Product Description

Terry's Pratchett's profoundly irrelevetn novels, are consistent number one bestsellers in England, where they have catapulted him into the highest echelons of parody next to Mark Twain, Kurt Vonnegut, Douglas Adams, and Carl Hiaasen.

Meet Granny Weatherwx, the most highly regarded non-leader a coven of non-social witches could ever have. Generally, these loners don't get involved in anything, mush less royal intrigue. but then there are those times they can't help it. As Granny Weatherwzx is about to discover, though, it's a lot harder to stir up trouble in the castle than some theatrical types would have you think. Even when you've got a few unexpected spells up your sleave.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #49866 in Books
• Published on: 2001-02-01
• Released on: 2001-02-06
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• 288 pages

From AudioFile
Here is another entry in Pratchett's fabulously successful, entertaining, funny and insightful Discworld series. As the great space turtle, Atuin, carries the disc through the universe, three witches on it become involved with local politics when a mad duke assassinates the good king, whose son escapes. There are ghosts, magic, time stoppage, dwarves and great fun. An interesting device has another reader portraying Death in an echoing, resonant male voice. Overall, narration is done by Celia Imrie, who reads distinctly and slowly, changing accent and pacing to distinguish the characters. Some oddly effective alien music punctuates the sides of the cassettes. D.W. (c)AudioFile, Portland, Maine

-- Washington Post Book World
"Superb popular entertainment."

-- A.S. Byatt
"Truly original...Discworld is more complicated and satisfactory than OZ...Brilliant!"

Customer Reviews

The Discworld Spins Onwards

Terry Pratchett has become one of the most popular authors alive today and his popularity is richly deserved. But not even with his fertile mind could ever have envisaged the heights to which his Discworld series would rise. This book was first published in 1988 and is number six in the Discworld novels.

You would think that a fantasy world full of trolls, zombies, witches, vampires would be an alien concept to most readers. Werewolves and dwarves in the Ank Morpork city watch. Wizards running a university. All this born in the mind of one of the funniest minds writing today. Surely this style of writing would have a limited readership? But no the books are loved by anybody and everybody and are read by people who would not normally allow fantasy fiction anywhere near their book shelves. This is the Discworld of Terry Pratchett.

In this episode Granny Weatherwax and her fellow coven members are meddling in politics, the royal kind, which Granny Weatherwax thinks is the worst kind of all. The Wyrd sisters as they are known battle to put the right king on the right throne, at least that's the general idea. After all what are witches for . . .

Wyrd Sisters; Weird Book, but what did you expect?
First let me say that, as with all Terry Pratchett's other books that I read, I liked this one, but not as much as I liked Guards! Guards! I am sure that Wyrd Sisters had, at some level, a deeper meaning than was obvious to me. I don't view the Discworld stories as satires, although they may be, I just want some time to escape from Earth. And this book filled the bill. The main characters were well developed and the book was overall a very good read. I look forward to reading many more of his stories, although I am not calling my travel agent to book a visit to Ankh Morpork.

a mixed cauldron of goodies and disappointment
I almost gave this 4 stars, but the more I thought about it, the less satisfying it became.

Wyrd Sisters is a mildly amusing parody of Macbeth, with shades of Hamlet tossed in as well. I was actually reminded of "Rosenkrantz and Gildestern are dead" by Stoppard, which tells the story of Hamlet through two very minor characters wandering around the background during key scenes and soliloquies. Sadly, Wyrd Sisters wasn't as inventive.

The story has some good chuckles, but none of the laugh-out-loud moments that pepper Pratchett's other works. Also missing are cameos from the vast pantheon of enjoyable minor charcters in the Discworld milieu. My major problem, though, involves a...

***MINOR SPOILER***

About half way through, it becomes necessary to age one of the central characters (the rightful heir to the throne) by 15 years so he can return and claim his birthright. Pratchett's method for this was wholely unconvincing, and even he seemed embarrased by the awkwardness of it all, based on some comments that appear after the fact. I realize it needed to be done, but it just didn't sit right with me.

***END MINOR SPOILERS***

If you like Pratchett, and especially the Lancre Witches arc of his writing, then you'll probably enjoy Wyrd Sisters. Personally, I don't think it's one of his better efforts, though I'm glad I read it from a "completionist" standpoint.