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5.0 out of 5 stars
A Wizard's Staff Has A Knob On The End, Jan 26 2007
Terry Pratchett's first novel, "The Carpet People", appeared in 1971. "Wyrd Sisters" is the sixth novel in his hugely popular Discworld series and his second (after "Equal Rites") to feature Granny Weatherwax, the Discworld's greatest witch. It was first published in 1988 and was later made into a cartoon. Pratchett won the 2001 Carnegie Medal for "The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents" and was awarded the OBE in 1998.
Granny Weatherwax is joined in "Wyrd Sisters" by the two other members of her recently formed coven. One, Nanny Ogg, is the raucous head of the Ogg clan based in Lancre town. (She also owns a fearsome, one-eyed tomcat with an unbridled libido called Greebo). The other is Magrat Garlick, who has a few fanciful ideas about magic that Granny doesn't altogether approve of - dancing, occult jewellery, runes and the healing power of colours, for example. The trio are caught up in Lancre's political affairs when Duke Felmet decides it's time for his cousin, King Verence, to 'retire' - and kindly plants a dagger into the King's back. The King's infant son and the Kingdom's crown are delivered into the witches' hands by an escaping servant loyal to the deceased King - who now haunts the castle, desperately longing for the ability to eat. The coven, in turn, christens the royal orphan 'Tomjon' and, for his protection, put him in the care of a travelling theatre. The new king, however, is such a disaster they realise Tomjon must return to the throne as quickly as possible.
Although "Wyrd Sisters" is most obviously a parody of Shakespeare's "Macbeth", you don't have to have read the Scottish play to enjoy the book. Having said that, even a basic awareness of the Bard's work should increase the number of laughs. Hwel, the dwarven playwright for the travelling band of actors, seems to owe a little to Shakespeare himself and when the troupe settle in Ankh-Morpork their home theatre is named "The Dysk". (Shakespeare's, of course, was called "The Globe"). Hwel, at various points, was also on the verge of 'inventing' the Discworld's versions of the Marx Brothers, Laurel and Hardy and Charlie Chaplin. Duke Felmet's Fool, who falls in love with Magrat, not only hates his job but is clearly a good deal more intelligent than his paranoid boss. (The Fool and the young witch also deliver what is quite possibly the longest kiss in literature). However, it's Nanny Ogg - with her fondness for a 'knees up' and a vulgar song - who is my favorite character. Thoroughly recommended !
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5.0 out of 5 stars
i laughed so hard people thought i was nuts!, Mar 17 2004
While I am a big fan of Terry Pratchett, Wyrd Sisters is my all time favorite! I love the twists in the plot as well as it's parallels to THAT Scottish play. I love the puns and what i call slow comedy, the kind that makes you think and will cause you to laugh out loud several days later. In fact the title of my review in fact refers to what happened when i first read this book while on a long commute to a friend's house on public transport. I was laughing so hard, people would move away b/c they thought i was nuts!
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5.0 out of 5 stars
All the Disc's a stage--and the players are hilarious, Dec 31 2002
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.
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by Terry Pratchett
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