Elves are wonderful. They provoke wonder.
Elves are marvelous. They cause marvels.
Elves are fantastic. They create fantasies.
Elves are glamorous. They project glamour.
Elves are enchanting. They weave enchantment.
Elves are terrific. They beget terror.
The thing about words is that meanings can twist just like a snake, and if you want to find snakes look for them behind words that have changed their meaning.
No one ever said elves are nice.”
I was three quarters of the way through a 900 page beast when I put the book down and wasn’t able to pick it up again for over a month…I know I’m not the only one, but pandemic brain has seriously been playing havoc on how long I can concentrate for which has had a huge impact on my reading habit.
I needed a light, fun distraction to get me going again and a chance encounter with a Terry Pratchett quote on social media reminded me that there are quite a few Discworld books still out there for me to get through. This, along with a bit of a thing for all things fae, made me pick up Lords and Ladies.
Aside from DEATH, the witches are some of my favourite characters that I’ve encountered so far in the Discworld so I was very glad to find it was them featuring in this (the wizards drive me up the wall, so I was also glad to see them used sparingly) as a Midsummer Night comes to Lancre.
If you’re not up on your Shakespeare you might miss a few of the allusions within, but the jokes are good enough for that not to really matter to the casual reader. I love the practicality of the witches (Nanny Ogg being my particular favourite) which I thought worked especially well against the elves which are more old school than from the Lord of the Rings school of elfing.
And just because the book is funny doesn’t mean that Pratchett can’t work a bit of emotional heft in too – without spoiling anything for anyone, there was a moment towards the climax where I genuinely had to swallow past a rather large lump in my throat before being made to laugh again moments later.
If you’re also struggling to read anything meaty and need something to jump-start your reading mojo again, I highly recommend a visit with Sir Terry.
