Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Wednesday Review: “Witches Abroad” by Terry Pratchett

Genre: Humorous Fantasy

Warnings:  Contains witches (duh), the Grim Reaper and a zombie, however the story is no worse than a Brothers Grimm tale.  If you watched Shrek or read Brother’s Grimm, then this book raises no more alarms.

 

Story:  This book takes place in Terry Pratchett’s fantasy world called The Discworld.  An elderly witch (and fairy-godmother) dies and leaves her wand to Magrat, a young and up-and-coming witch, with strict instructions to prevent a certain young servant girl from being forced to marry the Duke.  Magrat, and two other witches, then travel to a far-away kingdom to fulfil this quest having many adventures along the way.

 

Personal Opinion:  I enjoy fantasy stories, and I love Terry Pratchett’s sense of humour.  What I like about his Discworld books is that it is a completely made-up world, where anything he imagines can happen.  Even though some things are similar to the real world (for example one of the drinks in this book is a Banana Daiquiri), the entire universe is definitely 100% fictional.  He has a marvellous imagination and sense of humour.  I found myself giggling the whole way through the book, and by the time I got to the last 100 pages, I simply had to finish it.

 

Verdict:  It is a good read for anyone who enjoys fantasy stories.  The characters are detailed, and personally the book makes me feel like a child reading a fantastic fairy-tale.  It is a nice break from reality. I would compare the feel of the book to the movie “Shrek”.  I advise it for people older than 16 though, simply because of the above mentioned warnings.  The reader needs to be able to distinguish reality from fantasy.  Also, a certain level of intelligence is needed to fully appreciate the humour.

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