Product Description

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, the Disc's most incompetent wizard, and Rincewind's Luggage (the world's most dangerous travel accessory) 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 .

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2958 in Books
• Published on: 2000-05-11
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 155 pages

From the Back Cover
Eric is 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 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.

About the Author
Terry Pratchett's Discworld series is a publishing phenomenon. He was knighted in the 2009 New Year Honours; previously he was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for services to literature in 1998. He has been awarded six honorary doctorates, and has won the Carnegie Medal and the Michael Prinz Award. He lives near Salisbury in Wiltshire.

Customer Reviews

What? This is excellent!
It has really really shocked me that so many reviewers don't appreciate this book! 'Too short', 'too childish' you say. Sorry!? Maybe the humorous parodying of the Trojan war was lost on you or the parodying of creation, in fact this book is a fine example of brilliant parodying by a very clever author. In my opinion this ranks easily alongside some of Pratchett's best. It's a nice easy to read short story, with the excellent sardonic wit of Rincewind shining through once again. This is a book i will read again and again when I want a good laugh. Keep going Terry......

The devil may hath power
to assume a pleasing shape according to Hamlet but only on Discworld could the devil or any demon assume the shape of Rincewind. But that is exactly what Terry Pratchett calls up in "Eric", Pratchett's Discworld homage to Faust.

Eric, the protagonist, is a teenaged `demonologist' from Pseuodopolis. Eric is also a spoiled brat according to Eric's parrot. Eric is first seen trying to summon a demon in order to have the demon grant Eric's wish for power, women, and eternal life. Instead, through a series of Discworldian circumstances Eric calls up Rincewind, last seen locked in the Dungeon Dimensions (Sourcery).

What follows is a Discworld version of a Hope and Crosby Road movie that parallels Faust. Eric and Rincewind travel to the ends of time (actually the beginning of time among other places) and Rincewind faces adversity and the threat of death in his own inimitable fashion (feet don't fail me now).

There are some great set pieces in Eric. DEATH makes two brief, but very funny appearances. First, when the Wizards determine something strange is going on they summon DEATH and demand answer. Of course, they realize quickly that perhaps they should speak to him in the same manner that people in Ankh Morpork speak to the Patrician. Later in the book, DEATH patiently awaits the moment for life to begin is priceless Pratchett fashion. Having the universe start with a paper clip and not a big bang was a very appealing concept.

Similarly hilarious is Rincewind's trip to the new and improved version of hell. Physical torture has been replaced by endless viewings of someone else's holiday slides, elevator music, and the recitation of thousands of pages of regulations only a hellish bureaucrat could construct. Interestingly, Rincewind's conversation with a creator of universes who takes special pride in the creation of trees had a nice resemblance to Slartibartfast from Douglas Adams Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy who award for creating the jigsaw like coastline of the fjords of Norway.

Despite these typically brilliant bits Eric lacked some of the cohesion found in most of the other Discworld books I have read. Apparently, Eric was originally published as a graphic novel and the illustrations went a long way towards fleshing out the story line. In a sense this version seems to be akin to reading a comic (a very good comic book) without the comic art. There does seem to be something a bit lacking.

However, even if Eric is not Pratchett's finest Discworld book it is still very much worth reading. There is an old cliché that a bad day of fishing is better than the best day of work. In this instance I think it fair to say that a good but the best Discworld book is better than the best that many other authors can put out. I recommend this book to any Discworld fan. I would not recommend this to anyone new to Discworld. Eric works best once one has got to know a bit about Discworld generally and Rincewind specifically.

Eric, despite any flaws, is still very much worth reading.

brilliant!
Eric is a hilarious novel by Terry Pratchett. It begins in Ankh- Morpork, where the University wizards are performing the Rite of AshKente, which summons Death, when they find out that Rincewind, a cowardly wizard ,is stuck in the Dungeon Dimensions, due to the events of Sourcery. As he was there, he was summoned as a demon by Eric, a demonologist, and his parrot, who has a limited vocabulary, so keeps saying " wossname". He must grant Eric 3 wishes. So Eric, parrot and Rincewind (and his Luggage ,a fearsome walking chest, who attacks enemies of its owner), set off on a journey through time which includes such horrors as wheels being used as headgear, cleaners being bribed, and small rat faced men with sandwiches. I loved this book, and you will want to read it again and again.