The Shepherd's Crown, by Sir Terry Pratchett

Hello, everyone. I'm messing with the schedule a little this week because I received my preordered copy of The Shepherd's Crown the other day and managed to read through it rather quickly so I wanted to get a review out to everyone this Thursday. As my readers are probably aware, The Shepherd's Crown is the last novel from Sir PTerry, published posthumously after his death this past March. As such it feels very much like an end to the adventure of Discworld, as well as a personal farewell from Pratchett himself. And in a way we get to see how the Disc has changed over the years from parody of swords and sorcery to its own blend of magitek. I for one greatly enjoyed this book and I think it will bring a tear to the eye of more than one Discworld fan.

This is another Tiffany Aching adventure so we get to follow Tiffany as she comes into her own as a witch. The previous books have been about her training and learning what being a witch is really about, and by the time we get to Shepherd's Crown Tiffany is undoubtedly a full-fledged witch. Granted, she is struggling with the levels of responsibility that being a witch entails, but a tremendous number of people have great faith in her. However, as always, there are far greater problems afoot. It seems the elves are trying to return to the Disc once again, wishing to take their place as the "rightful" rulers. It will fall to Tiffany and the other witches to bring the fight to the elves.

Long-time readers of Discworld will remember that the elves have been dealt with before, in both Lords and Ladies and The Wee Free Men, so it makes sense for the elves to desire revenge. However, there is something almost idiotic in their desire to return to the Disc to spread terror. As the King of Elves said in Lords and Ladies, there was too much iron in the world then. And not just iron that people produced, there was iron in people's minds, which is why they got driven back to where they came from. And if it was bad enough back then, what about the Disc now? There are railroads on the Disc now, thanks to Raising Steam, practically the spirit of iron made manifest! In a world ruled by iron the elves are doomed to failure from the start. So in a way, I felt like the elves plot was almost a minor inconvenience compared to Tiffany struggling with being a fully-fledged witch and the transition to adulthood. It's still a good story, I was just smirking the entire time because I knew the elves were going to get it good this time.

I will also say that this book feels a little unfinished around the edges, like it's an earlier draft of what might be a much longer novel. And in the afterword they say basically that was Pratchett's entire process. He'd start writing a book, and then go back and add things, throw in details, link passages together, and if his publishers didn't pry the book away from him and run it off to the printers he probably never would have stopped tinkering with it. And so yes, I can see how it could have been extended a little bit here and there. But I feel that the decision to publish the book as-is, without someone else trying to expand on what Pratchett was trying to write, is a very respectful one and I'm very happy for the book we got, rather than no book at all.

As much as Raising Steam felt like a bit of a good-bye to the series for a lot of readers, The Shepherd's Crown feels like one as well. And personally it's a good-bye that I think we all needed. It's good to see some of our friends one last time, just to check up and see that everything's all right. And the Disc is there. The Disc will always be there, with things running along smoothly. The railroads and the clacks are bringing the Disc together, and even trolls and dwarfs are getting along together. And Tiffany Aching will be there, keeping an eye on the Chalk, calling in on people that get overlooked, making sure old men on their own have a hot meal every now and then. As much as I hate to leave the Disc behind, I think it's in good hands.

- Kalpar

I Shall Wear Midnight, by Terry Pratchett

So I've finally reached the very last of the Tiffany Aching novels, and while it's a little sad to say farewell to a character I have come to consider to be a friend, at the same time I'm very happy for Tiffany and wish her all the best. (And really that speaks to the strength of Pratchett's writing that I can consider Tiffany to be incredibly real.) Like all Pratchett novels it comes bundled with his bountiful wit and excellent writing, while artfully handling serious topics that many of us deal with in our lives.  I Shall Wear Midnight is definitely a book that adults can read with their children and, hopefully, have a very serious discussion about grief, evil, hatred, and jealousy. 

As much as I enjoyed this book, I have to be completely honest in saying that the plot in this book isn't terribly different from the other three. There is a very powerful and very dangerous magical being which is out on the hunt for Tiffany and she has to face it more or less alone, but with a generous dose of help from other witches and the ever reliable Nac Mac Feegle. I did have a little doubt as to if Tiffany would make it out okay in this book, considering it's the (so-far) last one, but she's a really tough girl so I was pretty confident she'd make it through okay. And honestly, if all that was going on in this book I'd probably have a far lower recommendation for this novel like I did with Wintersmith. Fortunately, I Shall Wear Midnight explores new material and explores the very human emotions of jealousy and grief, as well as at least looking into what makes people do evil things in the name of righteousness. 

As I mentioned in my Wintersmith review, it felt a lot like a retread of A Hat Full of Sky, where it covered the same ideas of taking responsibility and doing things because no one else will because that's what witches do. What I liked about I Shall Wear Midnight was that I got to see Tiffany Aching develop as a character and deal with her jealousy regarding Roland and his fiancee. Granted, as a reader I generally do not care for all that romantic nonsense, especially with teenage characters who tend to be petty, but Pratchett managed to write it in a manner I found rather palatable. I think one of Pratchett's greatest strengths is creating characters that feel incredibly real, and he made the envy of Tiffany very believable to me as a reader. I really think teenage readers would be able to connect with Tiffany because she's a very well-written and it's very easy to get inside her head and have a look around. 

I'm kind of on the fence regarding the other plot that kind of addresses where evil comes from. Pratchett kind of slips in a bit at the end that the evil is always there inside of us just looking for an excuse to come out, but at the same time I got the impression that evil is a something....else out there that looks for a way to corrupt us. I take issue with this because in other books Pratchett is really good about saying that evil comes from within. To quote Pratchett's earlier work, Small Gods, "There are hardly any excesses of the most crazed psychopath that cannot be easily duplicated by a normal, kindly family man who just comes into work every day and has a job to do." And that's just one example of many other quotes from Discworld where Pratchett admits that there is the potential for evil in all of us if we just let the barriers that hold us back fall away. To suggest that part of it is something...other than us, a magical force beyond our control that makes us behave that way and it isn't our fault is just contrary to everything that Pratchett has said previously, even within the Tiffany Aching series. I'd hate to give people the impression that we're occasionally not responsible for our actions because that leads down a very dark path. 

I thought this was a very good conclusion to the Tiffany Aching series and liked to see her develop as a character across the books. The reading level is simple enough that most young adults would be able to understand the concepts, but not so watered down that it's unbearable for adults. I think they would all be great books to share with your teenage children and hopefully spark some discussion about serious topics. 

- Kalpar 

Wintersmith, by Terry Pratchett

I've decided to return to the Tiffany Aching series again this month with the novel Wintersmith which interesting coincides with the celebration of the Morris Dance which is celebrated through the English-speaking world as a celebration of the arrival of spring. However, since I'm writing this post in March with a foot of snow outside I cannot at this time be entirely certain spring will have arrived by the time this post goes live. If we have ended up with an unending winter and I'm the only one still alive then we are in serious trouble indeed.  Hopefully, though, it won't come to that.

Overall, I have to admit that the plot of Wintersmith is not terribly different from Wee Free Men or Hat Full of Sky which makes for some repetitive reading. Tiffany gets wrapped up in events much bigger than she had expected and has to rely on the help of the Nac Mac Feegle and Granny Weatherwax to get her back out of trouble again. The only real difference I noticed was this time it's pretty much Tiffany's own damn fault that she got in trouble because she did something she shouldn't have done, which thirteen year olds tend to do, and now she has to reap the consequences. This time, however, Tiffany danced with the Wintersmith and if things aren't fixed by May then the whole world will be covered in endless winter.

The problem I had with this book, as you might have gleaned, isn't anything mechanical. As always with Pratchett the writing is excellent, the characters are well-rounded, and the plot is interesting. The problem I had was that it was the same plot and by this point I don't feel like Tiffany is growing as a character. Yes, in this book Tiffany is taking responsibility for something dumb she did (which I full-heartedly support) but that's been the theme of the last two books as well. Really, Tiffany only gives a sort of half-hearted "But I didn't mean to" before being forcefully reminded by Granny Weatherwax about what a witch is all about and she gets back to work. I actually found the limited glimpses of Roland's development as a character rather more interesting and wished I could have seen more of him in this story. I know that it's Tiffany's book but some development is better than none at all.

The other major theme, and this is a typical theme in Pratchett works, is the idea that some things have power merely because we give them power. While it's an interesting idea which I think is a good concept to introduce to young adults, I feel like Pratchett handled it a lot better in Hogfather and Small Gods, both of which could very easily be read by this age range as well so it doesn't add a lot to the novel. If your teenager hasn't read Discworld books other than Tiffany Aching then it'll at least be new to them, but as an old hand on the Disc it's the same stuff I've read elsewhere.

Overall, Wintersmith isn't a bad book and I thought it was very enjoyable. My problem was that it felt like it was a sequel written just for the sake of having a sequel rather than because Pratchett had new ground to cover. I'd still recommend it for up-and-coming Discworld readers and the maniacs like me who have to read every Discworld book, but everyone else can probably safely pass it by.

- Kalpar

A Hat Full of Sky, by Terry Pratchett

So in my attempt to finish the rest of the Discworld series I am continuing with the Tiffany Aching series with the next installment, A Hat Full of Sky. In this novel Tiffany goes away from her family farm on the Chalk into the mountains to study witching with Miss Level. While Tiffany is learning that witchcraft is about far more than casting spells and riding broomsticks, it turns out that a very powerful creature known as a hiver is after Tiffany. No one's been able to fight off a hiver in the past, but with the help of Granny Weatherwax and the fearsome Nac Mac Feegle Tiffany might be the first.

Overall, I'm actually of mixed opinions of this book. On the one hand, I really liked seeing Tiffany again and seeing her learn what witchcraft is, but on the other hand I felt that this book retrod ground that has been covered before in the Discworld series. A major theme is witchcraft isn't about spells and magic amulets and wands, but about taking care of people when no one else will. While this is a pretty good message, I have to admit that a lot of these issues were covered in previous books like Lords and Ladies. I especially feel that the message that all the magic amulets, circles, and frooh-frah was very well covered in Lords and Ladies and I'm not sure why Pratchett decided to revisit it in this novel. If you're new to the Disc then I can see how this book would be a good introduction to what Discworld witches are really all about (especially for young adults) but for Disc veterans it felt very much like a retrod.

I had some difficulty with the larger plot of this book as well. As I mentioned, Tiffany is being chased by a hiver, a being which is incredibly powerful and no one has ever successfully defeated before. My concern mainly stemmed from Tiffany being one of the most powerful witches of all time which makes her a ripe target for the hiver. While I understand that without that specific threat then the plot would suffer significantly,  I tend to get irritated with various eleven-year-olds being one of the most powerful witch/wizard/ Jedi/whatever evers. I know it's designed to appeal to the target demographic, but I just get so tired of there being so many most powerful evers who aren't old enough to shave. My other issue was kind of with Tiffany being able to (mostly) fight off a hiver through sheer force of will. (Although she had some help as well.) However, the more I thought about it, the more I realized that Sam Vimes also fought off a possessing demon through sheer willpower alone and so I decided I was okay with Tiffany using willpower to get through as well because it's at least possible within the universe.

If you've read Lords and Ladies I feel like you really could skip A Hat Full of Sky because it doesn't really cover anything that hasn't been covered in that book. If your teenagers are interested in starting reading about the Disc, though, then the Tiffany Aching series is still a great place to start. I definitely recommend you start with The Wee Free Men, though, because it helps to know something about Tiffany before jumping into her adventures.

- Kalpar

The Wee Free Men, by Terry Pratchett

Recently I decided to go back to the excellent Discworld series and read the young-adult novels that tie into that universe, which are also written by Terry Pratchett. I initially had no real interest in these books, assuming that as young adult fiction it would be somehow less developed than what I had come to expect from Discworld. Fortunately for me, a friend advised me that the only real difference between the young adult novels and the regular Discworld novels is that the protagonists are younger than the usual Discworld protagonists. Otherwise they are just as enjoyable as the adult Discworld books and I myself did not notice a significant change in reading level. I would definitely recommend this book for teenagers, adults, and those younger kids with a very high reading level.

The Wee Free Men is the first book in which we meet nine-year old Tiffany Aching, a resident of a region known as Chalk on the Disc. Tiffany, unlike most children, pays careful attention to the world around her and is constantly asking questions. She's the kind of child who wonders why the witch in the fairy tale is automatically evil, no questions asked, and why Jack gets away with killing a giant and stealing the giant's gold when he's clearly not bright enough to realize a cow is worth more than a handful of beans. (Tiffany's also the sort of child who reads the entire dictionary from cover to cover because no one told her otherwise.) So when creatures out of her storybooks start cropping up in Chalk and Tiffany's little brother, Wentworth, goes missing, she decides someone has to do something about this and that someone is her. Fortunately she's got some fearsome help as well, the Nac Mac Feegle.

Overall I really enjoyed this book and felt it touched on some really deep issues, specifically an emphasis on paying attention to details and thinking critically. Tiffany's main strength in the novel is she's able to keep calm during a crisis and think through a situation logically rather than jumping to conclusions which can be extremely dangerous. Plus, she's got an entire clan of pictsie warriors backing her, which helps more than you'd think. I also really enjoyed the message of speaking up for those who don't have a voice of their own and I think that's a really good call to action for people of all ages. I can really see a family reading this book together and discussing the issues covered in this story.

Overall this is another great example of the quality writing I have come to expect from Terry Pratchett, and has a strong, well-written female protagonist who I think a lot of awkward children who don't fit in can really relate to. I will definitely be reading the rest of the Tiffany Aching stories in the future and would highly recommend these for fans of excellent fantasy stories.

- Kalpar.