Wyrd Sisters by Terry Pratchett Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Wyrd Sisters
Book Review: Buy all of these now...
Summary: 5 Stars
...so we can create incredible demand so I don't have to pay 16.95 for some of the ones that Harper hasn't bothered to publish yet! This is one of the best -- anytime Granny (Esme to her friends -- er, I mean friend) shows up, it is bound to be entertaining. This one has everything, including flat chested women (you will recognize her sort from your local looney NuAhge store) and fools who would be kings, apparently. Buy this now. Terry Pratchet's sanity can't hold out for much longer, and even the paperback's will be worth something when he finally cracks. Highly, highly recommended.Book Review: Discworld
Summary: 5 Stars
I've decided he's too good and too prolific for me to write a brand new review every single time I read one of his books. Discworld currently has 34 titles and every one of them will probably knock your socks off. His mind bubbles and flashes like a boiling pot of electric eels, and I simply can't get enough of his writing.
A reviewer has compared him to Geoffrey Chaucer. He reminds me more of Douglas Adams, or perhaps S Morgenstern. Great company, isn't it? He's an extremely skillful and imaginative writer, damn funny, clever and observant to boot. He's also very easy to read. A master of characterization, and if there's anything else you like about reading that I didn't mention here, assume I simply forgot. He's awesome.
Another reviewer mentioned Jonathan Swift and PG Wodehouse. Why such hallowed company? Because Pratchett belongs there! Truly, I'm enjoying my quest to read every book in the series. You should do the same, and begin your quest at the library because he's got to be there. He's awesome!
Yet another reviewer said Jerome K Jerome meets Lord of the Rings. Yeah, that works too.
Why do we, as reviewers, compare authors to other authors? Because it's easier than thinking. In the case of Terry Pratchett, it's probably because we'd otherwise wind up quoting the guy. He's so unique that we just don't know how else to cope with his greatness. Even this paragraph sounds like foamy drool raving, doesn't it? That's how all readers react to Pratchett. Reviewers simply don't have the good sense to keep it to themselves.
I could call his writing fantasy, but I could likewise call what Douglas Adams wrote science fiction. In both cases, I wouldn't be wrong, but I'd be neglecting so much and just totally missing the point. A rare few authors transcend a genre to such a degree that you know they're shouting out, loud and proud, a big fat "Bite me!"
I love Terry Pratchett's writing, and I completely understand why some folks refer to him as their favorite author. Or favourite, I should say, since we're being British. He's one of those authors that makes you want to grab whoever's in hearing range and start reading passages aloud. I'm simply thrilled that there's such an extremely talented and prolific author who's been working for years without me being aware of him. Now I have much catching up to do, and I will love it.
Book Review: Divers Alarums?
Summary: 5 Stars
This is one of my favorite books of all time and the one that made me realize Terry Pratchett was a genius. I'd read other works by him including EQUAL RITES and THE LIGHT FANTASTIC, but WYRD SISTERS was the one that made me realize that here was the greatest satirist of modern times masquerading as a fantasy writer.
The plot is an out and out ripoff of Macbeth, but that's okay. Billy Shakespeare stole it from the very best sources and it is a plot that stands the test of time: ambitious fellow, egged on by an even more ambitious wife, kills the true king but then Fate itself steps in to humble the arrogant and put the true heir on the throne. In Shakespeare's hands, this becomes an epic tragedy that speaks to our humanity.
But Pratchett makes this a rollicking comedy that speaks to our human need to tell ourselves stories. This is a favorite theme of his that echoes in many of his later books: MASQUERADE, HOGFATHER, TRUTH and SMALL GODS. Shakespeare likens the world to a stage; Pratchett warns us that the stories we tell ourselves are important because they make us who we are. In WYRD SISTERS, he takes the same elements that Shakespeare uses and shows us how the fake crown of the stage can trump the golden crown of kings.
That's merely what the book is about. Here Granny Weatherwax steps to the fore as a mistress of headology. It's more than just magic. All three of the witches are funny, but Granny is also heroic. What is most admirable is how Pratchett makes his witches into real people: Magrat with her youthful insecurity balanced by Nanny Ogg with her knowing ways and numerous progeny and the wrathful and determined Granny Weatherwax who will find a way to run the clocks forward 15 years rather than pay taxes or suffer disrespect from the usurper.
Pratchett's characters are capable of being both hilarious and sad: The Fool here is one of his best. The biggest mistake one can make about this fantasy is to think that because it uses stock elements, it's only ordinary. Pratchett puts a twist on everything so nothing is as it seems.
The opening paragraph gives due warning of this. One has the blasted heath, the thunderstorm, the eldritch screech of "When shall we three meet again?"
Pause. "Well, I can do next Tuesday."
This book is recommended for drama queens, drama majors, and every student who has just had to read Macbeth. Break a leg getting to the bookstore if you have to, but read this book. If it makes you laugh, it will also make you think.
Book Review: Funny satire
Summary: 5 Stars
If you've ready any of Pratchett's books you don't need anyone telling you to read another -- they are funny, witty -- not always the same thing -- and cheerful. If you've never read Pratchett, get ready for a zany adventure with oddball witches and an entire planet that might have been designed by the Monty Python troupe except it's less slapstick than Python and the characters -- while strange -- seem real rather than cardboard.Book Review: Good for a chuckle
Summary: 4 Stars
Highly enjoyable, very readable, and almost as god as Men at Arms... and thats saying something. If your a discword fan you'll love it, if your new, you'll most likely buy another, and if you hate it, I'll be suprised. Nuff Said!