Wyrd Sisters is 6th on the astonishingly successful (and becoming astonishingly epic in scope!) Discworld series. For those familiar with the series, it comes after Sourcery and before Pyramids. For those unfamiliar with the series, a little background:

Discworld is a planet in the shape of a disc, carried through space by the great space-turtle A’Tuin (and supported by four enormous elephants standing on its shell). It is a planet similar to ours in many ways, but inhabited by several mythological creatures as well as humans – trolls, dwarves, vampires, witches, wizards, and zombies for a start. In a comedy fantasy setting, these creatures get up to all manor of mischief.

The other main feature of the disc is that it is part of the multiverse. It shares the same space-time as an infinite number of other planets, such as our own, but a different dimensional plane. Because of the high-energy magical field engulfing the disc, there are times when parts of other worlds get sucked into it.

In the case of Wyrd Sisters, what’s being sucked into Discworld is inspiration - theatrical inspiration to be precise. As usual, it is being funnelled into one individual – a dwarven playwright named Hwel. He is literally bursting with inspiration, in fact it’s become rather a problem for him. Then there’s the inspiration that he finds all around him – a rather familiar-sounding incidence of a murdered king, an heir to the throne, and three hags…

Only the hags in question here are the trio of Granny Weatherwax, Nanny Ogg, and Magrat. Witches, of course, don’t have leaders – and Granny Weatherwax was the most highly-regarded of the leaders they didn’t have. Nanny Ogg is a randy old witch who really breaks the mould and has more grandchildren than follicles, while Magrat is trying hard to be taken seriously by the older witches, and completely failed. There’s also a Duke whose grasp on sanity is hanging by a particularly thin thread, his eeeeeeeeeeevil wife who would quite happily serve you a soup containing your own eyeballs if the mood took her, and a Fool who is anything but. Oh, and a rightful heir to the throne – who has no idea about his true past, and the ghost of the murdered king, who’s not at all happy about the situation.

There are plenty of laughs to be had in this book and the plot steams along at high speed, making quite a lot of noise as it crashes through the forests, the theatrical profession, and a Shakespeare play. (If you’re more familiar with Shakespeare’s plays and sonnets than I am – which wouldn’t be hard in all honesty – you’d probably find even more to enjoy in this book than I did.) It’s funny and intriguing from start to finish, with many colourful characters and a good interplay between the three witches in particular. It doesn’t quite have the satirical bite of some of Pratchett’s later books, but that doesn’t stop it from being a 5-star book in its own right. The descriptive prose is excellent and the dialogue excruciatingly funny at times. Thoroughly recommended for anyone who likes fantasy novels with a humorous twist, and of course it goes without saying that Discworld fans will love this one. It’s extremely easy to read and is a real page-turner.

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The next Discworld novel to feature the intrepid threesome of Granny Weatherwax, Nanny Ogg, and Margrat is Witches Abroad. (I did in fact prefer Witches Abroad to Wyrd Sisters, but they’re both excellent reads.)


Recommended: Yes