Sourcery: Discworld #5

You can't help but develop a soft spot for that cowardly wizard, Rincewind. Terry Pratchet has an unsurpassed wit and there couldn't be a more perfect narrator for these novels than Nigel Planer. These two pair up wonderfully for Sorcery. The world is in danger. Can Rincewind save it? You will have a ball finding out!

Losing one star on the rating for the recording and narration . . . Having read and listened to a number of Terry Pratchett's later Discworld stories, as well as the non-Discworld, "Nation", I decided to begin catching up on earlier stories. I listened to The Color of Magic and the Light Fantastic, and now this one. I have noticed a definite maturing of flow and humor from the early books to later ones, and the same applies to the reading by Nigel Planer. (I think I prefer Stephen Briggs, who does the Tiffany Aching Discworld stories.) This particular recording seems second class. The volume and tone quality from one (apparently) recording session to another throughout sections of the book are far from consistent. And, the hollow -metal-room effect of the reading of footnotes is unnecessary and weird. There was a bit of this technic used for the voice of Death in The Color of Magic, too. I think it's a distraction rather than an enhancement. Still, it's tolerable, and as always, Terry Pratchett is amazingly skilled and perceptive, so purchase this one when it's on sale and you won't be wasting any money.

Rincewind is at it again and the Luggage tags along. This is a good book and the reader does a good job with it. However, the recording has a tinny sound, even when the narrator isn't talking directly to the reader. Pratchett has a very fine sense of humor and sometimes strange wit.

This is a good story and it was nice to see Rincewind and The Luggage again. The reader did an excellent job of voicing the characters and bringing out the humor and wit of the author. I liked it and I'd recommend it, but I wouldn't rate at in the top of the stack of the Discworld's that I've listened to so far. But even the bottom of the Discworld stack is above many many other books in the genre.

Yes, as always Terry Pratchett delivers another great, ridiculously illogical, logic to the various plots, twists, and paroxysmal humor present on, around, above, and under the Disk.

Death. He reminds me of my High School math teacher... dry humor, hilarious detachment

Just about everything, the dry, straight delivery of the ridiculousness of the story is perfect.

Yes, had a hard time 'putting it down', good thing I could 'work' and 'read' at the same time.

I was delighted to discover that Rincewind didn't disappear forever at the end of Book 2. And what's not to love about the luggage.

I love the entire Discworld series. The writing is amazing and the reading just enhances the experience.

I would never unpack all the nuances of the librarian's "ook" without Nigel's reading.

I want to lock myself in with this entire series and not come out until I've listened to every last book.

I can't wait to start on Book 6.

Terry Pratchett is brilliant. It would be easy to say that the books in this series come off as just a bunch of episodes with the same or similar characters. It's true that the plots tend to be predictable. But the magic (no pun intended) of the series is in all the inventive ways Pratchett finds of recombining elements from all the old fantasy books and juxtaposing them with things from our world or unrelated genres. This one does not disappoint.

Terry Pratchett is one of those rare authors who is able to write fun and funny books without seeming to work for the laughs. His sense of humor is sometimes a bit dark, but that is not in any way a negative, IMHO. And he slips in enough Universal Truth (tm) about the human condition that one could forgive him even if he didn't make one grin while reading.

The performance by Nigel Planer in this book is spot-on. The characters come alive without him resorting to stretches far outside his comfortable range, which can be a distraction with other readers. The response to anyone calling out to our protagonist as "Boy.." is so well done that the facial expression and even body language of the reply "Mort. My name is Mort" is clear as can be. Poor fellow.

All I can really say of value is: Recommended. Highly recommended. Get this book.

Yes. I have read and listened to Terry Pratchett's books many times.I really love visiting Discworld and all the people who live there. I have introduced many friends to Discworld and they are all just as enchanted as I am :-)

Sam Vimes. His character has really grown over the series. He has some of the best lines and plots - and his relationship with Lord VetInari is priceless!

He has a wonderful voice.

Every Terry Pratchett book makes me laugh out loud.

Discworld books are like potato chips - you can't have just one.

While the Rincewind books are my favorite sub-series of Discworld, this is probably my least favorite of the Rincewind books. Still worth it if you like Rincewind.