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cookiemaki's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Minor: Death and War
rorikae's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
The Discworld series is always so comforting while also poking fun of and commenting on large existential issues. I found this to hold true with Sourcery.
In this installment, we follow Rincewind and a few new characters as they try to sort out the magical world. Propelled by a wish his father made, a young man becomes the first sourcerer in quite some time and uses his power to reshape Unseen University and how humankind views wizardry. With the world running amok, it will be up to Rincewind, some familiar faces, and some new characters to try and set the world in order.
I love Terry Pratchett's writing. He creates a fantastical world with a variety of engaging characters and uses it to tell the most heartfelt and ridiculous stories. In this book, it's great to spend more time with Rincewind, the Luggage, and the Librarian. We delve into some interesting points about magic in the world and, as he always does, Pratchett continues to build this fascinating world and the lore that underpins it. I highlighted so many quotes either because they were hilarious or deeply profound (often both as is Pratchett's signature). It's never a bad day when reading Pratchett and Sourcery was a great installment in this tried and true series.
In this installment, we follow Rincewind and a few new characters as they try to sort out the magical world. Propelled by a wish his father made, a young man becomes the first sourcerer in quite some time and uses his power to reshape Unseen University and how humankind views wizardry. With the world running amok, it will be up to Rincewind, some familiar faces, and some new characters to try and set the world in order.
I love Terry Pratchett's writing. He creates a fantastical world with a variety of engaging characters and uses it to tell the most heartfelt and ridiculous stories. In this book, it's great to spend more time with Rincewind, the Luggage, and the Librarian. We delve into some interesting points about magic in the world and, as he always does, Pratchett continues to build this fascinating world and the lore that underpins it. I highlighted so many quotes either because they were hilarious or deeply profound (often both as is Pratchett's signature). It's never a bad day when reading Pratchett and Sourcery was a great installment in this tried and true series.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Body horror, Death, and Violence
ampharos906's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
3.75
Content Warnings
Minor: Child abuse, Death, Misogyny, Sexism, Slavery, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail
bear_ridge_tarot's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Rincewind, the world's most inept wizard fell of the edge of the Discworld. And yet, he somehow returns, and in the company of the terrifying magical sentient Luggage. In this fantasy of magic and mayhem, he must now help save the Discworld. Again.
I read the first few Discworld books from Pratchett when I was younger, and returning to the series here was a lovely dip into the chaotic fantasy of magic free-flowing in Discworld. I adore the characters, especially how each has a particular character trait that is so unique to themselves! I will continue through the rest of the series that I haven't read before.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Death, and Violence
Moderate: Racism, Sexism, and Xenophobia
Minor: Sexual content and Alcohol
tangleroot_eli's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
I like many things about this book. Conina, Cohen the Barbarian's Barbarian/Hairdresser daughter; the Librarian's undaunted quest to save the library; excellent messaging about parents who try to force a particular destiny on their children.
As I read through the series, though, I'm realizing that the wizards are my least favorite Discworld folk. So a book that switches between Rincewind in all his incompetence and the University in all its smugness is never going to make my Discworld Top 10.
This book also has many bits that remind me that, although Ankh-Morpork isn't in our world, it isn't in our world in a very Londonian way, and that people from there have very Londonian attitudes toward the rest of the world. Unfortunately, in several parts I couldn't tell if that was Pratchett making fun of stereotypical English xenophobia or Pratchett displaying stereotypical English xenophobia. Those were distressing moments.
As I read through the series, though, I'm realizing that the wizards are my least favorite Discworld folk. So a book that switches between Rincewind in all his incompetence and the University in all its smugness is never going to make my Discworld Top 10.
This book also has many bits that remind me that, although Ankh-Morpork isn't in our world, it isn't in our world in a very Londonian way, and that people from there have very Londonian attitudes toward the rest of the world. Unfortunately, in several parts I couldn't tell if that was Pratchett making fun of stereotypical English xenophobia or Pratchett displaying stereotypical English xenophobia. Those were distressing moments.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Death, and Alcohol
Moderate: Bullying, Fatphobia, Sexism, Slavery, Violence, Xenophobia, and Blood
Minor: Alcoholism, Drug use, Homophobia, Transphobia, and Vomit
Minor saneismputtingwingsonwords's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child abuse, Death, Racism, Sexism, and Murder
Minor: Sexual content and Slavery
crufts's review against another edition
adventurous
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
Sourcery is the 5th novel in the Discworld series by Terry Pratchett, and the 3rd novel following Rincewind. You could probably read it as a standalone novel, but to get the full background, you could read the earlier Rincewind books; that's The Colour of Magic (#1) and The Light Fantastic (#2).
Following his adventures in those other books, Rincewind (a wizard who can't cast a single spell) has found happy employment as an assistant to the Librarian of the wizards' Unseen University. But one day, a sourcerer comes to the university with powers far stronger than any wizard. In a single day, the sourcerer completes his hostile takeover of the university. The last thing he needs to fully control the institution is the Archchancellor's hat, which happens to have been stolen by a thief...
With its frequent jokes and witty comments, the novel was definitely entertaining to read. There were also some heartwarming scenes. However, I wasn't satisfied with the plot. It seemed like the protagonists encountered a lot of contrived complications and challenges which didn't really change the status of the narrative, making for an over-long middle section. The ending resolution also felt like it could have been coincidental, as opposed to the result of the protagonists' actions.
The characters were definitely likeable. However, Rincewind is a passive protagonist and he spends much of the story running away, or being punted around by various antagonists. Meanwhile, the focus of the story falls onto miscellaneous shenanigans that don't always advance the plot.
Overall, Sourcery was an okay read, but the author has written much better books than this one. You might like Going Postal or Guards! Guards!.
Following his adventures in those other books, Rincewind (a wizard who can't cast a single spell) has found happy employment as an assistant to the Librarian of the wizards' Unseen University. But one day, a sourcerer comes to the university with powers far stronger than any wizard. In a single day, the sourcerer completes his hostile takeover of the university. The last thing he needs to fully control the institution is the Archchancellor's hat, which happens to have been stolen by a thief...
With its frequent jokes and witty comments, the novel was definitely entertaining to read. There were also some heartwarming scenes. However, I wasn't satisfied with the plot. It seemed like the protagonists encountered a lot of contrived complications and challenges which didn't really change the status of the narrative, making for an over-long middle section. The ending resolution also felt like it could have been coincidental, as opposed to the result of the protagonists' actions.
The characters were definitely likeable. However, Rincewind is a passive protagonist and he spends much of the story running away, or being punted around by various antagonists. Meanwhile, the focus of the story falls onto miscellaneous shenanigans that don't always advance the plot.
Overall, Sourcery was an okay read, but the author has written much better books than this one. You might like Going Postal or Guards! Guards!.
Content Warnings
Minor: Death, Sexual content, Violence, and Sexual harassment
Sexual content: References are made to the "libido" of various wizards.Violence: Various scenes of fighting appear during the book, described in a non-graphic manner.
Death: Some minor characters die.
bluejayreads's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Rincewind is back in this one, and at first I was annoyed about that because I wasn’t a huge fan of him in the earlier books. But in this one he’s starting to come into his own as a character. I don’t know if it’s because there was no Twoflower around to amplify his obnoxiousness or because this book gives him room to expand out of being a caricature and into a nuanced character, but I’m actually starting to like him. His cowardice was more humorous than annoying (especially since he’s starting to do things despite it), and his ability to survive things was framed more as a skill or maybe a magical ability than a direct result of his cowardice.
The cast of secondary characters is great too. There’s a guy who is entirely unsuited for being a barbarian warrior but gosh darn it he’s trying his best, a barbarian warrior’s daughter who really wants to be a hairdresser but can’t seem to overcome her barbarian warrior genetics, a terrifyingly powerful ten-year-old and his staff that may or may not be controlling him, some wizards at the Unseen University, a ruler who has no idea how the real world works but thinks things like poverty sound fun, and more. None of them have quite as much depth as Rincewind got in this book, but they’re all unique, interesting and/or entertaining, and fun to read about.
I took the back cover copy for this review from The StoryGraph, and I hope the actual back cover is better because that one is kinda … not fantastic. It tells you who’s in the book, but nothing about the story. The story is about a sourcerer, who is unfathomably powerful and doesn’t understand why wizards aren’t ruling the world, marching into Unseen University and deciding to make them rule the world. It’s about Rincewind, whose cowardly instincts realize this is a bad thing, and ends up on another adventure to save the world against his will. And it’s about conflicts between the wizards at the University, torn between following the sourcerer and seizing power and preferring the quiet, academic status quo. And though this book still is a save-the-world plot, it starts to get into deeper ideas (such as the ethics of forcing people into something “better” when they’re perfectly happy with what they have).
The tone of this one was a little jarring. The content is much darker than previous Discworld books (lots of people die and several people get horribly murdered), and yet the tone is extremely lighthearted, describing a violent magical death and then la-di-da-ing off to another absurd situation or amusing witticism. And it manages to do this so effectively that the deaths didn’t feel real and the horror of just how many people died in tortured painful ways didn’t sink in until long after I finished reading.
This book also made me laugh out loud at least twice. It was quite the dramatic combination of horrible deaths and hilarious quips.
I hope that Sourcery marks the point where the Discworld series finds its footing and becomes the epic and well-loved fantasy series it is. I had some struggles with the first few books (excepting Equal Rites because that was the first one I read and I had none of the context I did with the other early books I’ve read), but in this one I’m starting to see the beginnings of everything I love about the later books. I’m quite excited about continuing this series.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death
Moderate: Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Body horror and Alcohol