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Audiobook read by Indira Varma
I read this when it first came out, but this is a revisit via Audible. First of all, the reading is excellent. Indira Varma's pacing is pretty well perfect, and Bill Nighy reads the footnotes. It all started when fledgeling witch, Tiffany Aching, allowed her feet to dance with the Wintersmith one fateful night, and captured his frozen elemental heart. From that moment the Wintersmith sought Tiffany, intending her to be his bride, but first he has to make himself into a man - using ingredients from a children's rhyme. In the meantime Tiffany continues to learn witchcraft from elder witches in Lancre, far away from her home territory (the Chalk). We meet Granny Weatherwax and Nanny Ogg again, and Granny has a plan, though it's not obvious to Tiffany, who has to work out how to defeat the Wintersmith herself. The Feegles are everywhere, especially good when trying to turn Roland (Tiffany's 'friend') into a hero to rescue the Lady of Summer. Oh, yes, and there's a sentient cheese.
This is the BBC audio adaptation in four short parts. It’s much truncated from the full novel, but it works. Eric, an aspiring teenage demonologist conjures a demon, but instead of a regular demon he gets wizard Rincewind who’d been previously trapped in the demon dimensions. Rincewind suddenly has the ability to grant Eric’s three wishes, but as most ‘three-wishes’ stories, things don’t go as expected.
Audiobook narrated by Katherine Parkinson. (Footnotes read by Bill Nighy)
Audiobook read by Martin Jarvis
To tell the truth (see what I did there?) I’m not as fond of the later batch of Pratchetts that encompass Ankh Morpork’s industrial (and social) revolution, though that only means a four star review rather than five because Pratchett is always worth reading. This time he’s having a go at the press as William de Worde becomes the editor of the Discworld’s first newspaper. William only wants to tell the truth, but other people have reasons for keeping the truth under wraps. There are perils in publishing. (Incidentally Wynkyn de Worde was a real-life publisher in the early 1500s who worked with William Caxton and popularised the products of the printing press in England. He published – amongst other things – The Canterbury Tales, Robin Hood, and Le Morte d’Arthur)
Sex, drugs and music with rocks in arrive in the Discworld. Meanwhile. Death’s granddaughter, Susan, has to learn the family business quickly when Death himself (HE WHO SPEAKS IN CAPITAL LETTERS AND RIDES A WHITE HORSE CALLED BINKY) decides to take time out. Susan is 16 and attending a posh boarding school where she’s trying to grow up normally, but she suddenly finds she has to come to terms with her heritage. In the meantime a group of travelling musicians acquire some rather unusual instruments and start playing powerful music with rocks in. Terry Pratchett takes a satirical bite out of the music industry while addressing issues of bereavement. I love Death as a character. Good fun.
I love Pratchett's take on religion and religious philosophy. The small god, Om, currently in the shape of a turtle, has lost his power due to a lack of true believers. Om needs a disciple. Unfortunately the gentle Brutha is the only one available. This is a standalone in the Discworld series, with none of the usual cast of characters. It contains some profound ideas about religion and what humans do (or try to do) in its name. Mr P has some things to say about religion, but never loses the humour and absurdity that Discworld is known for.
The first book of the City Watch sub-series, introducing Sam Vimes of the Night Watch. At the start Vimes is a burnt-out wreck of a man, fast disappearing down the neck of a bottle, but there's trouble stirring in the city of Ankh Morpork. There's always trouble, but this is a different kind of trouble and Sam must step up and sober up if he's to solve the problem of a new lethal weapon - a dragon. The City Watch is a joke, encompassing characters like Sgt Fred Colon Nobby Nobbs, who is barely human, and other characters who are definitely not human, plus Carrot, who is a dwarf despite being over six feet tall. There's political satire as well as humour and some deep character building. It's the beginning of Vimes character arc - my favourite out of all the Discworld characters. This is a good place to jump into the Discworld books if you haven't read any of them before.
Re-read. Equal Rites introduced Granny Weatherwax but this (the second Witches book) brings together Granny Weatherwax, Nanny Ogg (her cat, Greebo) and Magrat Garlick. This is Terry Pratchett affectionate poke at Shakespeare's Macbeth with a side order of Hamlet. The three witches, maiden, mother, crone get involved in politicking when King Verence of Lancre is killed by his ambitious cousin, the Duke of Felmet, and the baby heir to the throne ends up in the care of the coven. Pratchett was a genius and by this sixth Discworld book he'd certainly hit his stride. Highly recommended
This is the third book in the Discworld series, but the first one introducing the witches, and it's very early in Pratchett's writing career, so you can see how cantankerous and stubborn Granny Weatherwax evolves. (She's one of my favourite Discworld characters, a little behind Vimes and a whisker in front of Death and Vetinari.) A dying wizard bequeaths his staff to the 8th son of an 8th son. Unfortunately the 8th son turns out to be a girl, Esk which means she can't be a wizard. Wizarding is a man-job, and magical women have to be witches because that's the way it is. So Granny Weatherwax takes on the education of this female wizard/witch, until it's time to kick down the doors of the Unseen University, that bastion of male wizardry. In this third Discworld novel (from 1987) Pratchett is finding his feet, and it's head and shoulders above the first two. It's Ialso a good starting point for anyone new to Discworld. This is Pratchett's take on gender quality and feminism, satirical without being preachy.
This is my favourite Discworld book ever. As a writer I appreciate that it's a consummate lesson in how to do dramatic tension properly. Vimes, commander of the City Watch,
This was my first introduction to Terry Pratchett many years ago, and still remains one of my favourites. Mort is looking for a job but he's somewhat taken aback when Death himself, a skeleton in a black cloak, offers to make him his apprentice. Once he finds out he doesn't have to be dead himself to take on the job, he begins to relax. Death, who ALWAYS SPEAKS IN CAPITAL LETTERS, has a daughter called Ysabell, rides a white horse called Binky and has a room full of life-timers. It's all going very well until Mort, grim reaper in training, takes on the duty by himself. 
I'm glad I saw the TV version of this before reading it, because now the voices of Crowley and Aziraphale are firmly stuck in my head and they make me smile. An angel (Aziraphale) and a demon (Crowley) have been opposite numbers, resident on Earth since… well… in the beginning. They long ago passed the hating-each-other phase and reached the getting-on-rather-better-than-their-own-particular-departments-would- like phase. They're also very fond of Earth and of their lifestyle. So when the antichrist is born and the apocalypse is nigh, the not-quite-demonic demon and the slightly-less-than-angelic angel team up to see what can be done about it. Utterly charming.
This was a re-read for me, but I read it so long ago that I'd almost forgotten it. The last guardian of the Holy Wood slips into death without appointing a successor and so the gate between the Discworld and the dark realms beyond begins to leak ideas and so the moving picture industry inserts itself into the lives of Ankh Morpork's citizenry with Cut-Me-Own-Throat Dibbler becoming a movie magnate. Everyone wants to be a star, though Victor, perpetual student at the Unseen University, doesn't (because it's too much like hard work). He gets to be a star anyway, and proves to be quite good at it. He's one of the few who realises the growing problem as it, whatever it is, gets closer to breaking through. This is Pratchett's satire on the movie industry and the idea of being famous for being famous. It features some characters we know already, including the Librarian and DEATH, and also introduces a few more including the delightful Gaspode the talking dog, and Archchancellor Mustrum Ridcully who we will meet again in future books. Though not quite a five star Pratchett this one is a solid four.
