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Title: Wyrd Sisters |
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Review of Wyrd Sisters
Terry's Pratchett's profoundly irrelevetn novels, are consistent number one bestsellers in England, where they have catapulted him into the highest echelons of parody next to Mark Twain, Kurt Vonnegut, Douglas Adams, and Carl Hiaasen.
Meet Granny Weatherwx, the most highly regarded non-leader a coven of non-social witches could ever have. Generally, these loners don't get involved in anything, mush less royal intrigue. but then there are those times they can't help it. As Granny Weatherwzx is about to discover, though, it's a lot harder to stir up trouble in the castle than some theatrical types would have you think. Even when you've got a few unexpected spells up your sleave.
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Comments for Wyrd Sisters
- Posted on 2008-01-02
The Discworld Spins Onwards
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 . . .
Score: 5
- Posted on 2007-12-10
Wyrd Sisters; Weird Book, but what did you expect?
First let me say that, as with all Terry Pratchett's other books that I read, I liked this one, but not as much as I liked Guards! Guards! I am sure that Wyrd Sisters had, at some level, a deeper meaning than was obvious to me. I don't view the Discworld stories as satires, although they may be, I just want some time to escape from Earth. And this book filled the bill. The main characters were well developed and the book was overall a very good read. I look forward to reading many more of his stories, although I am not calling my travel agent to book a visit to Ankh Morpork.
Score: 3
- Posted on 2007-11-05
a mixed cauldron of goodies and disappointment
I almost gave this 4 stars, but the more I thought about it, the less satisfying it became.
Wyrd Sisters is a mildly amusing parody of Macbeth, with shades of Hamlet tossed in as well. I was actually reminded of "Rosenkrantz and Gildestern are dead" by Stoppard, which tells the story of Hamlet through two very minor characters wandering around the background during key scenes and soliloquies. Sadly, Wyrd Sisters wasn't as inventive.
The story has some good chuckles, but none of the laugh-out-loud moments that pepper Pratchett's other works. Also missing are cameos from the vast pantheon of enjoyable minor charcters in the Discworld milieu. My major problem, though, involves a...
***MINOR SPOILER***
About half way through, it becomes necessary to age one of the central characters (the rightful heir to the throne) by 15 years so he can return and claim his birthright. Pratchett's method for this was wholely unconvincing, and even he seemed embarrased by the awkwardness of it all, based on some comments that appear after the fact. I realize it needed to be done, but it just didn't sit right with me.
***END MINOR SPOILERS***
If you like Pratchett, and especially the Lancre Witches arc of his writing, then you'll probably enjoy Wyrd Sisters. Personally, I don't think it's one of his better efforts, though I'm glad I read it from a "completionist" standpoint.
Score: 3 - Posted on 2007-10-21
Wyrd doesn't have to mean bad!
Meet Granny, Nanny, and Margrat, the three witches of the Ramtop Mountains. They meet on a rainy night and are saddled with an infant prince and a Shakespearean drama of the highest magnitude. Pratchett takes his three magical ladies out for their first real spin and sets his sights on MacBeth. Grand satire and fantastic characters that leave one grinning as the pages turn. Let Nanny summon a demon using old soap flakes and a wooden spoon, or Granny to use "headology", or Magrat to make the tea and fall in love and the world will be a scary, but funny place indeed.
Score: 5 - Posted on 2007-09-30
Shakespearatchett
Terry Pratchett has created an entirely ridiculous and enjoyable world with his Discworld novels. It is a world peopled by the inhabitants of fantasy and science fiction, with events not often too far removed from what happens in the 'real' world. Yet Pratchett's writing seems to be at its strongest when he is working from other sources and not from his uniquely own material. Such is the case with "Wyrd Sisters", a sendup of Shakespeare's 'Macbeth' and many of his other plays.
When the king of Lancre suddenly finds himself dead, and witnesses the duke who killed him to gain his throne, he is at a complete loss on how to cope with being dead, as well as how to seek revenge. He seeks out the local Ramtop witches, commonly known as Granny Weatherwax, Nanny Ogg and Magrat Garlick to help him out. The witches are not meant to interfere with destiny, but find themselves involved when the king's young son is dropped into their hands. They find a home for him among a traveling band of players and try not to interfere as the new duke makes a royal mess of the kingdom. But when the witches become hunted due to terrible false rumors, the three are forced to take matters into their own hands.
"Wyrd Sisters" is a delightful mixing of Pratchett's unique sense of humor and various Shakespearean tales, for fans will recognize other plays that make an appearance - especially a play designed to make a murderous king confess to wrongdoing. Pratchett is in his element when satirizing or making parodies of well-known works, and seems much more comfortable messing around with others' works than in his own skin, which is just fine for fans of Shakespeare and the Discworld.
Score: 5