The Wee Free Men (2003)

Með fyndnari sögum Pratchetts. Hann kynnir nú til sögunnar Tiffany, unga stúlku sem ætlar sér að verða norn, sem ásamt the Wee Free men, 6 þumlunga háum herskara blárra álfa, takast á við Álfadrottningu og herskara hennar. Tiffany neyðist til að halda til Álfaheims og martraðarkenndra skrýmsla hans þegar hún kemst að því að drottningin hefur rænt bróður sínum. Óborganlegur húmor líkt og oft áður. ( )

A nine-year-old dairymaid who wants to be a witch vs. an evil fairy dreamland queen.

4/4 (Great).

I find the fact that this is Discworld Book #30 makes it weirdly difficult to review. This far into the series, I've got pretty serious Discworld fatigue. And there's a lot of background, from a lot of lesser Discworld books, that this builds off of. At the same time, this book is absolutely delightful and one of the best books I've read in a while. It's frustrating.

(Apr. 2022) ( )

This is the story of a 9 y/o girl who has to find her brothers, discovers she is going to become a witch, meets up with the Nac Mac Feegle, the toad, the queen on her quest to find her brother. It is humorous, the Wee Free Men are quite Scottish and fun. ( )

Perfect summertime reading. Handing it to Laura next as I dig into the second book in this series. ( )

The two Pratchett books I read prior to this one had a distinctive tone and style. This one, for the first 100 pages, reminded me of Diana Wynne Jones(who isn't a terrible writer). It was similar in that it started slow and contained interesting, yet hard-to-attach-yourself-to, main characters (a bit lacking in feeling and mentally old for their age) that are thrown into a fantasy world. So my expectations were shattered until Pratchett's voice started to slip back in around page 115 or so.

It's rather impossible to not love the WFM, the toad, and Mrs. Tick. I was of two minds regarding the infrequently reoccurring toilet humor: 1) as a kid you're always asking these things. Because when do detectives with a short time frame find time to use the toilet? But 2) it's really not that amusing to me. So I appreciated the nod to a very valid question. But I'm not sure it was necessary. I would also probably, because of a couple of other jokes, suggest that this be in a teen section. But that's me. ( )