Wyrd Sisters: 12/07/12

Wyrd Sisters by Terry Pratchet is the sixth Discworld book. It's the second appearance of Granny Weatherwax, who made a brief but important appearance in Equal Rites. Here, though, she is presented as she should be, with the rest of her coven — Nanny Ogg and Magrat. Together they are the crone (though one would never dare call Granny Weatherwax that), the mother (Nanny Ogg who is mother, aunt or grandmother to most of Lancre) and the maiden (Magrat).

These three witches will be instrumental in setting to rights the kingdom of Lancre after the death of the king by natural causes. Because of course, murder is a natural death for a monarch. The king's infant son, though, is squirreled away and the witches buy him a home (as well as a hiding place for the crown of Lancre).

The death of a king, his haunting ghost, the meddling witches, the smart ass Fool — these are all elements of a Shakespearian drama. Whilst you will find jabs at many of his plays, the dominating one is the Scottish play, but there's a jab or two at Hamlet, King Lear too.

My favorite characters, though, in this book are Magrat and the Fool. The Fool has more wits about him than the new Duke and Duchess of Lancre. Whenever I read this book, I wish that Christopher Moore's Fool had been more like Pratchett's fool.

Five stars

Comments (0)