Customer Reviews

Wyrd Sisters (A Discworld Novel)

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Although we first met Granny Weatherwax in Equal Rites, Wyrd Sisters gives us the three witches-Granny, Nanny Ogg, and Magrat Garlick-in all of their glory. These are my favorite characters in the Discworld, and loud peals of laughter are always to be found when this remarkable coven of witches gets together. The story itself is a thoroughly Pratchett-like concoction of Shakespeare, fairy tales, satire, and infinitely rich comedy. The king of Lancre, much to his surprise, has been murdered by the Macbethian Duke Felmet, and he is not at all happy about this. No one, in fact, is happy, including the very kingdom itself, which physically shows its rage at having a new king who despises his own royal domain. The witches are also not happy, as the Duke works continually to discredit them among the people-Granny Weatherwax just doesn't have any truck with that at all. Of course, in a story such as this, there has to be a long-lost child of the murdered king who will eventually come back to right the wrongs done his father and dethrone the regal malefactor-or something along those lines, anyway. Things are never quite that simple on the Discworld.

The antics of the witches are hilarious. Granny Weatherwax is a stalwart personality who never admits she might be wrong or that there is something she is not familiar with. Nanny Ogg is a rather worldly witch who enjoys nothing more than getting blasted and drunkenly singing about hedgehogs or the fact that a wizard's staff has a knob on the end. Then there is young Magrat, quite plain in appearance, who believes the traditional ways of witchcraft are best and whose sometimes naïve, positive nature often conflicts with the thinking of her older cohorts; you have to love her, really. Her romance of sorts with the shy king's Fool is a rather comical yet sweet subplot to the novel. My favorite scene, one of the funniest I have ever read, concerns the witches' trip to the theatre; Granny has no understanding of theatre or drama, and her increasingly raucous reactions to the performance she sees is not to be missed.

You don't have to know Shakespeare intimately in order to enjoy the numerous allusions to his work, particularly Macbeth and Hamlet, but I decided to read those two plays before reading Wyrd Sisters in order to make sure I caught as much of the comedy as possible. From the attempts of the duke to wash the blood from his hands to the manipulations of the duchess to the performance of a drama in order to call out the murderous king for his treacherous deeds, this fictional cauldron is swimming with Shakespearean ingredients. It's remarkably witty on a number of levels, yet the constant humor does nothing to take away from an intriguing and not wholly predictable plot. Even if you don't agree that the three "wyrd sisters" are the funniest and most remarkable characters inhabiting the Discworld, I do not see how you could possibly fail to find much enjoyment and humor in this novel.

Like Tom Stoppard (amongst others) before him, Terry Pratchett has re-written Shakespeare, shifting focus to a group of secondary characters. Where Stoppard switches the hub of "Hamlet" to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, Pratchett uses "Macbeth"s three witches, the so-called "Wyrd Sisters". He also replaces Scotland with a giant, interstellar Discworld, perched atop four gigantic elephants, who are themselves perched atop an even more giant turtle. Needless to say, Shakespeare's original does not come away unscathed.

Pratchett tosses around numerous parodic references to "Macbeth" (i.e., the opening scene where an eerie voice asks, "When shall we three meet again?" and a deadpan voice replies "Well, I can do next Tuesday"; people are constantly seeing daggers before them, or at least thinking they do). It should be noted that a familiarity with the original text is not important to your enjoyment here. I haven't read the play in about five years, and still caught enough to stay with the joke. References to other plays abound as well. "Hamlet" (a tightfisted theatre director decrees that "the pay's the thing", then swiftly corrects himself), "Romeo and Juliet", and "Richard III" are all prominently featured and lampooned.

"Wyrd Sisters" also features the finest example of an ensemble cast so far seen in any of the Discworld books. Each character is distinct and interesting, not to mention integral to the plot. My favourites include: Tomjon, the unknown heir who is a great example of how a passion for the theatre can stand side-by-side with more conventional magic; Hwel (Will?), a dwarf playwright, who at one point almost invents the stage personas of the Marx Brothers (yay!), Laurel & Hardy, and Charlie Chaplin; Granny Weatherwax, who first appeared in "Equal Rites" and now has her own odd but endearing coven to deal with; Verence, late King of Lancre, who is doomed to hang around his old castle as a frustrated and ineffectual ghost; and Greebo, a cat best described as a feline rapist, for his prodigious spreading of the seed. But my favourite character is The Fool, a Shakespearean staple given a surprising amount of depth here. The Fool is allowed to feel love and despair, the former for the young witch Magrat, and the latter for his fated placement in a job that he despises. Normally a device for exposition, here The Fool is a full-fledged, living and breathing character. A wonderful creation.

To me, this is the first in the series which gets all the elements right. Pratchett throws in enough references to keep fans of those continually happy. He has created an eclectic and fascinating cast of characters. And fashioned a story that is involving, complex, intriguing, funny, and supremely entertaining. It's not the proper place to start your journey through the Discworld, but for those of you amongst the initiated, don't make the mistake of skipping "Wyrd Sisters".

When Duke Felmet kills King Verence and names himself the new King of Lancre, Verence's ghost haunts the castle and his young son is smuggled out of the kingdom and taken to a coven of three witches for protection. These witches bestow three gifts upon the baby and place him with the owner of an acting troupe. The new king is an evil one, and the entire kingdom (animal, vegetable, and mineral) expresses its displeasure. How could the witches possibly refrain from using their magic skills to meddle in royal politics, place the rightful heir on the throne, and set things right?

"Wyrd Sisters" is the sixth title in the Discworld series, and with each book, author Terry Pratchett keeps getting better and better. The story is a clever parody of Shakespeare from the opening scene onwards. It's a fast-paced romp through a pastiche of scenes, themes, and lines from Macbeth, Hamlet, Julius Caesar, King Lear, As You Like It, and many more, all unified into an entertaining whole. Pratchett also throws in references to Tolkien, Alice in Wonderland, the Wizard of Oz, and Sleeping Beauty (not to mention others I have probably missed).

The witches are my favorite Discworld characters, and with good reason. Their personalities are drawn to perfection, and each of them is endearing in her own way. Granny Weatherwax, who was first introduced in "Equal Rites," is the feisty, powerful, no-nonsense witch who believes in headology. Nanny Ogg is the grandmotherly witch who loves drinking and bawdy songs. Magrat Garlick is the young, idealistic New Age witch who likes spells to be performed just so, and who falls in love with the court Fool. The interactions and squabbles between the three witches are hilarious.

You don't have to like Shakespeare to appreciate this book, although a passing knowledge of at least Hamlet and Macbeth will enhance the enjoyment. Nor do you have to be a fan of fantasy fiction. You just need a good sense of humor, because this book is wickedly funny all the way through. Even the footnotes will make you laugh. I can't recommend this book highly enough. You will be bewitched by it!

Eileen Rieback

Wyrd Sisters, the sixth Discworld novel by Terry Pratchett, is a very funny take-off of MacBeth. The Shakespearean allusions were a bit above my head without reading the online annotations, but even without that I found I was laughing a great deal. Plus, it has an interesting story playing on the old "lost son of a king" cliché.

The three witches are my least favourite of the sub-series that Pratchett has in Discworld. Of course, that's because the other two (City Watch, Death) are so good, not because the witches are bad. They are still well worth the price of admission into their stories. Granny Weatherwax is a curmudgeon of sorts, often speaking of how the new people are "getting ideas" put in their head. "'Modern,' said Granny Weatherwax with a sniff. `When I was a gel, we had a lump of wax and a couple of pins and had to be content. We had to make our own enchantment in them days.'" She doesn't understand a lot of new things, like theatre. In fact, one of the funniest scenes in the book is when Magrat and Nanny Ogg take her to the theatre and she tries to intervene in what's happening on stage.

Nanny Ogg and Magrat are wonderful creations as well. Nanny is old, but she's a lot more open-minded. She can understand a lot of the new ideas going around. She's also good at what she does. Another great scene is when Felmet and his wife try to torture her. Let's just say it doesn't quite work. Magrat is the young witch, who thinks that symbols are very important. When they try to summon a demon to help them, she's the one who thinks that they need the "proper" ingredients in order to do it, rather than the makeshift ones that the other two bring in. Together, the threesome is a very entertaining bunch.

The incidental characters are marvelous as well. There's the Fool, who only became a Fool because it was a family tradition. He really hates it. There's Hwel, the dwarf who never took to mining, so he became a playwright. Death makes a few appearances as well, also making his stage debut in a riotous manner. There isn't a wasted character in the bunch, and they are all well-rounded individuals who are interesting to read about.

The plot is excellent as well. The only thing that marred it for me was the extensive Shakespearean allusions, and that's only because I didn't understand half of them. There were times when I knew I was missing a joke, which became a bit frustrating. It's one thing to miss a joke and not even see it, but when you see it but don't understand it, it's a bit of a letdown. Still, if it encourages people to go back to the original plays and read them, then so much the better. The book doesn't suffer for all of this, though. It is still a very entertaining read without it.

This is a wonderful beginning to the Three Witches sub-series. I look forward to reading more of them. It's an excellent place to start your entry into Discworld.

Witches on the Disc have traditions, they're just not what you might think. Getting three of them together to form a coven is hard enough you can forget midnight "dancin around without your drawers on" as Nanny Ogg says. Besides the whole magic part one of the distinguishing features of witches is that they don't generally associate with each other.

This of course makes this story all the more interesting as Granny Weatherwax, Magrat (her mother couldn't spell Margaret) Garlick, and Nanny Ogg must cooperate to save the kingdom of Lancre from certain disaster. While Granny was introduced in Equal Rites this marks the introduction of Magrat and Nanny.

You'll see plenty of Shakespeare in this volume, especially MacBeth and Hamlet, which I think makes it all the more enjoyable. There is nothing more fun than getting exactly what you don't expect from a traditional tale whenever you're venturing onto the Disc.

And what could be a better setting than the country of Lancre, squeezed in at the foot of the Ramtops where most flat land is vertical. Lancre castle overlooks the main town (imaginatively called Lancre Town) and occasionally bits and pieces fall into the gorge and the far off (vertically) Lancre River.

If you like this volume then you should definately go on to Witches Abroad and Lords and Ladies. It delivers the humour definately expected from Pratchett and has the classical touch of Shakespeare turned on his head and spinning in his grave. :-)

This is one of the funniest and most charming books I've read in a while. Terry Pratchett uses the environment of his famous Discworld to tell a story of a coven of three witches (although two will argue it's not a coven) who meddle in the business of royal politics (although all two will argue it's not meddling).

Those who enjoy a funny story will love this book, but those who enjoy a funny story and have read Shakespeare's Macbeth and Hamlet will enjoy it even more. Pratchett does a great job interweaving different aspects of classic plays and fairy tales with the overall plot and flavor of the story, while adding the comedic edge for which he is so well known. And those who have spent even a small amount of time studying modern witchcraft and Wicca will find a few scenes particularly funny.

The story involves the typical royal intrigue and how the smallest twist of fate can change an entire kingdom, and when you throw in Pratchett's three witches, fate is forced to flee in terror. Include travelling actors, a Fool who isn't a fool, a disgruntled ghost, a paranoid king, and a thunderstorm that hopes to one day grow up and be a really big storm, and you're starting to get the idea how wacky things get.

This book is definitely in the top three Discworld novels.

Although Terry Pratchett has abandoned non-stop satire in his Discworld books after "The Light Fantastic," "Wyrd Sisters" is as much a satire as it is a character and world-building novel, this time taking some very solid shots at William Shakespeare, "Macbeth," "Hamlet," the popular conception(s) of witches, and even a bit of a riff on fairy tales.

A jealous relative has killed the King of Lancre, who is now stuck (literally) haunting his castle. But his infant son has been delivered into the care of three witches, including the formidable Granny Weatherwax, who refuse to meddle in politics. Well, that's what they say, anyway ...

As a Shakespeare enthusiast, I found the parodies of both plays spot on and very fun -- elements of it hold up very favorably next to "Shakespeare in Love" -- and as a fan of fantasy novels, I was delighted to see how Pratchett handled the problem of needing (REALLY needing) to get a usurper off the throne with an heir to the throne who's not even potty trained.

A word of warning: The hamhanded marketing copy in the back pages of the book promoting the Discworld series gives away the end of this novel. I'm not sure what they were thinking there ...

Although I mostly prefer the Unseen University novels, "Wyrd Sisters" is easily one of my favorite Discworld novels, and indeed, novels in general. Whole-heartedly recommended to fans of Discworld, Shakespeare or fantasy with a sense of humor.

No subject is too sacred for Terry Pratchett's lampooning pen, as even the sublime plays of Bard Billy become fodder for his stinging hilarity in `Wyrd Sisters'. Three witches gather on a blasted moor; the ghost of a king, foully murdered, seeking vengeance against his usurper; the murderer vainly trying to wash the blood and guilt from his hands; these are but a few of the elements Pratchett commandeers as he cannibalizes Macbeth, Hamlet, Richard III, Henry IV, Romeo and Juliet, and other great works of Shakespeare in this madcap novel.
When King Verence of Lancre is murdered by a usurping kinsman, the whole kingdom is dangerously unbalanced. The usurper despises his new kingdom, and as Lancre lies in the magic rich Ramtop Mountains, even the trees, stones, and animal can sense this, causing a dangerous build up of negative magic power. It falls to the kingdom's three witches to rescue the young heir and find a way to return him to his father's throne before the kingdom is irretrievably ruined.
`Wyrd Sisters' is overwhelmingly character driven, as the paper thin plot is little more than an excuse to allow three amazing witches to romp across its pages. Elder witches Granny Weatherwax - no nonsense, stern, and stubborn, and Nanny Ogg - bawdy sot, and matriarch to a huge tribe, bicker and banter across the pages with junior witch Magrat Garlick , who seems to have learned her witchcraft from a new age bookstore. All three are wonderfully drawn characters, and as they play off of each other they range anywhere between three oracles and the Three Stooges. With characters this strong, Pratchett could almost have dispensed with plot altogether.
As he has developed Discworld over the years, Pratchett has become something of a Voltaire - making us laugh as he makes us think. In `Wyrd Sisters', there are hints of this, but it is not yet clearly focused, and we see far more parody than we do philosophy. Still, he has here some nice riffs on the meaning of destiny, and some hilarious bits about the power of words, double speak, and political propaganda. And his savage and constant lampooning of new age witchcraft is right on the money, and left me howling with laughter.
On the strength of its wonderful witches, `Wyrd Sisters' is one of Pratchett's best efforts, and a must read for any fan of Discworld. I highly recommend it.

Theo Logos

Terry Pratchett has always excelled at barbecuing sacred cows. Here, he takes on Shakespeare and some of the trappings of fairy tales and fantasy novels, with a coven of odd witches, a bell-covered Fool who's no idiot, and a king who is, technically, dead.

King Verence of Lancre has been murdered by his cousin Felmet and Felmet's wife. The frustrated king is left haunting the castle as a ghost, and wondering what has happened to his infant son, the heir to the throne. The baby has, in fact, been dropped with a crown into the laps of three witches: Formidable Granny Weatherwax, mildly drunken and very maternal Nanny Ogg, and naive flowery Magrat. The witches decide to get the baby out of the country to keep him safe, and see him off safely with a troupe of kindly actors.

But things are still awry. Felmet, now acting as king of Lancre, is pretty obviously going insane, and his unhappy Fool is the one who keeps giving him tidbits of advice. Felmet and his iron-willed wife decide to stamp out the witches through malicious lies and rumors. But the witches have a few tricks (and spells) up their sleeves, and with they intend to deal with Felmet with the help of the Fool, the dead king, and a lot of furry little animals...

This book has it all: sweet stammering romance, Shakespearean quotes and jokes (Felmet's repeated questions about "Is this a dagger I see before me?"), time travel, ghosts, political strife, and twists on such themes as the long lost heir of a kingdom. There is a Shakespearean dwarf who pens brilliant plays all the time, who will amuse Shakespeare enthusiasts. Pratchett even manages a mild lesson that won't make readers grit their teeth, about how easily opinions can be shaped by false information from movies/books/magazines, or in this case, plays.

Granny Weatherwax of "Equal Rites" is more appealing here, with Magrat and Nanny Ogg to serve as counterpoints. (After all, Samuel Vimes of the "Watch" novels wouldn't be as appealing without Carrot, Nobby, Colon, and the others) Granny is tough, indomitable, but not without her flaws and weaknesses. Nanny Ogg serves as a sillier witch, with her instant attraction to alcohol and tendency to sing obscene songs (something parents will want to edit out). Magrat is a much younger witch, with dreamy ideas about occult jewelry, good witch godmothers, candles, runes, and no romantic experience whatsoever. Felmet is entertainingly crazy, but Pratchett doesn't let readers forget that he is a bad guy; his wife, on the other hand, is both evil and frighteningly sane. The Fool is also a refreshing character, a jester with a brain who hates his job. Tomjon (the prince) is unusually endearing for a Long Lost Heir; he seems like a real person. King Verence, despite being dead, is very vital and great to read about. And, of course, Death has his part to play, despite his inability to remember his lines.

Though not the best of Pratchett's novels, "Wyrd Sisters" is amusing and witty, wry and fun. A great read for teens and adults who love a good story.

This is the 6th book in Pratchett's Discworld series. Alternatively, it's the 1st book in the Witches subseries ("Wyrd Sisters," "Witches Abroad," "Lords and Ladies," "Maskerade," and "Carpe Jugulum" -- though Granny Weatherwax did have a role in "Equal Rites" (which preceded this)). Take the essence of Macbeth, give it a twist, sprinkle it with hilarious characters, dialog, and situations, and then throw in several parallel structures. Shake well. You've got one of the best books ever written by anyone, anywhere (this book). It's a tough book to read because my eyes repeatedly filled with tears from laughing so much: 5 stars out of 5.