Interesting Times (1994)
Interesting Times is a 1994 fiction book written by Terry Pratchett.
Rincewind is Discworld's most cowardly wizard, a man whose one genuine skill is surviving by running away. So naturally the Unseen University ships him to the Agatean Empire, the ancient, heavily fortified realm on the Counterweight Continent, where a polite revolution is brewing and someone has decided he is the prophesied Great Wizzard. Waiting there is Cohen the Barbarian and his geriatric Silver Horde, plotting one last impossible heist. Pratchett aims his satire at empire, revolution, and the stories that push history along, wrapping it around his most reluctant hero. Fast, funny, and pointed about who really holds power.
Quick answers
What is Interesting Times about?
Rincewind is Discworld's most cowardly wizard, a man whose one genuine skill is surviving by running away. So naturally the Unseen University ships him to the Agatean Empire, the ancient, heavily fortified realm on the Counterweight Continent, where a polite revolution is brewing and someone has decided he is the prophesied Great Wizzard. Waiting there is Cohen the Barbarian and his geriatric Silver Horde, plotting one last impossible heist. Pratchett aims his satire at empire, revolution, and the stories that push history along, wrapping it around his most reluctant hero. Fast, funny, and pointed about who really holds power.
When was Interesting Times published?
Interesting Times was published on 1 July 2013.
Who made Interesting Times?
Interesting Times was written by Terry Pratchett.
Similar books
Interesting Times in our writing
- Companion guide: Discworld: The Complete Guide to Terry Pratchett's Flat Planet
A few thoughts on Interesting Times
Fans of comic pseudo-historical adventure in an imagined East should try Jade Empire, BioWare's martial-arts RPG steeped in the same affectionate borrowing. The 2008 adaptation The Colour of Magic puts Rincewind on screen with David Jason, catching his run-first heroism. Both share this book's mix of real peril and outright farce.
More reluctant wizard chaos with Rincewind
Rincewind gets shipped to the Agatean Empire and mistaken for a legendary hero in Interesting Times, which is exactly his least favorite position. These follow him and his fellow cowards through earlier scrapes across Discworld, from his first disastrous trip on the Circle Sea to Fourecks, plus the aging Silver Horde chasing one final impossible job alongside him.
Ankh-Morpork's City Watch when you want street-level satire
Interesting Times sends its satire abroad, but the same sharp eye for how power actually works runs through Pratchett's Watch books, set back home in Ankh-Morpork. These follow Sam Vimes and his patchwork force cutting through corrupt guilds, staged wars, and city politics with the same mix of comedy and genuine anger at how institutions fail people.
Empire and revolution satire that actually bites
The Agatean Empire in Interesting Times stands in for real imperial bureaucracy and the revolutions that grow inside it, and these take the same target seriously while staying funny. A game about outsiders navigating a rigid dynasty, and Discworld books skewering ancient empires, industrial upheaval, and wartime patriotism, sit well alongside it.