Sourcery (Discworld 5)
Oct. 9th, 2021 07:07 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jazzfishThis is the first Discworld book that I can definitely say I've read before. Not that that means much: it's been pushing three decades since I found it and a few others in the high school library and though "huh, this is by half of the Good Omens team, I wonder if it's any good?"
What I remembered: the whole "eighth son of an eighth son of an eighth son is a sourcerer, a source of magic" premise; the extended riff on Coleridge's "Kubla Khan" ("It looks like someone took twice five miles of inner city and girdled it round with walls and towers" absolutely cracked me up on first read); the not completely satisfying ending. And that I liked it enough to read the few more the library had, but apparently not enough to go on a Quest for the rest of them by special-ordering them at Waldenbooks or anything like that.
So, Sourcery. Coin the young "sourcerer" arrives at Unseen University bearing his father's staff with his father's spirit inside. He then proceeds to take over the University and usher in a new age of the rule of magic. Our old friend Rincewind flees with the Archchancellor's hat, which has its own ideas about how the rule of magic should be implemented. World-shaking hijinks ensue.
It's a return to Rincewind and the wizards of Unseen University, in their first "real" Discworld outing (depending on how one feels about Equal Rites, I guess). As such it feels a bit shaky, like it's trying to merge two worlds with some significant rough edges. It's got the world-ending plot of The Light Fantastic and the flood of pastiches of The Colour of Magic; it's got flashes of the kindness and insight of Mort. And it's got the unfortunate casual sexism of Equal Rites, though here it's at least played for some actual laughs. Being focused in on just Rincewind's discomfort instead of the whole of wizardry makes it somewhat more palatable.
The wizards as a whole feel out of place in Discworld, is I think what I'm trying to say. They work well as a counterweight to something else, say, Granny Weatherwax's no-nonsense people-centric views, but they need something to push against. And Sourcery doesn't give them that. It goes a long way towards explaining why they're the ridiculous lazy layabouts they are (because if they were in charge we'd have, well, the rule of sourcerers, which is just Bad News for everyone concerned, except for maybe the one survivor), which isn't nothing, but it's backstory. It's no good as a foreground, not in the way I expect Discworld to be.
Which isn't to say it's a bad book. Like The Light Fantastic, it works on its own terms. It's a perfectly reasonable comic quest narrative, complete with reluctant hero and wild magic. It's got Creosote the terrible poet, and the Nijel/Conina romance. And it's good to spend time with the Luggage again, and to see more of the Librarian. After Mort, I just wanted something more, I guess.
On the other hand:
As a side note, I wonder how much Graydon Saunders was thinking of Sourcery when he envisioned the world of the Commonweal. "Wizards destroying each other with no concern for or conception of the masses of non-wizards whose lives they're ruining" is sort of the Commonweal's premise, though taken much more seriously. Or maybe it's just convergent evolution and an extrapolation of Absolute Power to its obvious end.
Up next: Wyrd Sisters.
What I remembered: the whole "eighth son of an eighth son of an eighth son is a sourcerer, a source of magic" premise; the extended riff on Coleridge's "Kubla Khan" ("It looks like someone took twice five miles of inner city and girdled it round with walls and towers" absolutely cracked me up on first read); the not completely satisfying ending. And that I liked it enough to read the few more the library had, but apparently not enough to go on a Quest for the rest of them by special-ordering them at Waldenbooks or anything like that.
So, Sourcery. Coin the young "sourcerer" arrives at Unseen University bearing his father's staff with his father's spirit inside. He then proceeds to take over the University and usher in a new age of the rule of magic. Our old friend Rincewind flees with the Archchancellor's hat, which has its own ideas about how the rule of magic should be implemented. World-shaking hijinks ensue.
It's a return to Rincewind and the wizards of Unseen University, in their first "real" Discworld outing (depending on how one feels about Equal Rites, I guess). As such it feels a bit shaky, like it's trying to merge two worlds with some significant rough edges. It's got the world-ending plot of The Light Fantastic and the flood of pastiches of The Colour of Magic; it's got flashes of the kindness and insight of Mort. And it's got the unfortunate casual sexism of Equal Rites, though here it's at least played for some actual laughs. Being focused in on just Rincewind's discomfort instead of the whole of wizardry makes it somewhat more palatable.
The wizards as a whole feel out of place in Discworld, is I think what I'm trying to say. They work well as a counterweight to something else, say, Granny Weatherwax's no-nonsense people-centric views, but they need something to push against. And Sourcery doesn't give them that. It goes a long way towards explaining why they're the ridiculous lazy layabouts they are (because if they were in charge we'd have, well, the rule of sourcerers, which is just Bad News for everyone concerned, except for maybe the one survivor), which isn't nothing, but it's backstory. It's no good as a foreground, not in the way I expect Discworld to be.
Which isn't to say it's a bad book. Like The Light Fantastic, it works on its own terms. It's a perfectly reasonable comic quest narrative, complete with reluctant hero and wild magic. It's got Creosote the terrible poet, and the Nijel/Conina romance. And it's good to spend time with the Luggage again, and to see more of the Librarian. After Mort, I just wanted something more, I guess.
On the other hand:
"It’s vital to remember who you really are. It’s very important. It isn’t a good idea to rely on other people or things to do it for you, you see. They always get it wrong."I wish teenaged Tucker had remembered that when he read it all those years ago. I wish he'd reread the book often enough to remember it.
As a side note, I wonder how much Graydon Saunders was thinking of Sourcery when he envisioned the world of the Commonweal. "Wizards destroying each other with no concern for or conception of the masses of non-wizards whose lives they're ruining" is sort of the Commonweal's premise, though taken much more seriously. Or maybe it's just convergent evolution and an extrapolation of Absolute Power to its obvious end.
Up next: Wyrd Sisters.
no subject
Date: 2021-10-09 02:47 pm (UTC)IIRC, it also starts the running jokes about wizards needing large meals and bickering to divert themselves from doing magic.
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Date: 2021-10-12 04:18 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-10-12 11:11 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-10-09 03:43 pm (UTC)The Commonweal saga connection seems spot-on to me, although it may just be parallel evolution.
As an aside: it occurs to me that PTerry took about 8-12 novels to really hit his stride. (Before he started the Discworld books he'd already published Dark Side of the Sun, Strata, and The Carpet People, so there's a visible learning curve before Mort.
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Date: 2021-10-12 04:26 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-10-11 09:18 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-10-12 04:27 pm (UTC)