Eric Kroll

Advantages: lovely story
Disadvantages: a lilttle too quiet!

...As i work with 4 and 5 year olds, I bought this book to read to small groups of children. The children love Eric Carle stories and really enjoyed the tale of the cricket, however we were a little disappointed when we reached the end and tried to listen to the cricket noise! The story is superb but the very quiet noise at the end is just a little too quiet! I would recommend the story but not necessarily the board book version. as with all of Eric Carles books the story is very appealing to a child's imagination and helps develop their knowledge and understanding of the World.... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average somewhat helpful

Advantages: Funny moments, good main character, easy to read
Disadvantages: Not as good as other Pratchett books

...One of the earliest and shortest Discworld novels, the best thing about it is that it's about Rincewind the wizard, one of Pratchett's best characters. Other than that, it's not one of his greatest, and nowhere near the quality of Wyrd Sisters. Based on the Faust myth, Eric, a boy who wants to conjure demons, accidentally gets a pathetic wizard instead, and demands 3 wishes. The current ruler of Hell decides to help out Rincewind without his knowledge and grant the wishes, which inevitably get Rincewind and Eric into trouble. Luckily for them, the demons aren't happy with Hell's ruler, and are hatching plan to get rid of him and his love of paperwork and filing. For a newcomer to Pratchett, I wouldn't recommend this one, but having said that it can still raise a few smiles and isn't bad for killing time on the journey to work.... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Full of excellent illustrations and a good story
Disadvantages: Not his best

...I could write so much about the work of this man as I have been following his career for many years and I have bought ever one of his books in paperback and I acquired Eric as soon as it came out. This is the only Pratchett book that includes a lot of illustrations from Josh Kirby. Yes I know that there are normally cover pictures, but the version of Eric I have has full colour pictures throughout. The story, based on Faust, is about Eric who conjures up himself a demon from the pit, but it is not any old demon it is poor old Rincewind the wizard, who found himself in the dungeon dimensions at the end of one of his misadventures. The ensuing adventures are, as you would expect, see Rincewind and Eric causing chaos as they travel through the millennia backwards in time meeting historic characters, The Creator of the Discworld... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average somewhat helpful