Eric, a Terry Pratchett Book Review
What You’ll Find in This Article:
Eric, a Terry Pratchett Book Synopsis and Review
Quick Re-cap of “The Road so Far”
Wow, it’s been a crazy here, hence why the blog has been quiet for about three weeks or so, but I’m super excited to announce that my wife and her family have launched a community centre in Sofia, Bulgaria, aimed at promoting culture, development, and of course, reading, for kids of all ages.
Yours truly also had some small contribution to the efforts (albeit mostly of the “move this heavy object form point A to point B” variety), but it didn’t leave me a lot of time for reading, much less for writing. But I’m back at it again and today I’ll be going back to the Discworld!
If you’re one of the three people (including my wife and my best friend) who’ve been following my journey this year, I challenged myself to read at least 30 books by the end of 2025. I’ve since smashed that target, currently reading my 68th book!
In the last couple of articles we’ve gone through quite a few different books, but I always seem to get drawn back to the Discworld. In fact, I actually used the series as a palate cleanser in-between more serious works of fiction.
The last time we stepped into the wacky imagination of Sir Terry Pratchett was to check out the conclusion of the Unseen University saga with a review of Unseen Academicals.
Today though, we’re taking a step back within the UU saga, and focusing on one of the two books (the other being Mort), which doesn’t include Two Flower, or other faculty members (apart from Rincewind, of course). That’s right, I’m talking about Eric!
Who Is Eric and What Does He Have To Do With The Unseen University?
Eric, the protagonist of the novel, is a teenage boy, who’s essentially Aladin from Temu. But instead of a dashing, cunning “street-rat”, Eric is an awkward teenager with slight delusions of grandeur, who decides to dabble in demonology in order to get his heart’s desire. And instead of summoning a genie, he fumbles up a simple spell and summons none other than Rincewind.
Now, if you know anything about the Discworld it is this: Rincewind has no idea how he ended up there. And if there’s another thing you most certainly know: Rincewind does NOT want to be there.
Eric, confusing the wiZZard (yes, the second Z is very important!), with a powerful demon demands the holy trifecta of standard wishes - live forever, rule the world, and have the most beautiful woman fall madly in love with him. Easy enough for Rincewind to pull of, right?
Now here’s the catch: as inept of a demonology practitioner as Eric is, he still manages to bind Rincewind by the rules of the summoning. Ergo, the only way to actually free himself would be to grant those wishes. So off the two go on a classic Rincewind adventure that’s bound to end in disaster.
Where does Eric by Terry Pratchett takes place?
In a typical Discworld fashion, the adventure takes our heroes through time and space, visting locations, such as:
The Tezuman Empire (Pratchett’s take on the Aztec Empire)
Tsort (the Discworld version of Troy, complete with it’s own “Helen” called Eleanor, whose best days might be a tad behind her)
Hell
The beginning of Time (where “a little rat-faced man” is shown as the creator of the Discworld)
Restructuring Hell
Perhaps one of my favourite plot lines in Eric is the duo’s journey to Hell, where they find that the demons have discovered the worst torture imaginable - bureaucracy.
The demon king, Astfgl (whose name I guess came from Pratchett’s cat walking across the keyboard) has the brilliant idea to replace physical torture with a mental one, in the form of endless paperwork, red tape, and unfathomable boredom for both demons and victims alike.
Instead of their classic torturing methods, the demons are now forced to forge deals involving massive amounts of paperwork and enforced by strict regulation codes. Or as I call it in my current day job, “a typical Tuesday”.
You can imagine that the demons are not exactly thrilled to be demoted to stereotypical office workers, so when Rincewind and Eric arrive in Hell, the other demon lords see the mayhem they tend to accidentally cause as the perfect excuse for a revolution.
The revolution ends up being a great success, with Astfgl getting “promoted” to “Supreme Life President of Hell”, and tasked with planning the future course of action for all demons from his “private office”.
My thoughts on Eric by Terry Pratchett
While most people tend to find Eric a little “rushed”, especially compared to other Discworld novels, I always have a sweet spot for it.
It’s a very quick read - can easily be done with in one afternoon, but it provides great entertainment value, mixed with Pratchett’s typical commentary on human nature and exploring a classical Faustian bargain but with a unique twist.
For such a small novel, I would even dare to say that it has subtle world-building elements that give it much more depth than you’d initially think. For example having the Tsort Ephebian commander’s name be Latin for Rincewind - Lavaeolus.
Or having him be a very distant relative of Rincewind himself. It shows a striking contrast between the quick-witted and brave commander, who resembles Odysseus more than anything else, and Rincewind, who resembles… well, Rincewind.
Finally, there are a few bits and pieces that barely have an impact on the story, but serve as building blocks for the world-building of the broader Discworld, such as witnessing the Big Bang, and the description of “the Bees of Death” in his garden.
It’s a classic “disaster antics” story that doesn’t take itself seriously and will definitely put you in a whimsical and mischievous mood when finished!
My Favourite Quotes from Eric by Terry Pratchett
Below you will find a collection of my favourite quotes from the novel Eric by Terry Pratchett, part of the Discworld series.
“The gods of the Disc have never bothered much about judging the souls of the dead, and so people only go to hell if that’s where they believe, in their deepest heart, that they deserve to go. Which they won’t do if they don’t know about it. This explains why it is so important to shoot missionaries on sight.”
“Multiple exclamation marks,’ he went on, shaking his head, ‘are a sure sign of a diseased mind.”
“Any wizard bright enough to survive for five minutes was also bright enough to realize that if there was any power in demonology, then it lay with the demons. Using it for your own purposes would be like trying to beat mice to death with a rattlesnake.”
“These people were not only cheering, they were throwing flowers and hats. The hats were made of stone, but the thought was there.”
If you enjoyed this review of Eric by Terry Pratchett, make sure to check out some of my other recent reviews below:
My thoughts on Eric - the Unseen University novel by Terry Pratchett. Eric review, synopsis, and my favourite quotes!