Wyrd Sisters

When Duke Felmet kills King Verence and names himself the new King of Lancre, Verence's ghost haunts the castle and his young son is smuggled out of the kingdom and taken to a coven of three witches for protection. These witches bestow three gifts upon the baby and place him with the owner of an acting troupe. The new king is an evil one, and the entire kingdom (animal, vegetable, and mineral) expresses its displeasure. How could the witches possibly refrain from using their magic skills to meddle in royal politics, place the rightful heir on the throne, and set things right? "Wyrd Sisters" is the sixth title in the Discworld series, and with each book, author Terry Pratchett keeps getting better and better. The story is a clever parody of Shakespeare from the opening scene onwards. It's a fast-paced romp through a pastiche of scenes, themes, and lines from Macbeth, Hamlet, Julius Caesar, King Lear, As You Like It, and many more, all unified into an entertaining whole. Pratchett also throws in references to Tolkien, Alice in Wonderland, the Wizard of Oz, and Sleeping Beauty (not to mention others I have probably missed). The witches are my favorite Discworld characters, and with good reason. Their personalities are drawn to perfection, and each of them is endearing in her own way. Granny Weatherwax, who was first introduced in "Equal Rites," is the feisty, powerful, no-nonsense witch who believes in headology. Nanny Ogg is the grandmotherly witch who loves drinking and bawdy songs. Magrat Garlick is the young, idealistic New Age witch who likes spells to be performed just so, and who falls in love with the court Fool. The interactions and squabbles between the three witches are hilarious. You don't have to like Shakespeare to appreciate this book, although a passing knowledge of at least Hamlet and Macbeth will enhance the enjoyment. Nor do you have to be a fan of fantasy fiction. You just need a good sense of humor, because this book is wickedly funny all the way through. Even the footnotes will make you laugh. I can't recommend this book highly enough. You will be bewitched by it! Eileen Rieback

Although we first met Granny Weatherwax in Equal Rites, Wyrd Sisters gives us the three witches-Granny, Nanny Ogg, and Magrat Garlick-in all of their glory. These are my favorite characters in the Discworld, and loud peals of laughter are always to be found when this remarkable coven of witches gets together. The story itself is a thoroughly Pratchett-like concoction of Shakespeare, fairy tales, satire, and infinitely rich comedy. The king of Lancre, much to his surprise, has been murdered by the Macbethian Duke Felmet, and he is not at all happy about this. No one, in fact, is happy, including the very kingdom itself, which physically shows its rage at having a new king who despises his own royal domain. The witches are also not happy, as the Duke works continually to discredit them among the people-Granny Weatherwax just doesn't have any truck with that at all. Of course, in a story such as this, there has to be a long-lost child of the murdered king who will eventually come back to right the wrongs done his father and dethrone the regal malefactor-or something along those lines, anyway. Things are never quite that simple on the Discworld.The antics of the witches are hilarious. Granny Weatherwax is a stalwart personality who never admits she might be wrong or that there is something she is not familiar with. Nanny Ogg is a rather worldly witch who enjoys nothing more than getting blasted and drunkenly singing about hedgehogs or the fact that a wizard's staff has a knob on the end. Then there is young Magrat, quite plain in appearance, who believes the traditional ways of witchcraft are best and whose sometimes naïve, positive nature often conflicts with the thinking of her older cohorts; you have to love her, really. Her romance of sorts with the shy king's Fool is a rather comical yet sweet subplot to the novel. My favorite scene, one of the funniest I have ever read, concerns the witches' trip to the theatre; Granny has no understanding of theatre or drama, and her increasingly raucous reactions to the performance she sees is not to be missed. You don't have to know Shakespeare intimately in order to enjoy the numerous allusions to his work, particularly Macbeth and Hamlet, but I decided to read those two plays before reading Wyrd Sisters in order to make sure I caught as much of the comedy as possible. From the attempts of the duke to wash the blood from his hands to the manipulations of the duchess to the performance of a drama in order to call out the murderous king for his treacherous deeds, this fictional cauldron is swimming with Shakespearean ingredients. It's remarkably witty on a number of levels, yet the constant humor does nothing to take away from an intriguing and not wholly predictable plot. Even if you don't agree that the three "wyrd sisters" are the funniest and most remarkable characters inhabiting the Discworld, I do not see how you could possibly fail to find much enjoyment and humor in this novel.

Wyrd Sisters, the sixth Discworld novel by Terry Pratchett, is a very funny take-off of MacBeth. The Shakespearean allusions were a bit above my head without reading the online annotations, but even without that I found I was laughing a great deal. Plus, it has an interesting story playing on the old "lost son of a king" cliché.The three witches are my least favourite of the sub-series that Pratchett has in Discworld. Of course, that's because the other two (City Watch, Death) are so good, not because the witches are bad. They are still well worth the price of admission into their stories. Granny Weatherwax is a curmudgeon of sorts, often speaking of how the new people are "getting ideas" put in their head. "'Modern,' said Granny Weatherwax with a sniff. `When I was a gel, we had a lump of wax and a couple of pins and had to be content. We had to make our own enchantment in them days.'" She doesn't understand a lot of new things, like theatre. In fact, one of the funniest scenes in the book is when Magrat and Nanny Ogg take her to the theatre and she tries to intervene in what's happening on stage.Nanny Ogg and Magrat are wonderful creations as well. Nanny is old, but she's a lot more open-minded. She can understand a lot of the new ideas going around. She's also good at what she does. Another great scene is when Felmet and his wife try to torture her. Let's just say it doesn't quite work. Magrat is the young witch, who thinks that symbols are very important. When they try to summon a demon to help them, she's the one who thinks that they need the "proper" ingredients in order to do it, rather than the makeshift ones that the other two bring in. Together, the threesome is a very entertaining bunch. The incidental characters are marvelous as well. There's the Fool, who only became a Fool because it was a family tradition. He really hates it. There's Hwel, the dwarf who never took to mining, so he became a playwright. Death makes a few appearances as well, also making his stage debut in a riotous manner. There isn't a wasted character in the bunch, and they are all well-rounded individuals who are interesting to read about.The plot is excellent as well. The only thing that marred it for me was the extensive Shakespearean allusions, and that's only because I didn't understand half of them. There were times when I knew I was missing a joke, which became a bit frustrating. It's one thing to miss a joke and not even see it, but when you see it but don't understand it, it's a bit of a letdown. Still, if it encourages people to go back to the original plays and read them, then so much the better. The book doesn't suffer for all of this, though. It is still a very entertaining read without it.This is a wonderful beginning to the Three Witches sub-series. I look forward to reading more of them. It's an excellent place to start your entry into Discworld.

Although Terry Pratchett has abandoned non-stop satire in his Discworld books after "The Light Fantastic," "Wyrd Sisters" is as much a satire as it is a character and world-building novel, this time taking some very solid shots at William Shakespeare, "Macbeth," "Hamlet," the popular conception(s) of witches, and even a bit of a riff on fairy tales.A jealous relative has killed the King of Lancre, who is now stuck (literally) haunting his castle. But his infant son has been delivered into the care of three witches, including the formidable Granny Weatherwax, who refuse to meddle in politics. Well, that's what they say, anyway ...As a Shakespeare enthusiast, I found the parodies of both plays spot on and very fun -- elements of it hold up very favorably next to "Shakespeare in Love" -- and as a fan of fantasy novels, I was delighted to see how Pratchett handled the problem of needing (REALLY needing) to get a usurper off the throne with an heir to the throne who's not even potty trained.A word of warning: The hamhanded marketing copy in the back pages of the book promoting the Discworld series gives away the end of this novel. I'm not sure what they were thinking there ...Although I mostly prefer the Unseen University novels, "Wyrd Sisters" is easily one of my favorite Discworld novels, and indeed, novels in general. Whole-heartedly recommended to fans of Discworld, Shakespeare or fantasy with a sense of humor.

Like Tom Stoppard (amongst others) before him, Terry Pratchett has re-written Shakespeare, shifting focus to a group of secondary characters. Where Stoppard switches the hub of "Hamlet" to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, Pratchett uses "Macbeth"s three witches, the so-called "Wyrd Sisters". He also replaces Scotland with a giant, interstellar Discworld, perched atop four gigantic elephants, who are themselves perched atop an even more giant turtle. Needless to say, Shakespeare's original does not come away unscathed.Pratchett tosses around numerous parodic references to "Macbeth" (i.e., the opening scene where an eerie voice asks, "When shall we three meet again?" and a deadpan voice replies "Well, I can do next Tuesday"; people are constantly seeing daggers before them, or at least thinking they do). It should be noted that a familiarity with the original text is not important to your enjoyment here. I haven't read the play in about five years, and still caught enough to stay with the joke. References to other plays abound as well. "Hamlet" (a tightfisted theatre director decrees that "the pay's the thing", then swiftly corrects himself), "Romeo and Juliet", and "Richard III" are all prominently featured and lampooned."Wyrd Sisters" also features the finest example of an ensemble cast so far seen in any of the Discworld books. Each character is distinct and interesting, not to mention integral to the plot. My favourites include: Tomjon, the unknown heir who is a great example of how a passion for the theatre can stand side-by-side with more conventional magic; Hwel (Will?), a dwarf playwright, who at one point almost invents the stage personas of the Marx Brothers (yay!), Laurel & Hardy, and Charlie Chaplin; Granny Weatherwax, who first appeared in "Equal Rites" and now has her own odd but endearing coven to deal with; Verence, late King of Lancre, who is doomed to hang around his old castle as a frustrated and ineffectual ghost; and Greebo, a cat best described as a feline rapist, for his prodigious spreading of the seed. But my favourite character is The Fool, a Shakespearean staple given a surprising amount of depth here. The Fool is allowed to feel love and despair, the former for the young witch Magrat, and the latter for his fated placement in a job that he despises. Normally a device for exposition, here The Fool is a full-fledged, living and breathing character. A wonderful creation.To me, this is the first in the series which gets all the elements right. Pratchett throws in enough references to keep fans of those continually happy. He has created an eclectic and fascinating cast of characters. And fashioned a story that is involving, complex, intriguing, funny, and supremely entertaining. It's not the proper place to start your journey through the Discworld, but for those of you amongst the initiated, don't make the mistake of skipping "Wyrd Sisters".