Rating: 
Summary: terry pratchett is a genius
Review: terry pratchett is a genius....amazingly funny, extraordinarily insightful. to use laugh out loud hilarity to see the real of things not merely in discworld but as extensions to our world is a most unusual, rare and wonderful talent. i started with his and neil gaiman's "good omens," as fabulous and funny an apocalypse book as anyone could wish for and have since read all his discworld books and loved each and every one. "the wee free men" though written ostensibly for children/teens is certainly to be enjoyed by all. tiffany, the young heroine "hag" (or witch,) is engaging, knowable, and human. the wee free men, the nac mac feegles, are very small "pictsies"...blue men with red hair and tattoos, always ready for a fight or a pint. picture 6 inch blue and red scots soccer hooligans and you've about got it. the adventure they and tiffany go on is just that, adventurous and fun and i laughed till i cried at some bits. but there is a bigger message, a deeper meaning to it, that does make one want to sit up a little straighter, do a little better, take time to see the world as it truly is...there is a joy to be found in the smallest and largest deeds, people, rocks, stars, grass, ocean and so on in our universe. terry pratchett's gift is that he lets us see all that and laugh along the way. and isn't that the way life should be?
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Summary: They won't be fooled again! (Er, the Nac Mac Feegle that is)
Review: Terry Pratchett is one of the funniest writers alive. Who else could leave their readers laughing so hard that their guts are spilling out of their sides over the actions of a piece of luggage? (Earlier Discworld novel.)
It's been many years since I've read a Discworld novel, and I'm disappointed that I allowed so much time to elapse. I thought that Pratchett, like Piers Anthony, would have lost the freshness of his work. Boy was I wrong. NEVER make assumptions. As he did many years ago, Pratchett has told an engaging, interesting story, and filled it with sensational humor.
The story, centers around nine year old Tiffany, a "witch-to-be". Another world is colliding with hers, and all of the monsters are coming back. A witch from yet a different world is concerned that Tiffany can't handle the defense herself, and leaves to get help. But Tiffany is headstrong (a good quality for a witch) and insists on defending HER world on HER terms.
She also has the help of the Nac Mac Feegle - otherwise known as The Wee Free Men, blue skinned leprechaun-like fairy creatures whose priorities are stealing, drinking, and fighting - not necessarily in that order, and they're more than happy to have a good row to determine the order. They stand roughly six inches tall, but are so strong that trolls (we assume here that a troll is much, much larger than a Nac Mac Feegle) run away from them. There is only one thing they fear: lawyers.
As usual, Pratchett is a satirist here, and he spoofs what are becoming clichés in the post Harry Potter world. His observations on that account are both funny and enlightening, without being insulting.
The ending seems to be a "homage-montage" of sorts, offering nods to Alice in Wonderland, The Chronicles of Amber, and other works. Tiffany finds herself beset with challenges that the brute strength of the Nac Mac Feegle can't solve, so she must struggle and face them with what she possesses most: common sense.
I have only one problem with this novel, and it is that there isn't a nine year old girl alive that's capable of what Tiffany is capable of - and that's no insult to nine year old girls, believe me! I wonder if, perhaps, Pratchett should have assigned her age at thirteen or fourteen - but even then I'm hard pressed to accept her remarkable resiliency and maturity under pressure.
But that's the only problem. It's an ingenious book, from beginning to end, and will entertain several different lobes of your brain at once - something most of Pratchett's books do quite well.
Rating:
Summary: Crivens! A Very Good Book
Review: Terry Pratchett won a Carnegie Medal for his first children's book set in his Discworld, "The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents." He has a good shot at a second award for "Wee Free Men." It's that good.Nine year old Tiffany Aching was born on The Chalk. The Achings have lived on The Chalk and tended their sheep for centuries. Tiffany's grandmother was the matriarch of the Aching clan, and while she never called herself a witch, she never denied it, either. Tiffany is still trying to adjust to the death of her grandmother, and to the birth of her sticky little brother, Wentworth, when she is attacked by a monster out of Faerie. One thing leads to another, and before long she must rescue her brother from Faerie, be the kelda of the Nac Mac Feegle, the Wee Free Men of the title, and save the world from the terrors of Faerie. Because there is no one else. One of Pratchett's many skills is inversion. In "Amazing Maurice," he inverted the Pied Piper of Hamlin. In "Wee Free Men," he inverts children's fairy tales in general. Instead of a magic sword, Tiffany has a plain old iron frying pan. Instead of a wise mentor, she has a toad who used to be a lawyer. Instead of an army, she has the Nac Mac Feegle. The Queen of Faerie, Tiffany's antagonist, is about as far from a noble Tolkien elf as you can get. Because the Queen of Faery has the power to steal your dreams, your worst nightmares, and trap you inside them. And Tiffany must confront the Queen on her own ground, in the land of nightmares, where the monsters are terrifying and real. You don't have to reflect very long to understand Pratchett is working at several levels. The themes are meaningful and accessible to children without the slightest condescension. Some of the characters - the Queen herself, the Nac Mac Feegle, and wonderful cameos at the end of the story - are familiar from other stories. But as was the case with "Amazing Maurice," you don't have to know the other Pratchett stories to relish "Wee Free Men." This is masterful story-telling, hysterically funny and very scary by turn. Pratchett is very, very good, and this story is one of his best. Highly recommended to both children and adults.
Rating:
Summary: Humor Rates the Five Stars
Review: This book was recommended to me by a friend that I consider to have a similar sense of humor, but I was not prepared for how funny this book is. It takes a while to get going, sometimes it was a bit confusing at first -- probably a function of not being able to read it straight through -- but once the story pieces are in place, it rollicks right along. Not that the entire book is funny, but the parts that are stick with you. I found myself trying to explain passages to my spouse and ignoring the fact that so much of the humor is inexplicable out of context. For starters, if you don't think the fact that many of the supporting characters are "pictsies" instead of "pixies" and are dressed accordingly is at least a teeny bit funny, you may be reading the wrong book. Some of the reviewers on this site have complained about the thick Nac Mac Feegle accents, but I think that style only serves to increase the giggle factor. Especially as an Amurrican who gets a kick out of how different peoples speak to one another.
There are storytelling elements that will feel familiar. I found myself having thoughts of the Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe as I was reading about the evil Queen and her land of eternal winter, though that may have been a conscious nod to the classic fantasy genre on Mr. Pratchett's part.
On the whole, however, this book gets 5 stars so that other people will read it. I am a certified book junkie who has had to limit the additions to my collection because it is getting too large. This one made the cut for purchase after I finished the copy I had checked out of the public library. I like to imagine that when my kids grow up, this will be the kind of book that they too will enjoy.
It was certainly good enough for me to write my first review for Amazon, a site I've been using since 1997.
Rating:
Summary: Pratchett ant his best.
Review: Well, Pratchett is on everybody's mouth by now (and if he isn't something's seriously wrong) so I would consider him a must read, at least if you have a sense of humor that is. As a satire, it inspires thought, as a children's story, is filled with, well I don't know, but any kid introduced to Pratchett should become an avid reader (or burn at the stake). Don't read the review, buy the book.
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