Tiffany Aching is a witch. And she thinks she's doing a good job for the people of the Chalk. Even if the job does seem to involve a lot of bandaging legs and cutting old ladies' toenails and not much, well, magic.
Or sleep.
But somewhere - some time - there's a tangled ball of evil and spite, of hatred and malice, that has woken up. And it's waking up all of the old stories too - stories about evil old witches.
Suddenly Tiffany isn't so sure she's doing the right thing. And her tiny allies - the fightin' Nac Mac Feegles - are only making things more difficult.
Things are supposed to look better after a good night's sleep.
But they won't.
They're about to get a lot, lot worse.
And a witch has to deal with what is in front of her...
Discworld Series:
(there are too many books in the Discworld series to list them all so I'll just list the ones featuring Tiffany Aching)
The Wee Free Men
A Hat Full of Sky
Wintersmith
I Shall Wear Midnight
Visit Terry Pratchett's website for more information
Review:
Tiffany is now 16 years old and has finished her witch training, she has been given her own steading and has been the official witch for The Chalk for a year now. As we have already learnt from the previous books in the series this involves a lot of hard work and a lot less magic than you might expect. It isn't easy going back to the area where everyone knew her as a child and being the one everyone comes to with their problems but Tiffany is more than capable of taking up the challenge. But something strange is happening, people she has known all her life are starting to look at her differently and instead of giving her respect they are becoming suspicious and scared of her. Something out there is spreading malice wherever it goes and, as the general public are becoming more and more anti-witches, it is up to Tiffany to stop it - before the witch hunts begin again.
I Shall Wear Midnight is the 38th Discworld book and the 4th & final book in the Tiffany Aching series. You don't have to have read all of the Discworld stories to enjoy this one but I would definitely recommend reading the whole Tiffany series in order (starting with The Wee Free Men). The series is a great stepping stone to introduce young adults to the Discworld series but I'd also recommend it to adults who are already fans of the series.
If you've read any of my other reviews for the books in this series you'll already know that I love Tiffany and the Nac Mac Feegles so I couldn't wait to read this book. I Shall Wear Midnight didn't disappoint and although it is by far the darkest book in the series it still contained the humor and witty real life insights that you can expect in any of Terry Pratchett's books. The themes covered in the story include child abuse, miscarriage, hatred and prejudice but it is also an inspiring story as we watch Tiffany become an adult. We have seen her character grow a lot throughout the series, she has always been intelligent and caring but we now see even more the potential she has to become one of the Discworld's greatest witches.
We see quite a lot of the older witches in this one - old favorites like Granny Weatherwax and Nanny Ogg but also some new but powerful characters we hadn't come across in this series before. I loved the fact that we get to visit Ankh Morpork with Tiffany and catch up with some of the city watch (Including Carrot, Angua & Vimes). I found it interesting seeing Tiffany out of her element in the big city and the Nac Mac Feegles manage to cause chaos while they're there as you might expect if you've ever met them before. I still love the humor provided in the form of the Feegles and it was great to see Wee Mad Arthur again.
If you're a fan of the previous Tiffany books then I'm sure you'll enjoy this last installment. If you haven't started reading them yet but are a fan of humorous fantasy then what are you waiting for? Get your hands on a copy of The Wee Free Men asap!
Source: Thanks to RHCB for giving me an ARC of this book, I also have a signed hardback from the signing I attended.
Other Reviews:
Nayu's Reading Corner
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