"May you live in interesting times" is the worst thing one can wish on a
citizen of Discworld--especially on the distinctly unmagical sorcerer
Rincewind, who has had far too much perilous excitement in his life. But
when a request for a "Great Wizzard" arrives in Ankh-Morpork via carrier
albatross from the faraway Counterweight Continent, it's he who's sent
as emissary. Chaos threatens to follow the impending demise of the
Agatean Empire's current ruler. And, for some incomprehensible reason,
someone believes Rincewind will have a mythic role in the war and
wholesale bloodletting that will surely ensue. (Carnage is pretty much a
given, since Cohen the Barbarian and his extremely elderly Silver Horde
are busily formulating their own plan for looting, pillaging, and, er,
looking wistfully at girls.) However, Rincewind firmly believes there
are too many heroes already in the world, yet only one Rincewind. And he
owes it to the world to keep that one alive for as long as possible.