Sourcery
core novel 1988 Discworld
Record
| First published | 1988 |
|---|---|
| Original language |  EN |
| Work type | novel |
| Canon status | core |
| Reader rating | 3.92 (113,999 ratings, collected 2026-09-11) |
| Page count | 276 |
| First-edition ISBN | 9780575042179 |
Synopsis
A wizard named Ipslore, cast out of his order for marrying and having children, dies and pours his spirit into his own staff rather than let Death claim him. His eighth son, Coin, is born a sourcerer, a being who generates raw magic rather than merely channeling it, and grows into a source of power far beyond any living wizard's. Years later Coin arrives at Unseen University in Ankh-Morpork and quickly wins the wizards over, setting in motion a plan for the wizarding order to seize direct control of the city and, eventually, the world. Rincewind, guided by a sentient wizard's hat, flees the university with a thief named Conina, and together with a would-be barbarian hero named Nijel they are drawn into a widening magical crisis as Coin's uncontrolled power begins pulling ever more magic into the world, threatening to unravel it entirely.
Where it sits
- Universe: Discworld
- Series: Rincewind / Wizards core; position 3 of 8 in the series' recorded order
- Author: Terry Pratchett
Notes
- From the series record (Rincewind / Wizards): Sub-series grouping per Wikipedia arc articles; schemes vary between sources.
Neighbouring works
Publication order and internal chronology are tracked as two separate orderings and are never conflated: a book's place in one says nothing about its place in the other.
- Publication order, within the series Rincewind / Wizards: position 3 of 8: previous The Light Fantastic (1986) · next Eric (1990)
Sources
← Discworld dossier · All universes
Part of the Library. Fields without an identified source are omitted, never guessed.