The Discword Spins On
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Terry Pratchett has become one of the most popular authors alive today and his popularity is richly deserved. But not even with his fertile mind could ever have envisaged the heights to which his Discworld series would rise. This book was first published in 1988 and is number six in the Discworld novels.
You would think that a fantasy world full of trolls, zombies, witches, vampires would be an alien concept to most readers. Werewolves and dwarves in the Ank Morpork city watch. Wizards running a university. All this born in the mind of one of the funniest minds writing today. Surely this style of writing would have a limited readership? But no the books are loved by anybody and everybody and are read by people who would not normally allow fantasy fiction anywhere near their book shelves. This is the Discworld of Terry Pratchett.
In this episode Granny Weatherwax and her fellow coven members are meddling in politics, the royal kind, which Granny Weatherwax thinks is the worst kind of all. The Wyrd sisters as they are known battle to put the right king on the right throne, at least that's the general idea. After all what are witches for . . .
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my second book and its so funny
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Well i treated myself to the witches rulogy as an xmas pressie to myself ad i handt got around to reading it..til i had my toth out recently..and it cheered me up no matter how much pain i was in. I adore granny weatherwax and her dark dark humpur and steadfast ways...nanny ogg is hilaroius as the type of witch in her da to come home with many a grass stain! Her cat is something to be afraid of but laugh at..
the plot i can see how is a parody of shakespeare but you havent got to have read any of his work in your life to find this funny.
I loved the plot..and i found it as good as the first..if not better!
havent read a single book then i would say begin with the witches trilogy or deaths trilogy.soo wonderful.
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WYRD SISTERS!!!
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Ok, this is Wyrd Sisters, one of many books in the Discworld series by Terry Pratchet. The Discworld is a flat world carried on the backs of four giant elephants standing on the shell of a huge turtle which swims through space till the end of time. The turtle is called A'tuin if you were wondering.
Basically, in brief, three witches (Granny Weaterwax, Nanny Ogg, and Magrat Garlik) have to look after the heir to the throne of Lancre after the king was murdered.
They send him to a travelling theatre while his uncle (the one who murdered his dad who was also the king just so you know) rules Lancre. His uncle hates witches so starts to have witch hunts. Nobody likes him. He's nasty!
His dad is now haunting the castle and is eternally hungry..
Odd, I know, but trust me, you'll love it! Terry pratchet has a great sense of humour, but to be honest, YOU SHOULD READ IT!!
Everybody says you need to know about shakespeare to get the jokes in this book because its all about the theatre, but you really don't. I've never read shakespeare in my life, but I found this hilarious.
Give it a go!
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Wyrd sisters review.
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Wyrd Sisters is another spell-binding yarn by Terry Prachett.In Wyrd Sisters Lancre witch Granny Weatherwax and her fellow coven members Nanny Ogg and Magrat Garlick must save the kingdom from an evil Duke and put the rightful King on the throne.If you like sci-fi or fantasy books then the discworld series is the series for you.If you enjoy this book then try books 3,12,14,18,23.
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Good fun, bit turgid towards the end
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This book is a lot of fun. "Equal Rites" (3rd book / 2nd story in the Discworld series) was both magical and marvellously observed, making it an effortless read and with young Eskerina heading the cast of characters and the old crone Granny Weatherwax in attendance...it was all simply spell-binding, and definitely one of my personal favourite Discworld novels up to that point. But the 6th book in the Discworld Series "Wyrd Sisters" is also a little gem, even if it is less ground-breaking (borrowing much and paying homage in the process to many Shakespearean plays), which nevertheless left me chuckling, cheerful and generally thaumaturgically charged all over. This time around it's Granny taking centre stage with her coven of witches (Granny herself along with the very un-witchly Nanny and perpetually eager Magrat) in faithful tow in yet another tale of unlikely-applied magic, kingdoms gone awry, and generally deceitful and diabolical deeds.
I haven't read Hamlet, McBeth, or Othello, but I gather that this book is an attempt at parodying those Shakespearean plays and it was about two-thirds of the way through that I did eventually twig and realise that these Shakespearean references were more than just accidental textualisation - they were almost a complete replication of Shakespeare's works. The correct term is probably 'homage,' but whatever you want to call it 'Wyrd Sisters' IS Shakespeare (albeit set on an unrivalled Discworld, borne like a coffin on the shoulders of four elephants who themselves ride on the back of the infamous star turtle Great A'Tuin). And it was only when I realised this fact that my enjoyment of the book somewhat dissipated, not because I dislike Shakespeare, but because (despite not having read his plays before) I must have on some level absorbed the various plots from the media and as a result the story suddenly just didn't feel as fresh or original, as it had done to me only moments earlier.
But having said that, "Wyrd Sisters" remains a fun-filled, feel good story, which for all its daring and apparent dislike of the fantasy/fairytale genre- remains surprisingly true to the happily-ever-after-ness that the genre is famous for. Don't get me wrong...Pratchett clearly gets a real kick from mocking the genre in which he operates, but he's also very well aware that audiences just won't tolerate an unhappy ending and that's completely ok with me!
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