Review: Lords & Ladies by Sir Terry Pratchett

Publication Date: November 1^st 1993 (this edition)
Publisher: Corgi
Length: 382 pages

The fairies are back – but this time they don’t just want your teeth…
Granny Weatherwax and her tiny coven are up against real elves.
It's Midsummer Night.
No times for dreaming...
With full supporting cast of dwarfs, wizards, trolls, Morris dancers and one orang-utan. And lots of hey-nonny-nonny and blood all over the place.

Well that was intense.

It’s been well documented here over the last few months, my first foray into the Witches thread of the Discworld books, and I finally made it onto the fourth instalment, which effectively blew me away. Up until now, my favourite had been ‘Wyrd Sisters’ but something about ‘Lords & Ladies’ really clicked for me and it’s now vying for top spot.

I’ve found with past Pratchett novels that the action takes its time to build up, and the first two thirds are generally spent weaving several seemingly random stories that suddenly intertwine and snowball into a brilliant climax. Not so here. The action kicks off right from the start, and whilst there were a few sections that take their time, and storylines that amble along at their own pace, I was thoroughly hooked and engrossed in the story right from the first page.

It features some truly brilliant character development, particularly in the case of Magrat who has a real shift which was fascinating to watch unfold. But also with Granny Weatherwax, who continues to be brilliantly acidic, but with a slightly softer side she likes to keep well-hidden and cowed into submission.

This story takes stories set in motion in previous novels and builds upon them, although a brief summary at the start gives you an overview if you’re coming into this novel without the background laid out in the previous books. It also felt darker and at times scarier than I’ve come to expect from Discworld novels, which kept me on my toes and gave me chills whilst I was reading. This is definitely fairies as you’ve never seen them before, and they are not the nice kind…

All in all this is another fantastic Discworld instalment, offering brilliant character development, more acerbic wit and a brilliant melding of other stories and ideas into one insane yet brilliant whole. Pratchett has definitely found his feet within the Discworld now and it shows in one of the strongest novels I’ve read yet in the Witches thread.