Book Rating: ★★★★☆ (4/5 stars)
Audio Book Rating: ★★★★☆ (4/5 stars)
Total Rating: ★★★★☆ (4/5 stars)
Stories exist independently of their players. If you know that, knowledge is power.
Certainly, understanding the power of a story, you have undeniable power. Terry Pratchett explores the mere power of the story through the adventure of Magrat Garlick, Granny Weatherwax, and Nanny Ogg across the Discworld to Genua after Fairy Godmother Desirata passes away. But why would they go to stop a servant girl from marry a prince? Isn’t that every girl’s dream?
Not when the girl is merely a player entwined in her fake destiny.
My knowledge of Terry Pratchett comes initially from his collaboration with Neil Gaiman on Good Omens. A friend of mine recommended this book to me as a fun, lighthearted story to dive into Terry Pratchett’s Discworld. And what a way to enter it!
A world where stories are brought to life by a rogue fairy godmother means chaos ensues: a frog prince, a sleezy cat-turned-man, and a fairy godmother with a knack for pumpkins, just to name a few. Plus with characters as endearing and witchy as Magrat, Granny Weatherwax, and Nanny Ogg, you’ll want to go on this wacky adventure with them.
Pratchett’s writing can get a little cumbersome, and part of this may be due to the audio book performance, but I found myself zoning out in some parts…not that it was hard to find my way back into the story. Just like the stories they are trying to stop, the three witches are a product of their own tale…and ultimately, as tales are supposed to go, they reach Genua to stop the rogue fairy godmother. Perhaps, really, they were just pawns in the story Desiderata wanted to tell before her death.
So be wary of the stories around you. Because perhaps, you’re just a mere pawn in the game.
What’s it about?
Once upon a time there was a fairy godmother named Desiderata who had a good heart, a wise head, and poor planning skills—which unfortunately left the Princess Emberella in the care of her other (not quite so good and wise) godmother when DEATH came for Desiderata. So now it’s up to Magrat Garlick, Granny Weatherwax, and Nanny Ogg to hop on broomsticks and make for far-distant Genua to ensure the servant girl doesn’t marry the Prince.
But the road to Genua is bumpy, and along the way the trio of witches encounters the occasional vampire, werewolf, and falling house (well this is a fairy tale, after all). The trouble really begins once these reluctant foster-godmothers arrive in Genua and must outwit their power-hungry counterpart who’ll stop at nothing to achieve a proper “happy ending”—even if it means destroying a kingdom.
E.S. Barrison 