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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
How To Fight A Happy Ending, Jan 22 2007
Terry Pratchett's first novel, "The Carpet People", appeared in 1971. "Witches Abroad" is the twelfth novel in his hugely popular Discworld series and was first published in 1991. It's also the third book (after "Equal Rites" and "Wyrd Sisters") to feature Granny Weatherwax, the Discworld's greatest witch.
As with "Wyrd Sisters", Granny Weatherwax is joined by the Nanny Ogg and Magrat Garlick. 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. She's always been fond of dancing, occult jewellery and runes, but now Granny thinks Magrat's gone funny in the head : there's the self-defence classes (despite being a witch), the attempts to 'find herself' and her refusal to marry Lancre's new King. (Despite never having been one, she refuses to be a 'sex object').
One of the trio's neighbours is Desiderata Hollow, a witch who specialises in fairy-godmothering. Despite the fact that witches know exactly when they're going to die, Desiderata never quite managed to train up a replacement. Instead, she has her magic wand delivered to Magrat, with a couple of very strict instructions : she's to travel to Genua to STOP a god-daughter marrying a prince, and she's to keep Granny Weatherwax and Nanny Ogg from going with her. (In fact, Desiderata is banking on the two older witches tagging along : she knows she can only guarantee their attendance by forbidding them from travelling).
This isn't going to be an easy mission. Godmothers travel in twos, and Desiderata's counterpart - Lilith - wished for Embers (the god-daughter) to have beauty and power and to marry a prince. Whether or not the young lady actually wanted any of that was irrelevant, and Desiderata has been trying to do what's best for Embers. Unfortuantely, it's going to be very difficult to stop a good story...
Much of the humour comes from poking fun at fairy tales, though there's a touch of the Wizard of Oz, and a quick cameo from Gollum. There's also the renowned dwarf lover, Casanunda, the attempts to master 'speaking foreign' and the terrible privies in foreign parts. However, it's Nanny Ogg - with her fondness for a double entendre and a vulgar song - who provides many of the best parts. Thoroughly recommended !
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5.0 out of 5 stars
Progress just means bad things happen faster, Jun 22 2006
For me, the Discworld is never as much fun as when I have Granny Weatherwax, Nanny Ogg, and Magrat Garlick as my chaperones, and Witches Abroad is a truly seminal work starring my three favorite witches. This is a story about stories, and on the anthropomorphic wonderland known as the Discworld stories are so powerful that they can become almost unstoppable forces; they are so important that they shape people rather than the other way around, making people do things for the sake of the stories alone. Once a story gets going, it's almost impossible to stop it. You don't tell Granny Weatherwax that anything is impossible for her to do, though, nor do you tell her you need her help, not unless you don't want her to come. The fairy godmother Desiderata knows this, although she is not particularly adept at training a successor (and since witches know when they are going to die, her death is no excuse for such lack of planning). Just before she dies, she wraps up her magic wand and sends it to Magrat Garlick, Lancre's youngest, most good-hearted, tradition-obsessed, open-minded, overlooked witch along with a note telling her appointed successor that she must go to Genua to prevent the girl Emberella from marrying the prince and that she must tell Granny Weatherwax and Nanny Ogg that they are not to come with her. Thus, all three witches are soon flying away from their homes in Lancre in route to the eastern port of Genua. Their journey finds them bumping headlong into a number of different stories, Pratchett-twisted episodes such as one involving a young girl in a red cape, her grandmother, and a wolf. It soon becomes obvious to the three witches that someone is making stories come true, but only Granny secretly knows just who is behind all this. Arriving in Genua, they are exposed to the city's own brand of magic, namely voodoo, run up against snake sisters guarding poor Emberella, delight in an entirely new kind of cooking (the ingredients of which are kept from Granny for the most part, which is obviously quite the right thing to do), and set out to stop the warped Cinderella-based fairy tale events surrounding Emberella, knowing that, should Emberella marry the prince, the other fairy godmother (they come in pairs, incidentally), the witch wielding and invigorating her power by the use of mirror magic, would have power over the whole city and force her happy endings on everyone in town. There's nothing wrong with happy endings, but being made happy against one's wishes and knowledge is one of very many things that Granny doesn't hold with. As Magrat's attempts to use the magic wand result in only pumpkins and more pumpkins, success in this unexpected tour of fairy godmothering duty requires all three witches working together, and Granny herself needs all of her skills at headology when she confronts an important figure from her past.
The ingeniously satirical incorporation of fairy tales by Pratchett makes this book worth its weight in gold, but it is the constant bickering and resulting comedy between the three very different witches that makes this book so entertaining. There is no citizen of the Discworld whom I find as fascinating and entertaining as good old Granny Weatherwax. Her obstinacy and refusal to admit a deficiency of any kind is quite comical in and of itself, but put this beside poor Magrat's idealized notions and unconventional ideas (such as her decision to wear pants and thus, to Granny's horror, let men see where her legs are underneath them) and Nanny's ribald, good-natured humor and zest for life (and alcohol and dirty songs, etc.) and you've got a recipe for high comedy indeed. Nanny's unique cat Greebo also takes on vast importance in this novel, offering us yet another unforgettable travel partner in this strange world of Pratchett's ingenious creation. Granny's character is especially well-developed in this novel, and the new-found insights into her childhood offer quite a telling new insight into her personality. Witches Abroad is among the best of the best of Pratchett's Discworld series.
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5.0 out of 5 stars
And they lived happily ever after?, Jul 17 2004
Fairy godmothers. Witches. Voodoo. Magic.
And a large bowl of gumbo washed down with a round of absinthe and banananana dakrys.
This is not your typical fairy tale. Make sure the servant girl doesn't marry the prince. Easy? Not in a land where Happy Endings are strictly compulsory.
Enter the witches. The newly appointed Fairy Godmother Magrat Garlick, in search for cosmic harmony and how do set this bloody wand off pumpkins, and the classic double act that is Granny and Nanny.Pratchett has managed to mix in Little Red Riding Hood, Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, The Wizard of Oz and even The Lord of the Rings (complete with a sleazy Gollum). Even when I knew a joke was coming, Pratchett did so well with it that I smiled and even laughed anyway.
I couldn't find a single flaw. The plot, the characters, the jokes ... all perfect.
You won't be disappointed. This is my favourite Discworld novel by far.
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