Product Description

The sixth "Discworld" novel. The witches of Discworld, not the most joyful bunch, decide that they must get involved in the politics of the planet. Granny Weatherwax, their obvious choice as spokesperson, finds that life in royal politics is not as simple as it seems.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2591 in Books
• Published on: 1989-11-10
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 251 pages

From the Back Cover
Witches are not by nature gregarious, and they certainly don't have leaders.

Granny Weatherwax was the most highly-regarded of the leaders they didn't have.

But even she found that meddling in royal politics was a lot more difficult than certain playwrights would have you believe...

Wyrd Sisters is the sixth novel in the Discworld sequence - the funniest fantasy series ever.

About the Author
Terry Pratchett's Discworld series is a publishing phenomenon. He was knighted in the 2009 New Year Honours; previously he was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for services to literature in 1998. He has been awarded six honorary doctorates, and has won the Carnegie Medal and the Michael Prinz Award. He lives near Salisbury in Wiltshire.

Customer Reviews

All the Disc's a stage--and the players are hilarious
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.

A vintage wine improves as it gets older
I read this book soon after it was first published 14 years ago, and I have just re-read it.

It's as funny as ever (provided you really know Macbeth), but the really impressive thing is that, even when you have read all the other novels in which the characters have subsequently developed, they remain consistent. Granny Weatherwax is still gloriously herself - never confusing being good with being nice - and Magrat the junior witch is a recognisably immature version of Queen Magrat. The gags never get in the way of the personalities.

The Discworld books may be funny, and they may have started as spoofs on swords-and-sorcery literature (of which I read more than I care to remember when I was an adolescent), but this is *real* literature.

A great parody with a serious message
Having read 1/2 dozen of this series, I think the best ones involve Granny Weatherwax - a highly formidable lady. Nanny Ogg is hilarious,and I can identify with Margat, the well-meaning but unconfident young witch who gets bossed around by the older two. This novel sees Pratchett doing his own amusing take on Macbeth, also ripping off the Sleeping Beauty fairytale. But he also uses the book to make the serious point that stories are powerful and can be used to change history (or at least our memory of it). Maybe he makes this point as the play Macbeth is historically dubious (Shakespeare not wanting to offend Queen Elizabeth). In this book, as usual, Pratchett borrows heavily from others, but he is so good at parody that he gets away with it.