[1] First published in 1998,[2] it mocks the aspects of time travel such as the grandfather paradox and the Ray Bradbury short story "A Sound of Thunder".

Here he meets the magical kangaroo Scrappy, who explains to Rincewind that he is fated to bring back the rain, and end the eons-long drought.

Meanwhile, the senior wizards are trying to find a cure for the Librarian's magical malady, which causes him to transform into a native object, such as a book when near a library, whenever he sneezes.

Back in the present, Rincewind ends up wrongfully arrested for sheep theft and taken to Bugarup, where he is hoping to find a ship to escape on.

[3] Infinity Plus was less positive, recommending that Discworld newcomers start elsewhere, and stating that it "falls below (Pratchett's) normal very high standard on several counts", because although it is "great fun" and "worth buying", it "doesn't hang together as a plot, as an unfolding story".