chrisbiss's reviews
527 reviews

Performs the magic trick that all good novellas perform, in that it feels complete while simultaneously leaving you wanting more. I especially loved the middle section of Jade's thesis, and wanted to spend much more time in that character's head.

The first chapter hooked me but it went rapidly downhill from there. I hated all of the characters and often struggled to tell them apart, and the only reason I kept reading was out of morbid curiosity to see where it was going (and because it was short, thankfully). It absolutely wasn't worth sticking with. 

I'm reading all of the Discworld novels in order.

I've got this marked down as having previously read it, and I'm almost certain I have, but as with many of the other Discworld novels I read as a kid/young adult I didn't really remember any of it. Having now reread it I think the reason for that is that nothing particularly memorable really happens in it.

This feels like the other Unseen University books, the ones that normally feature Rincewind as a protagonist, in that it's a fairly high concept largely concerned with the intrusion of creatures from the Dungeon Dimensions into the Discworld. It's all plot and not much character, and it's the small character moments that I find most memorable about Discworld.

I'm a huge film lover and on paper this should be right up my alley. I definitely enjoyed some of the references to classic films and the weird inversions of them in the Discworld. But ultimately it just didn't land for me - which has often been the case when the humour in these books relies on references to the real world. It also suffers from a similar problem to Pyramids, where the opening section promises a book that I really wanted to read before pivoting into something else (though it's much better than Pyramids ever is).

I've remarked a few times about how Pratchett takes multiple runs at similar ideas throughout his work. This feels a little like a proto-Soul Music (or, at least, what I remember of Soul Music) and also feels like the first steps in what will later become the Moist Von Lipwig books. I'm interested to see how much of this actually shows up in those later books. 

I didn't dislike this but it wasn't among my favourites and I think I'll have largely forgotten it quite soon.

Not interesting enough to be this poorly written and organised.

If you're going to write alien races living alongside humans then they should feel actually alien, not "human but looks like a lizard". Not for me.

I'm reading all of the Discworld books in order.

Where to start with this one? I've actively avoided this book for years, largely because the title treatment on the cover - the word FAUST crossed out and replaced with 'Eric' as though written by a child - put me off. I can't fully explain why it put me off, but it did.

In theory this should be great. A 13-year-old entering a Faustian pact with a demon is a great pitch. Unfortunately the demon in question here is Rincewind, and that means that the book has all of the same problems that come with Rincewind books. I won't belabour that point - my other reviews exist if you want to know how I feel about the way Pratchett uses this character.

The final third of Eric takes us to a modernised Hell where the pain and suffering has been replaced by endless tedium. Unfortunately this isn't just something we're told about, it's something the book seems to embrace. I was deeply, deeply bored for most of the time I spent reading this, desperately waiting for something interesting or entertaining to happen. That's the first time I've been bored reading a Discworld book. If I hadn't committed to reading them all, and if I couldn't see how short this one was, I would have DNFd.

I'll make an attempt to forget this one.