I realized that I mentioned these books, but I didn't review them. Silly me. By now, if you read my blog with any regularity, you'll know that I'm a fan of the writing of Terry Pratchett. He is often classified as a fantasy or sci fi writer. I tend to think of him more as a writer of satire that just happens to be set in a fictitious place that frequently mirrors our own -- Discworld.
Wyrd Sisters is the novel that introduces the characters Granny Weatherwax, Nanny Ogg, and Magrat, three witches who loosely represent the archetypes of the crone, the mother, and the maiden. If that sounds all scholarly and high-fallutin', don't worry. It's not.
The story takes place in the small mountainous kingdom of Lancre, which happens to be the place from which most of the magic on the Disc emanates. It opens with the assassination of King Verence, by the treacherous hand of his nephew. The king's infant son and heir is spirited away to safety with the aid of the three witches (who don't believe in meddling with the affairs of state, really they don't) and the dead king remains as a ghost to haunt his palace and seek revenge for his death. Does this plotline sound at all familiar? Read any Shakespeare lately?
In Witches Abroad, the local fairy godmother has died and bequeathed her wand to the young witch Magrat, with instructions to journey to the far away city of Genua to prevent a marriage.
Nanny Ogg and Granny Weatherwax join her on the journey to "foreign parts", where they encounter a great many interesting people and learn that not all stories have happy endings (or do they?)
Personally, I think that Terry Pratchett is a literary genius. He writes with intelligence, laced with sly humor and the more than occasional groaningly bad pun for which we try to forgive him. He is extremely prolific, with 35+ books in the Discworld series. If you are new to Pratchett, Wyrd Sisters is as good a place to start as any. I'm sure that Enriched Geranium will also chime in with his Pratchett-reading advice in the comments section, any minute now.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
12 comments:
I won't argue with anything you've written here (can you believe it?). Wyrd Sisters is a good place to start. I think the witches are my favorite of the Pratchett casts of characters, with Sam Vimes, Carrot, et al a close second, or possibly tied for top place.
Warning: To those who haven't read any Pratchett, you should be aware that once you start, you may find almost all other writers to be disappointing. Of course, I have loaned Pratchett books to friends that I thought would enjoy them and sometimes they don't like them very much. Go figure.
The Monks of Time are pretty good characters too.
I'm going to have to start reading these books. Thanks!
So Wyrd Sisters is the first one to read? What next?
Hi, Jan. There are many ways to read Terry Pratchett. Some people use the list at the beginning of the books, and read them chronologically, in the order they were published. I prefer to follow threads of characters, like the witches, for example. So far the witches' thread is comprised of (in order) Wyrd Sisters, Witches Abroad, Lords and Ladies, Maskerade, and Carpe Jugulum.
Or, if you like, you can check out The Discworld Reading Order Guide. Small Gods is a good one in what I think of as the "Stand Alone" casts of characters, as is Monstrous Regiment. The Watch Novels (as opposed to the Witches Novels) are the cast earlier referred to as the Sam Vimes cast.
I'm going to take your recommendation. You haven't steered me wrong yet!
DCup -- I like to get in touch with my inner librarian. I hope you like them!
What are you reading these days?
Sadly nothing. I just finished Barbara Ehrenreich's This Land Is Their Land. Excellent. But I have got to lay off the nonfiction for a bit.
I know what you mean about nonfiction. I'm just about to post another review where I speak to that. I love nonfiction -- particularly that which seems relevant to the times, but sometimes I need to take a break -- or else up the dosage on my antidepressants!
Thanks, Suzy and Ed, for the recommendations. It'll be fun to look for the books while I'm visiting in Seattle. There are wonderful book stores there. (Too bad I can't go to Portland to Powell's though.)
Jan, have a great trip!
Post a Comment