Lords and Ladies opens with the three witches returning home to Lancre after their encounter with the Godmother in the novel Witches Abroad. They arrive just in the nick of time. A group of young girls have started doing some witching of their own; dancing around (with or without their drawers on) some of the ancient stones up in the hills isn't good for anybody, especially when the barriers between the worlds are rubbing close together and beings on the other side are just waiting to pounce on anyone capable of weakening the borders a wee bit more. The Elf Queen has set her sights on crossing over into reality, but there just isn't room in this reality for Granny Weatherwax and the Elf Queen. Granny knows what regular people forgot long ago - all that glamour and beauty that Elves project is just a mask. Elves are really nasty little buggers who care about human beings only insofar as they can torture them for their own amusement. Things are really nip and go here, as Granny Weatherwax isn't her old self these days - she can't even see the future anymore, and that doesn't bode well for anybody.

Of course, the citizens of Lancre are all distracted by the upcoming nuptials of King Verence and Magrat Garlick. Wyrd Sisters tells the story of Verence's witch-assisted rise from the king's Fool to the King of Lancre, as well as the budding romance between Verence and Magrat. Magrat is of course the third member of the witches' trio, a young lass with eternally plain looks, great interest in the traditions and proper ceremonies of witchcraft, and a naivety and generosity of nature that frequently drives Granny up the wall. She and Verence are as shy as the day is long, but they are to be married on Midsummer's Eve. Granny and Nanny Ogg tend to treat Magrat as a child, and she finally gets so perturbed she abandons the coven and settles in to learning the ways of being a Queen - which mostly involves being incredibly bored.

All kinds of folks arrive for the royal wedding, including Giamo Casanunda, the world's second greatest lover ("he tries harder," a process which invariably involves the use of a stepladder), and a caravan of wizards from Unseen University. Archchancellor Ridcully is extremely excited about it because he used to live in Lancre. He goes on and on about this girl he once knew and wanted to marry, a girl who happens to be Granny Weatherwax. It's hard to imagine Granny as a young woman, but Lords and Ladies shows us a side of the old crone we've never seen before. Magrat really starts to come into her own, as well, after the Elves capture Verence. Of course, everything comes down to a big fight with the Elves, but that's the least exciting part of the novel, as far as I'm concerned. It's much more fun just watching Pratchett put all his players in place for the ending.

Pratchett is absolutely on fire in a number of passages here, especially when young Ponder Stibbons tries to explain his theory of parallel universes and multiple forms of existence to Archchancellor Ridcully. Granny and Nanny Ogg are always hilarious, the whole makeup of Lancre sets up many a joke, and Verence's dependence on book knowledge sets up one of the funniest bits in the whole Discworld series. Lords and Ladies is enough to get a new reader hooked on Pratchett's unique genius, but you won't truly appreciate this novel unless you read Wyrd Sisters and Witches Abroad first.

This book was fantastic. It was a very interesting blend of comedy and grimness. In fact, it was probably the most mainstream plot that I've seen Pratchett produce. The conflict between the Elves and Magrat (and the Elf Queen and Granny) is very straightforward and almost chilling. The Elves are relentless in their pursuit of their victims. Magrat has to do some very harsh things to save herself from them. The Elves are almost unstoppable. Then, there is the Granny's confrontation with the Queen, which is very much like other confrontations between heroes and villains. Granny is captured and the Queen is just playing with her. They discuss what's going to happen to Lancre when the Elves take over. The Queen threatens her life. That sort of thing. These scenes are almost terrifying, and that's the first time I can ever say that Pratchett has done that to me.

However, that doesn't take away from the comedy. There are some truly funny scenes in this book that will make you laugh hard. The Archchancellor of the the Unseen University of wizards decides that he should come to the wedding along with a few colleagues (including the Librarian, an orangutan that used to be human before a magical accident). The scenes with the wizards, as usual, are just hilarious. This includes everything from attempting to hire transport (they don't have enough money, so they have to say that the Librarian is a pet) to the Archchancellor's attempts to woo Granny. As they say, hilarity ensues.

The characters are simply wonderful. It is such a difference between this book and Equal Rites. Not only are they very funny, but you start to care for them as well. Great strides are made in character development. Magrat finally learns what she can do when she's pushed, when she stands up to the Elves. Granny learns to respect Magrat just a little bit. Nanny learns about Casanunda, the world's second greatest lover ("I try harder"). All of the witches seem a bit less testy, but still well within the character established for them in earlier books. Even the wizards get some development, which doesn't happen very often. You learn a bit about the Archchancellor in this one as well. Usually, the wizards are just around for comedy relief.

Probably the best character, though, is Simon. He's one of Nanny Ogg's sons, and he's basically everything at the castle. He's the army, he's the servant, he's the herald, etc. His attempts to get his mother and the other witches to follow royal protocol (like letting him announce their presence to the King) are very funny. Even he gets some development, though, as he learns what it is to be a leader when he has to lead a rag-tag band against the Elves.

There is only one thing wrong with this book. The ending, again, is a bit lack-luster. This time, it's also a bit anti-climactic. It doesn't exactly come out of nowhere, as there is a bit of a set-up. However, I think it still needed a bit more. I applaud Pratchett for trying to turn the clichéd ending to something like this on its head, but I think it needed a little more support.

As far as the characters and the plot go, though, this was a classic book. Not quite as good as Reaper Man (I don't know if he'll ever be able to top that), but still very high up on the list. And ignore what Pratchett says at the beginning of the book. While it does continue straight on from the previous book (which I haven't read), it is still very understandable without that. In his little blurb at the beginning, Pratchett gives you all of the information you will need to understand this one.

If you can't find Reaper Man, this one also makes an excellent entry into the Discworld universe.

David Roy