Wyrd Sisters (by Terry Pratchett)

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I started re-reading Terry Pratchett’s excellent ‘Discworld’ series, interspersed with other books by favourite authors, back in January. I had entirely forgotten that I had the same laudable aim about ten years earlier. But I only reached the seventh book in the series - six years later - before I gave up with that system.

However, Pratchett’s books can be re-read frequently, so it’s not a problem that I last read ‘Wyrd Sisters’, sixth in the series, at the start of 2016. I remembered the basic outline; but Pratchett’s books are not really about plot, or even characterisation. They’re satirical, cleverly written and full of classical and other references.

The opening sequence is one of my favourites, as the witches Granny Weatherwax, Nanny Ogg and Magrat meet on a stormy night. Magrat is young, and has only recently taken over as village witch, and she likes the idea of magical runes, and spells and so on. She also feels that they should get together regularly as a coven. Granny Weatherwax, who is widely respected in the district, is old-fashioned but willing to humour Magrat. Nanny Ogg is different again, mother of many, grandmother to even more, and determined to enjoy life.

Meanwhile the elderly King Verence is murdered, and his son is taken away from the castle by loyal guards. He is given to the witches, and they decide that he should be taken right out of the kingdom, or his life will be in danger. King Verence’s nephew becomes king; but he is ruled by his ambitious and unpleasant wife. They are very unpopular, and - among other things - determined to get rid of the witches.

The baby, known as TomJohn, is adopted by some travelling players, and is mostly looked after by Hwel, a literary dwarf who writes the plays for the company. The dead King Verence is haunting the castle, and the royal Fool, who is clearly highly intelligent, starts to court Magrat…

There are a lot of side stories to this, which borrows liberally from Shakespeare’s plays, in particular MacBeth and Hamlet. There’s more plot than in some of the earlier Discworld books, and even a few surprises towards the end. There’s some quite raunchy humour; but the implications would probably go right over the head of a child or young teenager.

By this stage in the series Terry Pratchett seemed to have become comfortable with the Discworld as an ongoing, evolving place housing many different species in a (mostly) amicable way. As a contrast to the bickering, power-crazy wizards of the earlier books, the three witches, albeit very different, come across as benevolent. They deal in what they call ‘headology’ and herbs rather than anything more dramatic, although when Granny Weatherwax becomes angry there’s no knowing what might happen.

I very much liked re-reading this book, and would recommend it as a starting point to anyone interested in the Discworld series.

Review copyright 2019 Sue's Book Reviews