Sourcery

Discworld, Book 5

By: Terry Pratchett

Narrated by: Nigel Planer

Length: 7 hrs and 52 mins

Publisher's Summary

A 'sourcerer' is born in Discworld - a wizard so powerful that he makes all other magicians look like a bunch of fools in pointy hats. Now, suddenly, Discworld is brought to the brink of an all-out thaumaturgical war. The only hope for peace is Rincewind, the failed magician who has a risky plan to save the world. He enlists the help of several odd new characters, including Conina the barbarian hairdresser, Nijel the Destroyer and a yuppie genie who sees lamps as a growth industry.  

This is the fifth book in the Discworld series.

Please note: This is a vintage recording. The audio quality may not be up to modern day standards.

Browse more of our novels of Discworld.

(P) ISIS Publishing Ltd, 1995; Copyright © Terry and Lyn Pratchett, 1988; Cover Illustration © Josh Kirby

Sourcery (Unabridged)

Certainly one of Terry Pratchett's best novels. I laughted all thru the listening (the narrator helped a lot here). It does not depend on a detailed knowledge of Pratchett's characters to enjoy. Some of his other books are best enjoyed once you are familiar with them.

Wonderful Story Brilliant Narration

This is the 5th book in Disk-World series. I have read all the series And fallen in love with them all over again by listening to the totally brilliant narration skills of Nigel Planner. I've laughed far more than when first read, in pure joy at the voices used and the delivery. We've all laughed til we cried at many a turn of phrase.
Your family will fall in love too,
there are even dragons
This is the 5th book in Disk-World series. I have read all the series And fallen in love with them all over again by listening to the totally brilliant narration skills of Nigel Planner. I've laughed far more than when first read, in pure joy at the voices used and the delivery. We've all laughed til we cried at many a turn of phrase.
Great for the whole family too, everyone will fall in love with the storylines and VOICES in the eventful lives of evert character.
All will delight you all.

Some of the Best Narration of the series (in my opinion)
Witches Abroad
The Colour Of Magic
Night Watch
Guards Guards
Steam
Small Gods
Thud

Sound quality 90%

An excellent story -just like everything else from Terry Pratchett.
Nigel Planer is just the right person to read it and is the only voice for Rincewind.

The production not perfect at keeping the sound the same between different recording sessions.

I do like it that all the footnotes are read in in a different tone.

Always enjoyable

As with all Pratchett books it’s a fun story that you can easily get lost in and enjoy every minute

Audible should be ashamed

The IP legal warning shoved onto the start of this recording is pathetic and a little sickening. It reads "Terry Pratchett has asked us to remind you..." etc.
Terry Pratchett has been dead for years, don't use his name for your copyright nonsense. Pathetic.

Awesome

I’ve listened to this book 3 times since I bought it and discover something new and interesting each time.

Monty python meets Tolkein meets Adams.

Imagine the descriptive style of Tolkein, mixed with the satirical nature of Hitchhiker's Guide, topped off with a little Monty Python silliness.

Sourcery is full of pointed humour and surprises.

Terry Pratchet and Nigel Planer at their best, the last 5 minutes did feel a little frayed though.
I thoroughly enjoyed the humour and plot

loved it

classic terry pratchet book, excellently told by nigel planer. humour, adventure, magic and a touch of romance, what more could you want.

Disappointing

The sound quality is awful with the volume increasing suddenly at times. Really a shame because the books are awesome. Love the Tony Robinson versions but they are too short

Good Pratchett!

Another good Discworld book. Just working my way through them all again! I like Nigel Planer's delivery. For myself, I adjust the speed a little slower, as Terry P packs a lot of detail in a small space. I listen at bedtime and find it light enough to fall asleep to.

Brilliant! Hilarious! Thought-provoking!

Where does Sourcery rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

in the top ten!

What about Nigel Planer’s performance did you like?

fantastic.. the perfect dead pan delivery.

Did you have an emotional reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

laughed loads of times.

Any additional comments?

Sir Terry has no equal.. and this is one of his best.

Excellent listen but had to strain

The book as expected was brilliant and listening to it come to life under Nigel Planner's orchestrated vocals was brilliant. However, the actual sound quality appeared to let it down slightly. I am unsure if this is my earphones or the iPod version but there was a tinniness to it that made it hard to hear at times.

Pratchett on top form

Sir Terry really hits his stride with Sourcery. Packed with his customary wit, erudition and a driving plot to boot, you couldn't ask much more of a Discworld novel. The narration is flawless and the range of character voices exquisite. To my fellow passengers on the 0722 to Waterloo I can only apologise for the many laugh-out-loud passages contained within this book.

Not TP's greatest tale - Production is awful

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

I couldn't recommend this to a friend (especially as an Audio book). The story itself is not one of the strongest I've read in the Discworld series. Going Postal for example outshines this in terms of characters, humour and story. However, there are still laughs to be had and Rincewind / the Luggage make an appearance, as does Death - which is nice. The most significant issue here is the production - it's horrible.

For some reason the audio quality randomly switches between chapters - dropping not only in overall quality (and then jumping back up a chapter or several later) but also changing the volume (slight but noticeable). In addition to this, when a particular sound effect is used for a particular character voice the effect is not faded out when the character finishes speaking - it just cuts off. This is jarring and breaks the spell of the story. Finally, for some unknown reason it was deemed necessary to have what is presumably either footnotes or narration asides delivered in a different voice to the basic narration. This crashes in on the overall story and once again breaks the spell / takes the reader out of the world of the story.

This is the main reason for the 1 star performance rating - Nigel Planer does a reasonable job overall - not sparkling but ok - it's just that there isn't really anywhere else to flag the issues in the production specifically.

What was your reaction to the ending? (No spoilers please!)

As noted above, the story did not feel as strong as some of the other Discworld books I've read so the ending was ok but I was left with a feeling that it was a case of trying to tie up a lot of strands that had been introduced - some of which had felt largely forgotten for chunks of the book - and sorting out something for all the major players. In other words - it didn't feel like the whole thing was well crafted and natural - more that it all needed wrapping up by such and such a page.

What didn’t you like about Nigel Planer’s performance?

The performance was ok - I think for many people they will have created their own image / voice for certain characters in a series and so there is always a risk in having those characters voiced by someone else. Additionally, now that they have made some of these stories into TV shows there is another variable - I think David Jason captured Rincewind extremely well and so it was hard to adjust to a different interpretation initially.

The production issues highlighted above were a factor in the performance for me and were the main things I didn't enjoy.

Was Sourcery worth the listening time?

Overall yes but I did strongly consider returning it initially.

Any additional comments?

I'm disappointed that Audible have allowed something like the audio quality to slip as it does in this book. I haven't found any issues with any other books so will hope that this is the exception to the rule.

Being at the mercy of your destiny can be harsh

To have high expectations of your child is natural, but this father took it too far. And sometimes being well-meaning can be hazardous to a coward. But the world and your hat always leaves some hope...

That is my summary of this story. To see how accurate that is please listen to this excellently narrated and brilliantly written tale from the late Terry Pratchett.

Thank you for the joy you brought to our world with your world, Mr Pratchett.

Entertaining enough

A very decent performance but the booming bits of narration were way over the top.

another triumph

Terry Pratchett never fails to deliver an exciting read. The wizard books are always the best in my opinion and this may be the best one in the series. The narration by Nigel Planer is also high quality and he really helps bring out the different personalities in the characters. As always with the discworld books i would advise you to buy it

Spectacular as ever!

Patchett and Planer are a perfect combination. I wish more narrators were so suited to the book.

A tale of wizard and his sock...

Sir Pratchett strikes again with his witty humour and provocative imagination.

In 'Sourcery' the world of wizardy "goes off-road" and there is only one person who can come to the rescue...Rincewind, the incompetent wizard! Ably assisted by Conina the Hairdresser and Nijel the Destroyer. So, dive once more into a fun packed adventure which will leave you hungering for more 'Discworld' maddness.

This book is better if you are already familiar with first books in the series and is one not to be missed.

Nigel Planer is a skilled narrator who brings 'Discworld' to life, and if you don't mind the vintage recording, this book is to be read, swallowed, absorbed and chuckled upon.

Safety warning: socks are powerful weapons!