Book Review: Wyrd Sisters

I'm in a Book Club on Facebook (which is why there are so many reviews this year!) Every two weeks, they post a challenge. This challenge was to read a book with a family member title in it.

I mean, obviously it had to be Wyrd Sisters.

Duh.
 

BOOK TITLE: Wyrd Sisters

AUTHOR: Terry Pratchett

DESCRIPTION OF BOOK COVER: Stereotypical witch with a hook nose looking up at the green ghost of a king with holding a dagger and a rather worried look on his face, and bats flying overhead. A lot of green and turquoise coloring.

GENRE : Fantasy/Comedy

PAGES:  332

BLURB: “Things like crowns had a troublesome effect on clever folks; it was best to leave all the reigning to the kind of people whose eyebrows met in the middle.”

Three witches gathered on a lonely heath. A king cruelly murdered, his throne usurped by his ambitious cousin. A child heir and the crown of the kingdom, both missing…

Witches don’t have these kind of dynastic problems themselves – in fact, they don’t have leaders. Granny Weatherwax was the most highly-regarded of the leaders they didn’t have. But even she found that meddling in royal politics was a lot more complicated than certain playwrights would have you believe, particularly when the blood on your hands just won’t wash off and you’re facing a future with knives in it…

# OF STARS: 4

I mean, it’s Sir Terry Pratchett. Obviously, it’s good.

Wyrd Sisters is one of Pratchett’s earlier books in the Discworld series – Book 6 to be precise and the second book features Granny Weatherwax. In Wyrd Sisters, Pratchett takes on a few of Shakespeare’s most well-known plays – notably Macbeth and Hamlet – and sticks them in front of the twisted mirror that is Discworld.

Wyrd Sisters is not my favorite Discworld novel (that honor goes to Hogfather) and it’s only my second favorite of the witches (I adore Witches Abroad). The fact that it’s an earlier one is more evident in that characters like Death aren’t as fleshed out and the humor isn’t quite all there yet, at least not to where it will be in later books. Wyrd Sisters is an important part of the overall Discworld mythos though as it introduces the Kingdom of Lancre and fleshes out the witches and witchcraft. You don’t need to read it to enjoy later books, but it will probably help, especially in the future books that focus on the witches as there are definite call backs to the incidents that occur in this book.

Wyrd Sisters is a very fun read and also makes you think about the role of writers, theatre, and monarchs. It’s something that is important even now with people fighting over just how important the arts are in the throes of a pandemic and economic recovery (both new and old).

“Granny turned slowly in her seat to look at the audience. They were staring at the performance, their faces rapt. The words washed over them in the breathless air. This was real. This was more real even than reality. This was history. It might not be true, but that had nothing to do with it.

Granny had never had much time for words. They were so insubstantial. Now she wished that she had found the time. Words were indeed insubstantial. They were as soft as water, but they were also as powerful as water and now they were rushing over the audience, eroding the levees of veracity, and carrying away the past.”

Words matter.

Pros: Humor, Granny Weatherwax and Nanny Ogg are amazing. The theme of writing and arts changing the world and being magic in their own rights. It’s also a good, if demented, cliff notes for Macbeth!

Cons: Pratchett’s writing is still a touch weak here and there in this book, but it’s right on the edge of being the amazing writer we know. And if you have a hard time with drier British humor, you may not find it as funny as others do.

I adore Wyrd Sisters and I’m so happy I had a good excuse to read it again! 

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I'm taking part in April NaNoWriMo this year because pandemic and why not. 

I'm writing women's fiction for it. 

I don't know what's come over me, sheesh.