Terry Pratchett: A Hat Full of Sky (2004, HarperCollins)
278 pages
English language
Published Aug. 8, 2004 by HarperCollins.
Tiffany Aching, a young witch-in-training, learns about magic and responsibility as she battles a disembodied monster with the assistance of the six-inch-high Wee Free Men and Mistress Weatherwax, the greatest witch in the world.
This one is really nice. It's exciting, and it has a lot of Granny Weatherwax, next to other super cool characters, and there's even some musing on what it means to be a witch that is not only super cool, but also has Esme get sentimental! Love it.
There is plural stuff again, both the more explicit kind and more indications that being a witch means not being too singlet in general, and being comfortable with that.
Mystery! Comedy! Suspense! Adventure! Mean girls! What more could I ask for?
This is the second book in the "Tiffany Achings" series, following the excellent Wee Free Men—which I read thrice when I first encountered it!
Why am I talking about the first book? Well, because much of this book is dedicated to recap or summarize parts of it. Characters are reintroduced in detail and relevant plot points are retold in great detail. BUT, these recaps focus very much on the content and "facts" without repeating the witty prose, jokes and puns that accompanied these events in the first book. Overall, these parts just make you want to reread the first book to (re-)experience these events properly.
Next to retellings of the first book we thankfully do get a new plot and some new quirky characters. But overall, I'd say that these new characters aren't as interesting and the plot is also not as exciting. Our protagonist Tiffany is very passive …
This is the second book in the "Tiffany Achings" series, following the excellent Wee Free Men—which I read thrice when I first encountered it!
Why am I talking about the first book? Well, because much of this book is dedicated to recap or summarize parts of it. Characters are reintroduced in detail and relevant plot points are retold in great detail. BUT, these recaps focus very much on the content and "facts" without repeating the witty prose, jokes and puns that accompanied these events in the first book. Overall, these parts just make you want to reread the first book to (re-)experience these events properly.
Next to retellings of the first book we thankfully do get a new plot and some new quirky characters. But overall, I'd say that these new characters aren't as interesting and the plot is also not as exciting. Our protagonist Tiffany is very passive and mostly gets pushed around while we are dragged along. This changes only at the very end—on the last 50 pages—when Tiffany finally acts with intelligence and agency and themes of identity and self are discussed in interesting ways.
That ending alone is worth 5/5 stars, but 300 pages of mostly mediocre fluff really drag down this book as a whole. I'm very curious to see where the next book falls.
A wonderful reread, this time aloud. It's just as good the second time.
I found the first Tiffany book a bit too YA for my taste, but this one didn't hit that button at all for me. She's tough and smart, and the Wee Free Men are their usual splendid selves.
