Eric is a demonologist. He may be young, and he may be more than a little nerdy, but he knows what he wants… And what he wants is a demon to fulfil his three wishes. When he calls one up, he’s ready to shout Avaunt! A lot and do whatever else it takes to get his demon to do his bidding… But he isn’t ready to find Rincewind in his circle, instead of the demon he was aiming for.

As the Demon King Astfgl pursues them and seeks to obtain his personal little goals, Rincewind and Eric must follow the whims of fate (and demonic wish-fulfilment) as Eric wishes to become the ruler of the world, meet the most beautiful woman in history, and live forever. In this Faustian parody, being careful what you wish for is perhaps less important than being careful who you wish it from…

Terry Pratchett wrote Faust Eric (also published as Eric) back in the eighties and it was first published in 1990. In the intervening 22 years, however, the story has lost none of its charm and humour. To Discworld fans, this will be nothing new; one of the series’ most wonderful traits is its timelessness.

As a recurring character, Rincewind hasn’t always appealed to me – and that’s kind of the point. He’s a failure, and fails his way into and out of trouble with clockwork-like regularity. But the massive success he found with his readers was not echoed in my opinion; I just found it very hard work, perhaps because it’s pretty much how I live my life, too!

Eric, however, really brings Rincewind’s likeability to the fore, and may even have turned me into a Rincewind lover. I didn’t get it, before – but now I do. Rincewind is all of us, or at least the way we all feel and behave at some point or another.

The relatively quick pace of the book makes it easier to dip into and out of, and all in all it’s a fast and enjoyable read. A lovely reminder, then, of Pratchett’s greatness and his ability to translate the most alien of situations into a language we can all understand, enjoy, and have a damned good laugh at.

So if you’re looking for some vintage Pratchett that’ll put a smile on your face, Eric is definitely the one for you. If you haven’t read it yet – you really ought to!

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