Fantasy Buddy Reads discussion

This is a Buddy Read for Sourcery by Terry Pratchett starting on March 8, 2024.


Happy Reading!

I am 11% in and (view spoiler)[ glad to see Rincewind and the Luggage are back and running away with the other critters. Coin sure is interesting when he arrives to the University and has the duel. I am excited to see how the wizards deal with him (hide spoiler)]

Rob wrote: "I just started Sourcery and...so far...kinda meh, but we'll see :)"

Decided to copy this over from the Mort thread (just mentioned it was the wrong thread over there)...

Not sure if it's residual memories from Color of Magic / Light Fantastic, this comment, or the story in general, but I kinda agree I'm not loving this one as much as Equal Rites or Mort... I think I just liked the new characters there more, or something?...

I've read 33-50% alreaady... (view spoiler)[the story is just flying along...

Birth of Coin, some Rincewind hijinks, Coin shows up at Unseen University, duels/disappears the Archmage, some mid-level mages take advantage, Rincewind and Coin run off with the Hat of Office, adventuring ensues, pirate attack, survival, etc...

I'm following the gist of the story, I just don't particularly care, for some reason... (hide spoiler)]

EDIT: I was confusing 2 characters in my summary above, which I confirmed with a google/wikipedia search: (view spoiler)[Coin & Conina the Hairdresser... Coin is still back in Ankh-Morpork... that makes more sense, I guess... and explains why I just assumed Coin could take care of the pirates with magic, since Rincewind doesn't really do magic... and why that didn't happen... (hide spoiler)]

Getting close to the end... Nijel has been good for a laugh...

This fanart from the wiki really sells how not-to-type he is, lol: (view spoiler)[

(hide spoiler)]

At 25%: The description of the Patrician really made me laugh.

RachelG. wrote: "At 25%: The description of the Patrician really made me laugh."

Finished... yea... I think that got a chuckle as well... lots of (view spoiler)[thinly veiled nods to real world politics (hide spoiler)] sprinkled throughout fantasy... these poke fun of it more than most, given the genre... alot of other stuff just makes me depressed if I think about it too much (re: Trials of Empire, for example)...

That fan art is perfect for a visual!

I finished and thought it was a fine story but I kind of lost momentum about halfway through.

The plots just kinda throw things together... I read the summary on wikipedia of the logic behind (view spoiler)[gods and ice giants (hide spoiler)], but it all zooms by so fast that you can easily miss it in the story / on audio... it lacks alot of that feeling of direness that you'd expect, given the direction of the plot... I guess that's kinda true of the series in general...

And lots of random things happen, in general...

This is the weakest Discworld book imo, mainly because the magical instability made everything chaotic.

I'm starting this one today.

Someone to balance out all our negativity :D

Maybe! I gave it 4 stars back in 2009. We'll see how it stands up on reread :) I basically remember nothing of the plot on this one. The previous ones I remembered parts of.

Just the play on sorcerer...sourcery...source...

RachelG. wrote: "I am 11% in and [spoilers removed]"

Just started and hit 11% or so. Giving some huffs of laughter off the top, which is a good sign... (view spoiler)[did Death just reply, in answer to the question "What gives life purpose?"--did he say "Cats."? I swear he said "Cats." If so, Death has quite solidified his spot as my favorite character. (hide spoiler)]

60% in or so, and events starting to degrade into chaos... (view spoiler)[I was rather enjoying the beginning--especially Conina the Wannabe Hairdresser and Accidental Barbarian/Thief and how Luggage likes her more than Rincewind. Can't blame Luggage.

Coin's earned my eternal enmity when he ordered the burning of the library. (hide spoiler)]

I am 40% in and the random puns are hilarious! And yes, Death stated that Cats are the purpose of life!

I love having Rincewind and The Luggage back! And Conina wants to be a hairdresser! Hahahaha!

Finished! I definitely lost focus for the last half of the book, and didn't really care... but there were still some good scenes throughout.

63% in... Nigel The Destroyer! If I ever met him, I am sure that I will get all the maternal feelings I have never had, and would want to adopt him! Or at least become his aunt, since he has a mother who wants him to wear underwear and pillage only until he meets a nice girl!!! I love the little dude so much! (view spoiler)[ I am getting a feeling that once Conina meets Nigel, Rincewind and The Luggage will have their little infatuated hearts broken...:(( (hide spoiler)]£

Finally starting this one! Hoping to catch up to everyone else soon.

Diana Stormblessed wrote: "Finally starting this one! Hoping to catch up to everyone else soon."

You'll catch me easy :D I started but just been too tired to read for any length of time and am only 30 pages in lol

Narilka wrote: "Maybe! I gave it 4 stars back in 2009. We'll see how it stands up on reread :) I basically remember nothing of the plot on this one. The previous ones I remembered parts of.

Just the play on sorce..."

I definitely like the wordplay... Source of Magic is common in magic TV shows, too, I think... immediately makes me think of Charmed (the original 90s version)...

I loved it! Yes, it was probably the weakest of the books so far, probably because of the last 30% being a bit chaotic, but I still loved everything that this author provides - clever turn of phrase, humor, very human emotions in a very laconic way, and just a ton of thought provoking situations. Rushed ending, it could have been more structured, but overall, still a lovely and fun read! Looking forward to the next book!;)

Narilka wrote: "Maybe! I gave it 4 stars back in 2009. We'll see how it stands up on reread :) I basically remember nothing of the plot on this one. The previous ones I remembered parts of.

Just the play on sorce..."

I’ve been reading it as Sour-cery lol. I like your way better.

I’m about half way through. Surprisingly for me I’m not hating it so far. I’m following it pretty well. Not as much humor though as other books.

Started it and I am halfway through and I am liking it so far (view spoiler)[ though I want to see more of luggage. But now we have a creepy cane so the more inanimate objects the better. I though we would see more of the seventh son of the seventh son but Rincewind is the one we follow. Which I am not mad since he is funny. And Wizards are always fun (hide spoiler)]

Nirkatze (view spoiler)[ indeed, Coin ordering burning the books made him enemy number one for me too

Death is the best! (hide spoiler)]

Finished! (view spoiler)[ it's been fun but the ending was all over the place. Too much caos and everything happening very quickly. But I still enjoy it and I want to see how Rincewind story goes from here (hide spoiler)]

Paula, exactly how I feel! Great book, but that ending was just too rushed and chaotic...

If this is the low point in the series though, I may harbor some hope... though I haven't loved any of the books yet...

Nirkatze wrote: "If this is the low point in the series though, I may harbor some hope... though I haven't loved any of the books yet..."

Same. I’m considering giving up these buddy reads. I’m not loving these books at all.

I guess you/we gave it the college try...

I'm sticking it out, for now... maybe that'll change in another few books/months...

I hate stopping things unfinished... I might just grin and bear my way through... relegate listening to worst-grading hours because I don't care...

Many of the later Discworld books are better than the earlier ones IMO. You can jump out of order because they're all stand-alone! Try Guards Guards or Going Postal.

I still love them and I am sticking with it:)))

Nirkatze wrote: "I hate stopping things unfinished... I might just grin and bear my way through... relegate listening to worst-grading hours because I don't care..."

That’s how I am lol. I read a lot of books just cuz I hate giving up. This often goes for series as well.

Ryan wrote: "Many of the later Discworld books are better than the earlier ones IMO. You can jump out of order because they're all stand-alone! Try Guards Guards or Going Postal."

Good to know. I’ll keep at it waiting to get to those books. Even though I know they can be read out of order I’m incapable of reading things out of order lol

Hearing positive things about later books from people who agree about the early books is promising...

But, I'm locked-in to reading in order, regardless...

I'm not generally a big fan of reading out of publication order, unless it's a chronological order and people don't say that's a bad idea...

Ditto on hearing positive things... always something to alleviate fears, when folks who've read and enjoyed or shared the same opinions say good things about upcoming books.

Discworld might be one of those series where reading not in publication order might actually be recommended, because there are mini-series within it that follow the same characters.

https://bookriot.com/discworld-readin...

That said, I am reading them in publication order, because I'm following along with reactormag's book club. Currently reading the non-Discworld Nation. The last book was Making Money.

Timelord Iain wrote: "Getting close to the end... Nijel has been good for a laugh...

This fanart from the wiki really sells how not-to-type he is, lol:

"

That fan art is hilarious :)

I'm still slowly reading. I'm around 55% and no real comments. It's silly fluff.

Ryan, let us know how Nation is:) And I like publication order always... Too OCD to do it otherwise...

Narilka, but silly fluff is so vitally necessary!!!

Choko wrote: "Ryan, let us know how Nation is:) And I like publication order always... Too OCD to do it otherwise..."

Same lol. I know there's all kinds of reading order suggestions for different series, but my own mental issues mean that I cannot read anything but publication order lol

Diana, exactly!!! This is why I also don't venture too far from what I know I like, because once I start a book or a series, I have to finish it! Otherwise it hangs in the back of my head as a big cavity, and I can't relax!

I tackled this series completely out of order. The first book I read was Equal Rites. Then I read in order for a couple books, decided I liked the Witches and Watch books best so went down those series for a few books, came back for Death...worked in some Rincewind... lol It's the only series I've ever read like this and it worked for me :)

So interesting how y'all are OCD on publication order--I'm opposite, OCD on chronological order... I tend to completely lose interest in prequel stories... like, what's the point? We already know what happened. I like chronological or thematic reading orders, whatever will best enhance the experience...

You know, I am not necessarily OCD on publication order, but whatever order! It has to be the order I start with, and it has to be logical and not miss anything. I will totally read chronological or publication, as long as there isn't anything missed!

Choko wrote: "You know, I am not necessarily OCD on publication order, but whatever order! It has to be the order I start with, and it has to be logical and not miss anything. I will totally read chronological o..."

Agree

I really don't remember much about Sourcery at all, except that it was the book that really showed me that I don't care for Discworld as much as I've been told I'm supposed to....

Chris wrote: "I really don't remember much about Sourcery at all, except that it was the book that really showed me that I don't care for Discworld as much as I've been told I'm supposed to...."

Lol. I'm going to stick it out a bit longer, but I'm starting to lose hope that I'll get through this series.

Chris wrote: "I really don't remember much about Sourcery at all, except that it was the book that really showed me that I don't care for Discworld as much as I've been told I'm supposed to...."

Some people just like meatier stories... that's not Pratchett...

Diana Stormblessed wrote: "Lol. I'm going to stick it out a bit longer, but I'm starting to lose hope that I'll get through this series.."

I did like the next one better, and that's as far as I've gotten so far.

As far as meatiness, I don't think that's it. I love a good candy read that I can blaze through without burdening my brain too much.

I'm going to try a few more before I decide for sure. Guards Guards is supposed to be the one that makes me a convert :)