Review: Wyrd Sisters by Terry Pratchett

Pratchett's sixth Discworld novel offers readers a delightful (and often hilarious,) parody of Shakespeare. The second Discworld novel to feature the formidable Granny Weatherwax, finds her with two fellow witches in tow, Nannie Ogg, whose family seems to expand by the minute and the far younger and much more whimsical Magrat. Nothing much seems to be happening in their world. That is, until the king gets murdered by someone who wants to take the throne, and Granny and their friends find themselves tasked with looking after is the deceased king's son. And then comes the much harder task of trying to set things right in the new kingdom, which is kind of difficult, as the successor to the throne wants to do away with all witches. It's going to take a little meddling, and a lot of creativity for the witches to get out of this one.

As is often the case with Pratchett's world, this one was hilarious with plenty of laugh out loud moments (in particular I enjoyed reading about Granny's Weatherwax's experiences watching a being acted out for the first time,) and some plot twists that are only plausible through the clever humour and remarkable insight that the author has into human nature. Things right themselves by the end of the book, but with some very clever twists. A few passages worked better with a second reading, as Pratchett has a tendency to ramble or go off on tangents, but the whole thing is so much fun it is easy to forgive the author for this shortcoming.

Overall, lots of fun.

Recommended.

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