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Lords And Ladies

(Discworld #14)

Terry Pratchett

4.15 · Rating details · 71,853 ratings · 1,584 reviews

‘His spectacular inventiveness makes the Discworld series one of the perennial joys of modern fiction’ Mail on Sunday

The Discworld is very much like our own – if our own were to consist of a flat planet balanced on the back of four elephants which stand on the back of a giant turtle, that is . . .

The fairies are back – but this time they don’t just want your teeth …

It's ...more

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Paperback, 400 pages

Published February 14th 2013 by Corgi (first published November 1992)

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Mar 07, 2018 Mario the lone bookwolf rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: pratchett-terry

Ritual magic is gone mad, even more lunatic than the lucky fool, in a Shakespearean mythology overload.

The idea of the special, magic days inspired by natural phenomenon, astrology, and seasons is as old as humanity, but in this case, it goes a bit hawire and crop circles are just the beginning.

Unsuspected, unknown elements that go against the stereotypical description of anything magic or real, are a splendid comedy trope, as they question the whole logic of expectations regarding anything, eas ...more

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Mar 29, 2011 Nataliya rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: pratchett, awesome-kickass-heroines, 2011-reads, 2014-reads

“Witches can generally come to terms with what actually is, instead of insisting on what ought to be.”

As anyone who knows me can attest to, I tend to gush over Pratchett's books, with all his wit and wisdom and the ability to create incredibly clever and very serious humor rooted in uncomfortably deep understanding of human mind.

“Personal’s not the same as important. People just think it is.”

Lords and Ladies of the Lancre Witches subcycle of the Discworld books was the first Pratchett W

“Witches can generally come to terms with what actually is, instead of insisting on what ought to be.”

“Personal’s not the same as important. People just think it is.”

Lords and Ladies of the Lancre Witches subcycle of the Discworld books was the first Pratchett Witches book I've read a few years ago (I tended to read them out of order, whichever one the library happened to have in stock) and the book that immediately sealed my love for Granny Weatherwax and Co.

These books are about a small coven of witches in a tiny mountainous country of Lancre, usually with a dab of William Shakespeare somewhere in the plot. As anything by Sir Terry, they of course have more layers than a Chernobyl-sized onion: the wisdom, the traditions, the heart of the land, the nooks and crannies of hearts and minds, and of course the people with all their quirks and oddities - and maybe even a bag of boiled sweets. But at the heart of every one of these is a formidable figure of Esmerelda "Granny" Weatherwax, an old skinny prickly witch with personality of steel, will of iron, wisdom of the land, and a sure knowledge of when NOT to use her immense scary power. She always knows who she is and why she is, and that's not something to take lightly.

“Other people would probably say: I wasn’t myself. But Granny Weatherwax didn’t have anyone else to be.”

Esme Weatherwax is a capital-W witch who knows that witching is far more than magic and power. She knows that the place where she lives is HERS, with all the responsibilities that stem from it. She knows that you don't need to be nice or loved or admired to be good at what you do. And she knows very well, with self-assurance that is prone to sometimes slide into a bit of arrogance, that crossing her is not something to be taken lightly. Does she have regrets about her life? Perhaps, to a point. But her core of steel, the Iron-in-her-Heart goes deep, even when she was just a young woman always a step ahead of a pursuing young man. Esme Weatherwax was always her own self, always knowing who she is.

“But what we have here is not a nice girl, as generally understood [...] Also, there’s a certain glint in her eye generally possessed by those people who have found that they are more intelligent than most people around them but who haven’t yet learned that one of the most intelligent things they can do is prevent said people ever finding this out.”

The focus of Lords and Ladies, insomuch as you can ever find a single overarching theme in a Pratchett book, is knowing the difference between what you wish things were and what they really are. Be it quiet regrets about what could have been if perhaps you had let the young man from your past catch up with you - even if it means letting go of something your core is made of, or a timid wish to steer your own life yourself even if it's already headed where you were hoping it would and not find yourself just another useless adornment in life, or being able to look past the alluring glamour and see that the easy way can indeed be much harder than the seemingly hard way.

“You mean you weren’t Chosen?”
“Me? No. I chose,” said Granny [...] “I chose, Gytha Ogg. And I want that you should know this right now. Whatever happens. I ain’t never regretted anything. Never regretted one single thing. Right?”

And assure that in the midst of all of it that you know exactly who and why you are.

Even in the times like this, where things are not going right.

“There was a mind moving around in the kingdom, and Granny Weatherwax didn’t understand it.”

It's that time again where boundaries between universes - both parallel and parasite - are becoming thin and crop circles are forming everywhere, and a ring of ancient iron-loving stones is not enough to contain the titular Lords and Ladies (the Elves, decidedly not glamorously-Tolkienesque).

“Elves are wonderful. They provoke wonder.
Elves are marvelous. They cause marvels.
Elves are fantastic. They create fantasies.
Elves are glamorous. They project glamour.
Elves are enchanting. They weave enchantment.
Elves are terrific. They beget terror.
The thing about words is that meanings can twist just like a snake, and if you want to find snakes look for them behind words that have changed their meaning.
No one ever said elves are nice.”

There is a royal wedding on a midsummer night's eve, and elves are loose in the world once again, and a unicorn is on a prowl while an ancient king is waiting for the iron in the hearts to be gone while a present-day king because of poor spelling gets a book on martial and very much not marital arts, and the Archancellor of the Unseen University may have had a past with the most formidable witch in perhaps the entire Discworld, and Magrat Garlick tries to come to terms with no longer being a witch but instead hopes to not fall into the useless queenly obscurity, and Nanny Ogg has caught an eye of the second-best lover in the universe. And it will take a village - spearheaded by the witches - to teach the invaders a lesson.

“When he’d gone, Nanny climbed up on the same table.
“Well,” she said, “it’s like this. If you go out there you may have to face elves. But if you stops here, you definitely have to face me. Now, elves is worse than me, I’ll admit. But I’m persistent.”

I love this book. I love how Pratchett's writing never ceases to amaze me. I love how no matter how tired, exhausted or deeply stressed I am all I need to feel better is to curl up with a book like this and have Granny Weatherwax sort the world out into what she knows it's supposed to be.

“Granny, her voice still quite calm and level. “But this is a real world, madam. That’s what I had to learn. And real people in it. You got no right to ’em. People’ve got enough to cope with just being people. They don’t need you swanking around with your shiny hair and shiny eyes and shiny gold, going sideways through life, always young, always singing, never learning.”
“You didn’t always think like this.”
“That was a long time ago. And, my lady, old I may be, and hag I may be, but stupid I ain’t. You’re no kind of goddess. I ain’t against gods and goddesses, in their place. But they’ve got to be the ones we make ourselves. Then we can take ’em to bits for the parts when we don’t need ’em anymore, see? And elves far away in fairyland, well, maybe that’s something people need to get ’emselves through the iron times. But I ain’t having elves here. You make us want what we can’t have and what you give us is worth nothing and what you take is everything and all there is left for us is the cold hillside, and emptiness, and the laughter of the elves.”
She took a deep breath. “So bugger off.”

————
My ever-expanding collection of Pratchett’s Discworld reviews:
- Guards! Guards!
- Men at Arms
- Thud!
- Lords and Ladies
- The Wee Free Men
- Hogfather
- Monstrous Regiment ...more

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Apr 24, 2017 Lyn rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Elves on the Discworld.

In Guillermo del Toro’s 2008 film Hellboy 2, the Elvin character Prince Nuada makes a point about humans remembering why they fear the dark. These elves are dark creatures, thoroughly unfaeirie like and even un-Tolkien like.

Terry Pratchett’s 1992 Discworld novel (the 14th) Lords and Ladies describes a similarly negative vision of elves. I could not help wondering if del Toro gained some inspiration from Pratchett’s dark elves.

Granny Weatherwax, Nanny Og and Magrat are just ...more

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Feb 29, 2020 Adrian rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: read-again, humorous, fantasy-and-magic, zz-owned-books

Review to follow tomorrow, hopefully 😬

So another fabulous, hilarious romp through the special world, that is the Discworld. In Lancre, King Verence is getting ready for his wedding to the witch Magrat. Guests have been invited, celebrations are being prepared, plays are being practised (which may not be a good thing) and Verence has sent away for a special manual on what to do on his wedding night, except he has spelt "Marital" wrong and passes on the resultant manual to his guard to learn Kung ...more

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Jul 30, 2007 Jono rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, hilarious

i agree wholeheartedly, this is my FAVORITE of the Witch series. I love Granny v Lily in "Witches Abroad," but if you delighted in Mrs. Weasley gettin all Sigourney Weaver on Bellatrix L in the last Harry Potter, YOU'LL LOVE the whole last third of the book. i squirmed with glee as soon as Magrat put on that armor. the principle of a cat in a box being any of 3 various states till you open the box: alive, dead, bloody pissed off is all i know about physics, or need to know. ...more

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Jul 23, 2018 Trish rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Lancre, Granny's "turf". Very bad idea to invade here and challenge a certain witch. BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA.

In this 14th volume of the Discworld series our three witches Granny Esme Weatherwax, Nanny Githa Ogg and Magrat return after their adventure in Genua to find all preparations made for a certain royal wedding. Since I never much cared for Magrat, I also didn't really mourn her no longer being a witch but a queen-to-be(e).
However, the festivities are first hindered by a pair of cold feet and then ...more

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Feb 04, 2020 Ken rated it really liked it

Another delightful tale in The Witches subsection of Prachett's amazing Discworld series, the fact that it immediately follows on from Witches Abroad made it even more enjoyable.
I really love spending time with these characters in particular.

There's so many aspects that make this series great and this case it was the appearance of crop circles that led to parallel worlds and in turn murderous elves!
Pratchett's take on folklore is humorously horrific.

While all the various mentions to A Midsummer ...more

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Mar 26, 2013 Bradley rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, 2018-shelf

The great Re-Read of Discworld continues... with the witches. :) This is a pretty direct followup from Mag's romantic adventure with the king-to-be and culminating in the grand wedding between the two.

As weddings go, every grand personage of the Discworld (or so it seems) has been invited to the wedding, but of course, things don't go all that well with all those crop circles and the E***S who must not be named.

Pretty funny, all told, but it's Og and her suiter who steals the show. And Old Weat ...more

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Feb 24, 2019 Ivan rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, satire-and-humor

My 1000th read here on GR and first 5 stars this year (not counting re-read).

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Apr 19, 2015 Lindsay rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, humor

Part of the Pratchett reread with the SpecFic Buddy Reads group.

This book has Granny Weatherwax, Nanny Ogg and Magrat Garlick returning home to Lancre from their time away (see Witches Abroad). Magrat gets to finally resolve her situation with King Verence and begin dealing with her post-Witch situation. Granny and Nanny both have a lot going on as well, with the faculty of the Unseen University and Casanunda paying visits. Oh, and an incursion into our reality by murderous Elves and their Quee ...more

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Jan 31, 2008 Chris rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, humor, pratchett

Elves.

When you think of elves, what do you think of? The tall, fair-skinned beings of Tolkien's Middle Earth? The ebony warriors from Dungeons & Dragons? Delicious cookies?

Not on Discworld. On Discworld, the Elves are folk of legend, and dark legend at that. People there remember the elves, although not very well. They remember through old wives' tales, about leaving milk for the fairies and not going near the standing stones. Ask someone in the kingdom of Lancre, and they'll think of elves as y ...more

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Feb 04, 2020 Allison Hurd rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, man-author

I wanted a balm, and Discworld always works to pick me back up. This book is much darker than previous ones, and, I think, a bit more...well-worn? It wasn't my favorite of the witch series so far, but it was still a very good read.

CONTENT WARNING: (view spoiler)

Things to love:

-The subject. Elves being evil is a cause near and dear to my heart.

-Backstor ...more

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Oct 30, 2014 Melindam rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: discworld

"Elves are wonderful. They provoke wonder.
Elves are marvellous. They cause marvels.
Elves are fantastic. They create fantasies.
Elves are glamorous. They project glamour.
Elves are enchanting. They weave enchantment.
Elves are terrific. They beget terror.
The thing about words is that meanings can twist just like a snake, and if you want to find snakes look for them behind words that have changed their meaning.
No one ever said elves are nice.
Elves are bad."

This book reminded me that I need to re-read ...more

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Feb 14, 2015 ᴥ Irena ᴥ rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: comic-fantasy

It started slow and I was beginning to wonder how is it possible that a story with Granny Weatherwax could be like this. Then it picked up a bit and almost until one heart-stopping moment near the end it was just an ok story with occasional brilliant flashes that I have come to expect from a Discworld book.
As usual, Nanny Ogg was hilarious. Granny's out of the character behaviour got a satisfactory explanation.

The lords and ladies are elves and they want to come back. Since they are murdering m ...more

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Apr 18, 2013 Melki rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: wascally-witches, fantasy, humorous-fiction

The gals have been gone a while, and lots of things can happen in eight month's time.

Magrat is still planning to marry the new king (and former fool) of Lancre, and anyone who's everyone will be attending the Royal Wedding, including our favorite Librarian. (If only they can get him to put on some clothes...)

But wait...strange things are happening. (Well, stranger things than the strange things that normally happen in Discworld.)

Even the bees are worried.

Granny Weatherwax is reunited with an ol ...more

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Apr 22, 2016 Wiebke (1book1review) rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Rereading this was a revelation of sorts. I had forgotten that this book was about elves and also how much I had learned from Granny Weatherwax in this novel.
Needless to say I enjoyed the read immensely and can't wait to continue traveling in Discworld.

...more

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Oct 07, 2020 Audrey rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: humor-satire-goofy, fantasy, 2020-books

This is part of the Witches subseries of Discworld. While most Discworld books can be read in any order, it does help to have read Wyrd Sisters first.

The witches return home after being Witches Abroad so one of them can get married. Meanwhile crop circles are turning up, drawing the attention of the wizards, who travel to this remote kingdom. With parallel universes dangerously close, the elves are threatening to break through. Elves are haughty, beautiful, and evil. Their magic makes everyone b This is part of the Witches subseries of Discworld. While most Discworld books can be read in any order, it does help to have read Wyrd Sisters first.

The witches return home after being Witches Abroad so one of them can get married. Meanwhile crop circles are turning up, drawing the attention of the wizards, who travel to this remote kingdom. With parallel universes dangerously close, the elves are threatening to break through. Elves are haughty, beautiful, and evil. Their magic makes everyone believe they are awesome, but they’re not.

It’s an odd book, as usual. Each scene is set up to have a punchline, which is more important than the overall plot. It’s also supposed to satire A Midsummer’s Night Dream, but I have to admit I have never read it or seen it. Not my favorite Discworld but still fun.

In the beginning there was nothing, which exploded.

William Scrope is going to die in a couple of minutes. It has to be said that he shouldn’t have been hunting deer out of season, and especially not the fine stag he was tracking, and certainly not a fine stag of the Ramtop Red species, which is officially endangered although not as endangered, right now, as William Scrope.

The shortest unit of time in the multiverse is the New York Second, defined as the period of time between the traffic lights turning green and the cab behind you honking.

The coach rattled across the featureless plains. The land between Ankh-Morpork and the Ramtops was fertile, well-cultivated and dull, dull, dull. Travel broadens the mind. This landscape broadened the mind because the mind just flowed out from the ears like porridge. It was the kind of landscape where, if you saw a distant figure cutting cabbages, you’d watch him until he was out of sight because there was simply nothing else for the eye to do.
“I spy,” said the Bursar, “with my little eye, something beginning with … H.”
“Oook.”
“No.”
“Horizon,” said Ponder.
“You guessed!”
“Of course I guessed. I’m supposed to guess. We’ve had S for Sky, C for Cabbage, O for … for Ook, and there’s nothing else.”

Some British cursing (bloody, bugger) | Sex is referred to in a very roundabout way | Some violence; not too gory ...more

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Aug 04, 2010 Chris rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: discworld-novels

I love Pratchett's spin on fantasy. He takes a well-known faerie tale (elves) and shines a totally different light on them:
"Elves are wonderful. They provoke wonder.
Elves are marvellous. They cause marvels.
Elves are fantastic. They create fantasies.
Elves are glamorous. They project glamour.
Elves are enchanting. They weave enchantment.
Elves are terrific. They beget terror.
The thing about words is that meanings can twist just like a snake, and if you want to find snakes look for them behind ...more

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Feb 14, 2020 Greg Wagner rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: re-read

Terry Pratchett in his prime.
The maiden, the mother and the other are at it again with another Lancre/Discworld adventure.

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Jun 21, 2010 Claudiu rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Books like 'Lords and ladies' are the reason why I seem to return to Pratchett's universe time and time again. You can always count on this author to produce something new with his already established character sets and settings...and that's a fantastic draw.

I won't go into summary for the plot or story. There are tens of reviews written already that have that covered...so I'll just justify those 5 marks up there. And since I feel I'll be adding this to any review I write, the stars do not repr Books like 'Lords and ladies' are the reason why I seem to return to Pratchett's universe time and time again. You can always count on this author to produce something new with his already established character sets and settings...and that's a fantastic draw.

I won't go into summary for the plot or story. There are tens of reviews written already that have that covered...so I'll just justify those 5 marks up there. And since I feel I'll be adding this to any review I write, the stars do not represent an objective opinion (as they really shouldn't) but rather a way of turning the level of enjoyment into a numeric value. Kind of crude if you think about it, but that's just the most direct way of saying "I don't/like this".

Anyway. I've been reading Pratchett in order for quite some time now and I find my preferences to waver quite a bit from book to book. It's a massive universe he's built so that's bound to happen. I never found myself terribly impressed with the Witches but this one may have been the one that completely rewrote it for me.
While exploring some very genre changing themes for the race of Elves, Pratchett manages to squeeze in a fair share of character development that's quite unlike him. Sure, his books do offer fantastic characters, but you could usually count on them to be the same ponies at the end, which I'm happy to say has changed now. Granny Weatherwas, Magrat, even Nanny and Ridcully get a fair share of development, and a deep look into who they really are and what they can achieve in life.
Of course, visits from favorites like Ponder Stibbons, Death and the Librarian are a huge plus as well, but those first four really stole it this time.

Pratchett worked myth like I have yet to see him do it. It's a refreshing take that got a well deserve spotlight in this story of growth and change. Although generally things stay the same, it feels as if the Discworld is truly alive through this story, and through its characters that are heartwarming to watch struggle and explore what makes them tick.
Of course, the humor's still there and it's better than ever. The last couple of books I've read from Terry Pratchett have been on an ascending slope regarding both humor and the quality of the story so I'm hoping that this will continue in the future.

As usual, there's always very little to say about a good book...or an enjoyable one, if you prefer this phrasing. I could talk about how fascinating Lancre is (for such a small and gray kingdom), about how interesting Granny Weatherwax is as a powerful character (aside from the Patrician, there are few powerful characters on the Discworld, that aren't so just for the sake of the story), about how much you can grow attached to the Librarian even with his short presence or some rather interesting themes like what it really means to be the best.
But I won't go into those details. As you can see, I am a fan. If you are one as well, you'll read this with the same pleasure you would otherwise; if you're not a fan, there's no point in spoiling things for you, now is there?

As such, I enjoyed this book, I count it among Pratchett's best and I wish the next ones will be even half as interesting and good as this. ...more

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Jan 26, 2012 Gavin rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy

In my last review I admitted that I was a big fan of re-contextualised mythology, and I think anyone who has any interest in fantasy will find that they are too.

In Lords and Ladies, Pratchett re-draws the boundaries where elves are concerned. Trying to push the fae folk back from Tolkien's ("pretty = lovely") vision towards their German/Scandinavian folkloric roots ("pretty = dangerous") is -to this day- an almost entirely unique direction to head in, and an interesting one. After all, people ar In my last review I admitted that I was a big fan of re-contextualised mythology, and I think anyone who has any interest in fantasy will find that they are too.

In Lords and Ladies, Pratchett re-draws the boundaries where elves are concerned. Trying to push the fae folk back from Tolkien's ("pretty = lovely") vision towards their German/Scandinavian folkloric roots ("pretty = dangerous") is -to this day- an almost entirely unique direction to head in, and an interesting one. After all, people are statistically more liable to forgive an attractive person than an ugly one.

This book also represents the point at which the limitations Pratchett had placed on himself -in particular "one story, one book"- started to chafe. Lords and Ladies is the fourth book in the Weatherwax Canon (though Equal Rites' Granny was clearly an entirely different character) and Pterry himself admits that it had indeed become a canon in the foreword.

On my first read I was really surprised by the inclusion of a few choice Faculty members in the narrative, and while it was absolutely necessary for Ridcully to be there, it did feel as though the Librarian/Bursar/Stibbons were along to ensure more plot-important characters were able to go where they needed to. These (and other, similar) bits of word-flab were what kept the book from being as good as his best (Witches Abroad/Reaper Man). He seemed to spend so much work establishing the elves as a threat and writing everyone to where they needed to be that when the final confrontation started happening it was over again before any credible danger was presented.

However; even when he's writing sections that would be dull in the hands of other authors it's incredibly difficult to complain and pick fault because it's still Terry Pratchett at the top of his game writing the words. Hodgesaargh and his hawks, Mr Brooks and his bees, Jason Ogg and the Morris Men, Magrat and Queen Ynci, Iron and elves. The sheer volume of quality ideas and the subtlety of their presentation is indicative of someone who knows exactly what they are doing, and even when you're wandering the woods with bit-parters it is presented in such an entertaining way that you neither realise nor mind.

The action is tight and efficient, the characters are (by this point) superbly drawn and understandably motivated and the idea of the King waiting in his barrow for the Iron In The Head to rust is absolutely fantastic. Lords and Ladies was the start of a run of books that changed the way I read. I have rustled through it more times than I dare think about and I still did not have to force myself to turn a single page. ...more

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May 16, 2011 Toby rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fantastical, funny

The witches are returning to Lancre after the events of Witches Abroad to find that nothing much has changed in their absence, except that some young girls have been meddling with witchcraft and allowed the elves to cross from their dimension in to the Lancre hills and are once more attempting to enslave the Disc. Granny is getting forgetful, Nanny is getting amorous and Magrat is going to be Queen on Midsummer's Night. What chance does the Disc have when it's in the hands of comic artisans, bum ...more

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Nov 15, 2020 Marc *Dark Reader of the Woods* rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, comedy

Millenium hand and shrimp!

As I continue my publication-order Great Discworld Reread, this is the first book that I feel unequivocally deserves a five-star rating. I gave five stars to The Colour of Magic in honour of the full series and its place in my life; the book itself was not technically perfect. I agonized over my rating for two interim books: Guards! Guards! and Small Gods; both are standouts, but both fizzled for me just a little towards the end. The climax of Guards! Guards! lacked the ...more

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Sep 03, 2016 YouKneeK rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: completed-series, fantasy

Lords and Ladies is the fourth book in the Witches subseries of Discworld. I enjoyed it, but not as much as the previous two Witches books. I thought the humor, while present, wasn’t nearly as strong as it was in the last two.

I think the humor seemed weaker because our main characters (Granny Weatherwax, Nanny Ogg, and Magrat, of course!) were often off doing separate things, and a big part of what makes me laugh in these books comes from dialogue between Granny Weatherwax and Nanny Ogg. On the ...more

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Jun 08, 2017 Sharyn rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

I have bought so many copies of this book to give away, because it is such a wonderful book. A funny, wise, thoughtful masterpiece, taking "A Midsummer Night's Dream" and all the old elf legends and looking at them with clear-eyed practicality. I love everything that Terry Pratchett ever wrote, but if I could only take one of them to a desert island, it would be this one.
...more

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Sep 23, 2016 Jane Jago rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Was there ever any question. I am a huge fan girl when it comes to the great Terry, but the witches are my absolute favourites.

Nanny Ogg is my hero.

And I love the sly references throughout.

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Jun 28, 2018 Denise rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2018

These stories manage to be funny and poignant. Loved it!

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Dec 09, 2010 Joey Woolfardis rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: 2013, masculine, bookshelf, own, pterry, humour, champion, ce20, 2011, sterling

[First read: 19th August, 2011: 5 stars.
Second read: 25th July, 2013: 5 stars.]

Pratchett has an unbelievable knack for taking an idea that has been around for centuries, stretching it out with a rolling-pin and kneading it into something majestic and full of such originality you wonder how any could have missed it beforehand.

Those Witches are at it again. Granny Weatherwax and Nanny Ogg are back from travels to fight against the Lords and Ladies--Elegant folk, fair, beautiful... glamourous.
In te ...more

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Mar 12, 2009 Nicole rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Recommends it for: julia Andersen

Shelves: fierce-females, fantasy-adult, shakespearean

A fun twist on the basic ideas found in A Midsummer Night's Dream. Granny Weatherwax was especially awesome in this one; she is such a wonderful character. Magrat did some surprising things, too.
I just have a little quibble about Pratchett's writing style--at times it can be like reading a play without enough attributions, the way he will set dialogue aside instead of attaching the action that goes with it. But his humour and other cleverness overcome that little distraction. ...more

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Jan 03, 2014 James rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: james, pratchett

Another Discworld re-read, and another uptick in my original rating. I think that as much as I enjoyed and learned from Terry Pratchett when I was younger, there's something about reading this series in my late 30s that brings an entirely different perspective to it and appreciation for/understanding of the characters and the choices that they make. I genuinely believe that Granny Weatherwax is one of the best characters in literature. ...more

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About Terry Pratchett

Terry Pratchett

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Born Terence David John Pratchett, Sir Terry Pratchett sold his first story when he was thirteen, which earned him enough money to buy a second-hand typewriter. His first novel, a humorous fantasy entitled The Carpet People, appeared in 1971 from the publisher Colin Smythe.

Terry worked for many years as a journalist and press officer, writing in his spare time and publishing a number of novels, i ...more