Witches Abroad

What a joy it was to realize that there was a Discworld book I hadn’t read! Witches Abroad was the 12th Discworld book, which means that coming to it late means going back to a Discworld where the Watch is still a bit of a joke, where Tiffany Aching has yet to emerge, and where so many of the social changes with regard to the less human creatures of the Disc had yet to occur.

What it also meant was returning to a time when Terry Pratchett wasn’t quite using the series to explore profound truths like he would later. (It would hit that landmark in a big way in the next book, Small Gods.) That’s not to say that Pratchett had nothing to say here; Witches Abroad is fascinated by the power of stories in our lives, from urban legends to fairy tales, and how we so often use the power of stories to override sense and logic, throwing our lives and passion after a plot line that always works on paper. That’s rich fare, and if Pratchett would revisit it to some degree more effectively and powerfully in Hogfather, that doesn’t detract from the great ideas he’s tossing around here.

But none of that really has any impact on just how much fun reading Witches Abroad is. Pratchett tosses in any number of fairy tales, letting his wonderful trio of witches – the elderly, unbeatable, and determined Granny Weatherwax; the dotty, pleasure-seeking Nanny Ogg (and her terrifying cat Greebo); and the inexperienced but enthusiastic Magrat Garlick – crash their way through them, leading to any number of “fractured fairy tales” filled with anarchy and absurdity. And with Pratchett being Pratchett, that’s not enough for him, so he takes on bull-running, Cajun cooking, Mardi Gras, vampire stories, the self-image of cats – oh, and sibling rivalry, political power, the importance of belief, and more. There’s no shortage of social commentary here, ranging from the important to the trivial, and all of it feels insightful, funny, and deeply humane. (Also, his descriptions of Cajun/creole cooking are so accurate as to hurt.)

And as always, it’s written in classic Pratchett style, with nary a sentence passing without a joke, a great aside, or a clever bit of phrasing. And why play a scene normally when you can pack the book with silliness, including what it’s like when animals become people, the divide between magic and just messing with people’s heads, a few surprisingly racy double entendres, and what it means to be “foreign”. In other words, it’s what made me fall in love with Pratchett: the fact that he combines a slew of ideas, a wondrous imagination, clever prose, satirical bite, great insights, and rich plotting, and makes it all look easy. I don’t know how he did it, but I can say that there will never be another like him again, and I’m just glad that I got my last chance to jump in fresh to a classic Discworld novel.

Once upon a time in this 12th Book of Discworld, a witch doing extra duty as a fairy godmother dies and leaves her magic wand to another witch with very little instruction except to not let Nanny Ogg and Granny Weatherwax help with the fairy godmothering. No other instructions could have ensured more help from those two. In Discworld, the world is a flat disc, balanced on the backs of four elephants which are standing on the back of a giant turtle. There are many novels set in Discworld, and most of them are clever, witty, and rapid-fire novels. Almost all of the Discworld novels fall into different categories: Tiffany Aching, Rincewind, the three witches, Sam Vines and the guards, and Death. This is a book of the three witches. Terry Pratchett is a master of satire that somehow remains timely. (He writes for example toward the beginning: But the trouble was that ignorance became the more interesting, especially big fascinating ignorance about huge and important things Sounds timely to me.) This book is a fractured retelling of fairytales, a great journey through mangled but recognizable locations, and magic gone wrong. That sounds like a train wreck of a mash-up, but do not forget that this is a Terry Pratchett book and he can make nonsense make sense. It is also satirical, absurd, and occasionally silly. For example, the wand seems only to make pumpkins, but you would be surprised how occasionally pumpkins are helpful. There is method to the madness. Terry Pratchett does a wonderful job of maintaining the integrity of his absurd world and his characters while keeping everything fresh and creative. As always, the humor is wrapped around serious themes. It may be absurd, but it can also be thought provoking. I cannot read too many of them in a row, but when I need something different, a Discworld novel is the perfect metaphorical palate refresher. Like all the Discworld books, the tone is satirical and clever. These books do not contain any scenes, language, or images that would rate even a PG-13 rating at the movies. If a reader does not have sufficient maturity, much of the book will be wasted, because you wont get the jokes or understand the satire.

Terry Pratchett admitted once that if he “had stayed in the same environment of The Colour of Magic and The Light Fantastic” people would say “‘whatever happened to Terry Pratchett?!'”

I think Sir Terry flexed his literary muscles with his third book, Equal Rites. Others pick Guards! Guards! or Sourcery. All three of those books proved that Sir Terry could write and write well.

But it wasn’t until Witches Abroad that Sir Terry created a truly great work of art. He deals with a big question here: the nature of stories in general and fairy tales, in particular. He considers free will and predestination. And he displays a burning anger. This is the Terry Pratchett that Neil Gaiman described when he said “there is a fury to Terry Pratchetts writing”.

Witches Abroad uses familiar characters and shows us new (often unsettling) things about them. We follow the plot and enjoy the creativity of an author who tries to do more than just to make us laugh.

Terry Pratchett encourages us to think.

Technically the third in the Witches series (I still think of this as the second proper witches one) we find Granny, Nanny and Magrat heading off to Genua after Magrat inherits a wand and becomes fairy godmother to a girl called Ella who’s destined to marry the prince (well Duc). Along the way they have a few adventures before arriving in the city and figuring out who is trying to make all these stories happen, and what they can do to stop them.

The first half of the book is by far my favourite as we enjoy the misadventures of the trio on their way to Genua. The incident with the bulls in the discworld equivalent of Pamplona always has me in stitches and it was no different this time. There’s just something about those three on their roadtrip through the discworld that I love, Nanny’s translations, Magrat’s naivety and Granny’s inability to own up to any ignorance that works perfectly; it’s hilarious and interesting at the same time. That’s a had trick to pull off.

I do feel it drags a little in the second part once they reach the city. Not that it’s bad or anything, but some of the humour is lost and the part with Mrs Gogol though interesting seemed mostly superfluous in the end. The confrontation at the end is really great, I always admired the bit when Granny mentioned that she was forced to become the ‘good one’, I think it shows her character perfectly and shines a bright light on why she is the way she is.

As always with the discworld Pratchett manages to balance the humour with some insights. In this case it’s the power of stories and what it tells us about ourselves on relation to the part we play in a narrative. There’s also some meditation on government and the balance of freedoms versus security. Can be deep sounding but it’s all done in Pratchett’s trademark style so it reads light but can pack a punch if you let it.

Overall a great addition to the series.

As always with a Terry Pratchett novel, I was immediately pulled into the story and kept captive until the very end. I am particularly fond of these ladies, as they keep bumbling their way through life, and still coming right out on top! Long may they continue to find their way into the lives of us mere mortals, tripping their way through every moment with gay abandon, and keeping us amused and delighted with every twist and turn of their journey. I thoroughly recommend you keep these ladies, and their antics, close by. They never fail to cheer me up when I feel blue.

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