Eric (by Terry Pratchett)

In slowly reading my way through the late Terry Pratchett’s excellent ‘Discworld’ series, I reached the ninth in the series, ‘Eric’. It’s a thinner book than most of the others, and one I had not read in a very long time. I vaguely recalled that I didn’t particularly enjoy it, but was determined to give it another chance.

The story is about a thirteen-year-old boy called Eric who is an amateur demonology hacker in the Discworld. He’s also evidently full of teenage hormones. He has been using magic circles and spells in the hope of finding a demon who can fulfil his deepest desires. What he really wants is a genie who can grant him three wishes - and what he actually gets is the failed wizard Rincewind, who was banished to the Dungeon Dimensions of the discworld at the end of one of the previous books (‘Sourcery’).

Rincewind is neither a genie nor a demon, and isn’t very good at magic. But he’s at Eric’s mercy, and Eric wants just three basic requests: to rule the world, to meet the most beautiful woman in the world, and to live forever. To Rincewind’s surprise, snapping his fingers transports them to other times or places, when - in classic wish-fulfilment mode - the exact wishes are granted in some respects, but not in the way the wisher hoped….

It’s more of a straightforward story than many of the Discworld novels, possibly because it’s so short (just over 150 pages in my paperback edition). Most of the action involves Eric and Rincewind, and the people (using the term in a very broad sense) they meet. There are brief forays into the world of demons, and some gentle satire, pointing out the logical problem with physical torture of souls, introducing a head demon who has found a much better (or, rather, worse) way of keeping the residents of hell in psychological agony.

There’s a chatty parrot who has forgotten a lot of vocabulary; he’s responsible for a few innuendoes as well as some humour. There are some interesting pseudo-theological comments, too, and some philosophical ones relating to time travel, and whether one can actually change history. There’s even a brief foray into the creation of the universe, helped along by a half-eaten sandwich….

The book is full of classical and other references, many of which I understood, at least roughly. In addition to the initial three wishes of fairy tales, there are many nods to Greek mythology and legend, to Trojan history and, towards the end, to Dante’s ‘Inferno’. One does not have to know what is referred to to read the book, but it’s a whole lot more enjoyable with some background understanding.

The writing is excellent, as I expect with Pratchett. I was surprised to find that I liked the book very much. It doesn’t have much depth of characterisation; I suppose it was basically a device to get Rincewind back into regular Discworld life. But I’m glad I read it, and would recommend it to anyone; not really as a first Discworld book, unless you’re looking for one that’s very short, but as part of the series.

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