I found the extreme cowardice of Rincewind annoying. He showed no curiosity, no love, no qualities which made me interested in his continued well being. This has not truly changed in Eric, but for several reasons, I definitely enjoyed this adventure more than his previous.
First of all, the book is short! At just under 200 pages, Rincewind did not have much of a chance to get on my nerves. Second of all, Terry Pratchett weaved in several very interesting ideas. The honeybees of Death, the Faust tale, a comparison of demonology with computer programming, cowardice as impetus for strategic battle, and so much more!
Finally, there was the fact that over the course of four books concerning our "wizzard", Terry has slowly been humanizing him. Not too much. He's still an abject coward. But, there have been little moments where you realize that there is (slightly) more to Rincewind that running in terror from everything he encounters. He is reasonably intelligent, for example. Do not let his ineptitude at magic lull you into taking him for a complete fool (sorry King Verence!).
Anyway, I highly recommend this and the rest of the Discworld books to anyone with a love of fantasy, humor, or intelligent fun!
It's Pratchett who slows down his pace in this book. There's little new in character development, mainly because Rincewind has little character at this point to develop (and had little character to start with!). Some reviewers think that this is a negative point-I disagree. Still, overall the book is too short on development. There's a nice parody of the Trojan wars that sets up Rincewind for an encounter with his Counterweight Cousin later on-so at best, this is a book of continuation.
It appears that Prachett didn't have many concepts to develop, and that's a shame. Considering all the people who'll eventually end up in Hell, it would seem he'd have lots of material.
It still has Pratchett's humor-but this time it's a bit dry. OK read, and keep it in your collection. Otherwise, a bit of a yawner.
Heavens to... Murgatroyd!
