of the Pratchett genius.

This is a hilarious bit of satire about who is more evil, the demons of hell or mankind. The world of policy reviews, memos, potted plants and colored highlighters seems at the peak of the soul destroying pyramid. As far as the actual story or plot goes, it is rather weak, just a few two by fours cobbled together so the book doesnt subside into the realm of essay. But still 4 stars. Why? Because Pratchetts insights and wit are as keen as ever.

Eric, the 9th Discworld book, chronicles the adventures of the inept wizard Rincewind, who is summoned by a 13-year-old demonologist named Eric. Eric has 3 simple wishes, which he hopes his newly conjured demon can grant. 1. To be the ruler of all kingdoms, 2. To have the most beautiful woman who ever existed and 3. To live forever. What follows is a Discworld parody which draws upon Faust , Dante’s Inferno, Homer’s Iliad and the Trojan War. The book is laugh out loud funny at times but short and it does end rather abruptly. If you read it on a Kindle, you will probably get to somewhere at about 93% and find that everything is wrapped up and abruptly ended. Seems a bit incomplete but pretty good reading. 3/5

Eric turns out to be another fun story by Terry Pratchett in the Discworld, and is the froth in the Rincewind series. This particular one really jumps around a bit, and not only just around the Discworld, but around time and space as well which allows for the setting to change quite drastically from part to part. This is where the strength of this novel really comes through. We are given glimpses of each of these areas, that result for the not so intended granting of three wishes by 13-year old demonologist Eric.

Throughout the book we also get some glimpses into the world of Hell, and that is perhaps where Prachett’s humor feels the most spot on. As expected, many of the elements of Hell are there, but Pratchett adds in some of his own flair, changing things up a bit and providing some great humor developing the Bureaucracy of Hell.

Overall, this is another solid novel in the Discworld. Fans of the series will most likely find something to enjoy, and it would also stand up fairly well as a standalone story as well. While the plot might be a touch slow, the constant change of scenery and the fun take on Hell provide more than enough enjoyment to keep the pages turning.