Sourcery
by Terry Pratchett · first published 1988
17% recommend83% neutral
When last seen, the singularly inept wizard Rincewind had fallen off the edge of the world. Now magically, he's turned up again, and this time he's brought the Luggage.But that's not all...Once upon a time, there was an eighth son of an eighth son who was, of course, a wizard. As if that wasn't complicated enough, said wizard then had seven sons. And then he had an eighth son -- a wizard squared (that's all the math, really). Who of course, was a source of magic -- a sorcerer.
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…thus far all of them have been fun and most of them have little nuggets of wisdom that really do invite thought into a deeper theme. Thus far my favorite has been Mort, but I also ended up really liking Sourcery as well. I hadn’t read any Pratchett while he was still alive, I hadn’t even heard of him in fact, but given how prolific he was and the level of cleverness in his stories, I wish he was still alive.
on “Death and What Comes Next (2002)” ↗> Good Omens: Gaiman and Pratchett team up, what’s not to love? It's a good book, but aesthetically it suffers in my mind because it's a rewrite of Pratchett's earlier book Sourcery.
on “Ask HN: Great fiction books that have had a positive impact on your life?” ↗I am currently reading "Sourcery" by Terry Pratchett. Your remark is literally one of the plot points of the story.
on “Due to a problem with AWS, many "smart" vacuums or doorbells will stop working” ↗…Discworld novels who's resisted them so far. Those who have and love them will find it a pleasant enough survey. Oh and I personally think that Equal Rites is the best entry point to the series rather than Sourcery. But then I was reading them in publishing order anyway and eagerly waiting for each new one to come out. Damn I miss being able to look forward to a new Pratchett novel; he was a Wodehouse for my generation.
on “Discworld Rules” ↗…prevent it, most of them involving enjoyable but illegal attempts to tune the mind into the right wavelength by the use of exotic herbage or yeast products. It never works properly.” ― Terry Pratchett, Sourcery
on “How Common Is Multiple Invention?” ↗This reminds me of Terry Pratchett’s Sourcery. The wizards don’t become sourcerers themselves - they become enthusiastic users of someone else’s sourcery. Their years of learning don’t protect them from mistaking access to power for mastery of it.
on “I vibed a proof of Conway's conjecture” ↗