Witches Abroad

Rating:
Summary: The FUNNIEST of them all!
Review: Unlike the Watch and Death novels, even some others in the Witch subseries, this book makes little pretense to deliver Pratchett's 3-P's--profundities, politics and philosophy--although we do get something of a political lesson on the perils of utopianism. It's the funniest of all the Discworld stories. Even rereading it, I find myself laughing until I get tears in my ears.

WITCHES ABROAD lampoons just about every tourism cliche, and I suppose I got the biggest laughs from the parodies of riverboat gamblers on the Vieux (Ol' Man) River and Mardi Gras ("Fat Lunchtime" according to Nanny), plus a voodoo witch with a Russian name and a baba yaga house, which made her even funnier. Every fairy tale you can imagine is parodied and twisted around, even modern ones like THE WIZARD OF OZ. But the best lampoon is the hysterical two page Hemingway send-up in the bull chase sequence, turning that author's infamous cojones and humorlessness into something side-splitting.

In spite of her inner urgings, which are brought out most forcefully in this novel, Granny Weatherwax is her usual sour but fundamentally decent self, making us prefer her direct tactlessness to her sister's slick manipulation. "Tact" is something Granny ignores. She perpetrates every paranoid suspicion generated by "ugly American" tourists and their British counterparts, and I've met both kinds while traveling in Europe. Nanny Ogg is almost too eager to communicate, and too certain of her "forn" vocabulary. Her malapropisms of languages and cuisine (crap suzette, anyone?) had me collapsing with laughter. Magrat, who for the most part bids farewell to the subseries after the next book, LORDS & LADIES, may be a wet hen but begins to show some mettle. Certainly she demonstrates good sense when she objects to the servant girl's name, Emberella, as sounding like "something you'd put up to keep the rain off."

There's so much more that will keep you giggling -- a continuation of Pratchett's dwarf bread jokes, Greebo the Cat's amazing transformation, Nanny's introduction to the very short great lover Casanunda (whose name is one of of Pratchett's best puns). All in all, WITCHES ABROAD would make a wonderful Christmas present for anyone who needs cheering up. Since it's readily available in bookstores around here, why is it currently NOT available through this website?

Rating:
Summary: A great book for anybody interested in fantasy!
Review: When the fairy godmother, Desiderata died, the discworld was short one godmother because she didn't train anybody to take her place. When digging around in her home, two witches, Nanny Ogg and Granny Weatherwax fail to find the wand of the deceased. Later they find out that Desiderata had given her wand to a young witch named Magrat Garlick. Along with the wand, she is given a mission to travel to the city of Genua, on the other side of the discworld, and stop a marriage arranged by a rival fairy godmother, Lilith de Tempscire. All three witches embark on an interesting journey across parts of the discworld they have never seen. They encounter gnomes, gypsies, and kingdoms that were ruined by Lilith. When they arrive in the city, they end their exciting mission, meeting new and interesting people and meeting Magrat's goddaughter. This is a must read for anybody interested in fantasy. Terry Pratchett accomplishes a lot with his three main characters. He also adds in his share of comedy, which lightens the mood, and makes the book a more enjoyable read.

Rating:
Summary: "Tempers fuggit"
Review: When witches, Granny Weatherwax, Nanny Ogg, Magrat Garlick, and Nanny's cat Greebo journey abroad, the resulting travel guide is a Pratchettesque version of 'Dave Barry Does Oz in Drag.'

And speaking of Oz and witches, it's a good idea to be wearing a wicker-reinforced pointy hat if a house does happen to fall on your head. Even Dorothy and Glinda the Good might shy away from stealing the red boots of the witch that the farmhouse did to land on. This particular witch writes home:

"PS the privies here are DESGUSTING, they have them INDORES, so much for HIGEINE."

Genua, the witches' destination, resembles a Dismal Swamp version of Disney World. You'll be humming Disney tunes all the way through "Witches Abroad," when you're not humming tunes from "The Wizard of Oz," or laughing hysterically. You won't be able to stop yourself.

This book is even dedicated to song, or more precisely to all those people "who, after the publication of 'Wyrd Sisters,' deluged the author with their version of the words of 'The Hedgehog Song.' Deary deary me..."

Along with the above-mentioned Wyrd Sisters, this tale has a fairy godmother who believes in, nay _orchestrates_ happy endings even if it means chopping off the hands and heads of folks who are inclined to be grumpy. (Doesn't that sound like something Walt Disney might have done?) So when Granny, Nanny, Magrat, and Greebo make a splash landing in Genua, already tempery after a journey involving grandma-munching wolves, falling farmhouses, and larcenous riverboat gamblers---well, there's bound to be a confrontation.

You might want to read "Wyrd Sisters" before launching into "Witches Abroad," although time doesn't exactly flow in a straight line on Pratchett's Discworld. (It flows over the edge of the world and down onto the elephants who are standing on top of the turtle.) "Lords and Ladies" sort of loop-de-loops along after "Witches Abroad," and then Granny Weatherwax and Nanny Ogg pop up again in "Maskerade." I just read them in the order I get them, and ignore sequence. As Nanny Ogg once said, "tempers fuggit."

If you're hung up on sequence, you probably won't care for Discworld, anyway.

Rating:
Summary: Granny and Nanny and Garlick -- Oh, My!
Review: Witches Abroad (4/5) - This is the most character-centered of the Witch books, and one of the funniest: I'd say it does not quite have the same quality of storytelling as _Wyrd Sisters_ and _Maskerade_, but makes up for it with the increased depth of the witch characters. When fairy godmother Desiderata dies, she leaves her magic wand to Magrat Garlick, the young "wet hen" of the witch trio Weatherwax, Ogg, and Garlick. For the first 200 pages or so, this book is an enjoyable if meandering travelogue, as the witches fly, walk, and ride across the disc on their way to the city of Genua, unintentionally blundering into, and rewriting, various fairy tales along the way. Then the plot kicks into higher gear, and for the next 150 pages or so we're in Genua trying to save the young Snow White-like Princess Emberella from her fate, to marry the prince Duc. We're fighting against the tide of storyhood itself, orchestrated by the mysterious Lilith, and opposed by voodoo priestess Mrs. Gogol and the mysterious zombie Saturday. The cast is a strange group, but don't worry; other than the witches, most of them don't matter very much in the resolution of the plot, which happens quickly and without much in the way of suspense. The theme of this novel is storytelling itself and the way in which stories, like history, repeat themselves and draw us along after them. The book is rounded out with the dwarf Casanunda, cajun food, and banana daiquiris, but the high points are, very simply, Granny Weatherwax, Nanny Ogg, and... not Magrat, who comes off a bit flat by comparison to the other two, but the tomcat Greebo, who gets some of the funniest scenes when he takes on human form.

Rating:
Summary: Genius
Review: Witches abroad is a hilarious tale of three tourists in a foreign city, of course these tourists are nanny granny and magrat. From local cuisine, to flower festivals these women certainly make an impact on a new city.

With stories on the loose the witches must stop cinders marrying the prince, otherwise its pumpkins!! Godmothers, little girls in red hoods, and.....zombies.

An excellent read for all pratchett fans and anyone who love the withches, gets you chuckling from the very start. The main story is fab but as always with pratchett its the little scenes inbetween that get you rolling around on the floor, don't miss Nanny's postcard home, its a classic.

Rating:
Summary: Genius
Review: Witches abroad is a hilarious tale of three tourists in a foreign city, of course these tourists are nanny granny and magrat. From local cuisine, to flower festivals these women certainly make an impact on a new city.

With stories on the loose the witches must stop cinders marrying the prince, otherwise its pumpkins!! Godmothers, little girls in red hoods, and.....zombies.

An excellent read for all pratchett fans and anyone who love the withches, gets you chuckling from the very start. The main story is fab but as always with pratchett its the little scenes inbetween that get you rolling around on the floor, don't miss Nanny's postcard home, its a classic.

Rating:
Summary: Great! Highly recommend it
Review: Witches Abroad, by Terry Pratchett, concerns witches Gytha Ogg, Granny Weatherwax, and the newly appointed fairy godmother, Magrat. I wasn't sure about this at first, since the last book by Pratchett I read involving witches, Equal Rites, was somewhat of a disappointment (I still recommend it, just not as much as this one), but this book is a blast. It involves the aforementioned witches' travels to the distant city of Genua, where they have to stop a young girl from marrying a prince. The book pokes fun at numerous fairy-tales (On the Discworld, stories are an important part of reality) and, as usual for Pratchett, has the perfect blend of humor and serious moments. I highly recommend it.

Rating:
Summary: It's those foreign people bein' all...foreign and stuff
Review: Witches Abroad, the 12th novel in Terry Pratchett's Discworld series, features the return of the Witches after the events of Wyrd Sisters. It's a very effective book that shows the true power of stories in the world. On the Disc, stories have a power of their own and reality changes itself to conform to the grooves etched out by a story. The story is a living, breathing entity and modifies the people involved in it. It's also a darn funny book, though not quite up with the rest of the Discworld books in that regard.

Witches Abroad takes our witches and puts them in a bunch of new situations, letting us learn more and more about them. Thankfully, the situations are also hilariously funny, made even funnier by Granny's reaction to them. She bulls forward without stopping, demanding that the world conform to her demands instead of the other way around. So what if they do things different in another land? They'd better just start doing things her way while she's there. It was a real treat, and really demonstrated how fun these characters can be.

Of course, Granny gets the most character development, as events in the book start to take on a more personal note. She's actually afraid, which is a first, and it's slightly unsettling to see her like that. But she doesn't lose any of her charm as she intimidates some dwarfs, grouses that Magrat is running around in pants(!) and generally remains her crotchety self. She is probably the funniest character in the book because of all this. There is a priceless scene on a riverboat where she works to retrieve the money Nanny lost gambling with some card sharks. It's simply wonderful to behold as she shows how, even though she may not understand the customs of foreign parts, she has a street-level knowledge that no one is a match for. It's probably my favourite scene in the book.

Nanny is also very well done, especially when she shows off her knowledge of all these foreign countries (even if a lot of it is wrong). She's the most experienced of the witches in the game of life, as she's been around the block or two. I was familiar with Casanunda, the world's second greatest lover, from a subsequent Witches book that I read first. This is the book where Nanny meets him, and she's the only character that he could interact with and be at all funny. She "knows the ways of the world," so to speak, and thus finds his advances touching and amusing. She's also the only person who understands Granny and can keep any sort of leash on her. Thus, she plays an important part by being Granny's sounding board and confidante. Her letters home to her son are great fun as well, especially when she says that they ordered "steak tartar" and everybody looked at her funny when she said she wanted it well-done.

The other characters are pretty good, too, if unremarkable. Magrat continues to be the "straight man" to all of the fun, and she constantly gets into fights with Granny over what they're going to do. Having read Lords & Ladies (the next book in the Witches series) already, I saw the beginnings of what was to happen there. I don't know if it meant more because of that or not, but it did make it interesting. Unfortunately, other than that, she's not that intriguing. I did like the trouble she was having with her new power, and how it took on a distinctly Halloweenish tinge. The other minor characters have their moments and are amusing, but they're not really anything special.

The story moves along at a brisk pace, and is fairly short (about 285 pages). For awhile, I was beginning to wonder if they would ever get to Genua, or if this would be more of a travelogue. There are many humorous stories that take place on their trip, from the Dwarven mountain to the riverboat and to a castle full of sleeping people. Many fairy tales are parodied here, and even more are parodied by Nanny or Granny talking about them. There are too many to mention here, though, and half the fun is seeing how Pratchett twists them to meet his own needs. The book does begin to drag a little bit during their travels, however, and is only lightened up again when they stumble upon another fairy tale being acted out. There were times I wished he'd just move on and do something else, and then he finally did and everything was all right. I also really loved the mirror motif throughout the story, and how mirrors can amplify magical power, especially if you stand between them and let them reflect back and forth. I thought this was nicely done and original.

This is a very satisfying addition to the Discworld mythos, and it's also a quick and easy read. You will laugh a lot during it, so read it if you need a pick-me-up. Pratchett does it again, and I can't wait to read the rest of his books that I haven't yet. The Witches have quickly grown into my favourite cast of Discworld characters, and it was good to read another of their adventures. This book is fine to read by itself as an introduction to the Witches, but it's even better if you read Wyrd Sisters first.

David Roy

Rating:
Summary: Once Upon a Time . . . Or Is It?
Review: You know the story. The poor servant girl who gets to wear glass slippers and go to the ball marries the prince and lives happily ever after. That was before Terry Pratchett got ahold of the tale and put a few twists in it. Magrat Garlick, youngest member of a coven of witches, has just become a fairy godmother-wand and all. Though the wand seems to be hopelessly set on pumpkins for some reason. And she's got an assignment: to travel to the far away magical city of Genua and stop Emberella from going to the ball. Joining her on this quest is the earthy and often double entendre Nanny Ogg and the ever popular Granny Weatherwax.

Don't expect any kind of typical adventure tale here. Any one who has read Terry Pratchett knows that it won't be long until these three wyrd sisters traversing in "foreign parts" turn every familiar story topsy turvy in a combination of hysterical footnotes, hilarious reactions (check out how the witches deal with the running of the bulls) and sometimes downright poignant observations on humanity. Terry's humor is never devoid of the heart that keeps his work from becoming merely clever and slapstick. Instead, this book reads as an insightful look at human nature and the nature of stories, and how the two are intertwined.

This is Terry Pratchett's 12th Discworld novel and American fans who have been trying to get ahold of Pratchett's earlier work will be delighted to add this book to their collection. For new readers, (I'm a little envious of anyone discovering Pratchett for the first time) your journey into the wonderful, hysterical, whimsical and insightful Discworld novels has only just begun. There are more than twenty six tales of the Discworld to explore. This reprinted paperback version has a sneak peek at Pratchett's next release, NIGHT WATCH, at the back of the book. If you enjoy this book, please check out the rest of Mr. Pratchett's Discworld novels. To start at the beginning of stories featuring Granny Weatherwax, EQUAL RITES is her first introduction, but the better start is WYRD SISTERS which introduces the entire coven. The book to look for following WITCHES ABROAD is LORDS AND LADIES, this is the next book featuring Granny and the coven after their return from foreign parts.

Happy Reading! Shanshad ^_^

Rating:
Summary: Once Upon a Time . . . Or Is It?
Review: You know the story. The poor servant girl who gets to wear glass slippers and go to the ball marries the prince and lives happily ever after. That was before Terry Pratchett got ahold of the tale and put a few twists in it. Magrat Garlick, youngest member of a coven of witches, has just become a fairy godmother-wand and all. Though the wand seems to be hopelessly set on pumpkins for some reason. And she's got an assignment: to travel to the far away magical city of Genua and stop Emberella from going to the ball. Joining her on this quest is the earthy and often double entendre Nanny Ogg and the ever popular Granny Weatherwax.

Don't expect any kind of typical adventure tale here. Any one who has read Terry Pratchett knows that it won't be long until these three wyrd sisters traversing in "foreign parts" turn every familiar story topsy turvy in a combination of hysterical footnotes, hilarious reactions (check out how the witches deal with the running of the bulls) and sometimes downright poignant observations on humanity. Terry's humor is never devoid of the heart that keeps his work from becoming merely clever and slapstick. Instead, this book reads as an insightful look at human nature and the nature of stories, and how the two are intertwined.

This is Terry Pratchett's 12th Discworld novel and American fans who have been trying to get ahold of Pratchett's earlier work will be delighted to add this book to their collection. For new readers, (I'm a little envious of anyone discovering Pratchett for the first time) your journey into the wonderful, hysterical, whimsical and insightful Discworld novels has only just begun. There are more than twenty six tales of the Discworld to explore. This reprinted paperback version has a sneak peek at Pratchett's next release, NIGHT WATCH, at the back of the book. If you enjoy this book, please check out the rest of Mr. Pratchett's Discworld novels. To start at the beginning of stories featuring Granny Weatherwax, EQUAL RITES is her first introduction, but the better start is WYRD SISTERS which introduces the entire coven. The book to look for following WITCHES ABROAD is LORDS AND LADIES, this is the next book featuring Granny and the coven after their return from foreign parts.

Happy Reading! Shanshad ^_^