Books: The Shepherd's Crown By Terry Pratchett (2015)

For me, while The Shepherd’s Crown will be the last new Terry Pratchett to be published, I still have a bunch of his novels to go through. Perhaps I’ll never finish them, only time and tide will dictate that. But I will try to get through as many as I can before I too shuttle off this coil. 

But with this book, published six months after his death this past March, the last Discworld novel, fifth and last Tiffany Aching novel brings to an end a large chapter of a long series of novels in which Pratchett, under the guise of fantasy, took on human foibles. 

But this last book, in which it seems its creator might’ve known this would he last before the ravages of Alzheimer’s disease finally overtook him (the disease took a relatively rare form that affected his sight and coordination rather than his memory), fills the story with death and life. There is much darkness here, yet Pratchett left us with some hope that there is light at the end of the tunnel.

He also, through the death of long-time character Granny Weatherwax, gives readers and fans, long and new, young and old, a guide on how we shall process his passing. If there is a “good” part to knowing your time is short, it enables that person a way to prepare those that are left behind. Here, in 41^st and final Discworld novel, Granny (like all witches and wizards) has anticipated her death, and quietly and calmly goes about the business of preparing for the time. She makes her own casket, she selects where she wants to be buried, and then cleans her home, leaving instructions to the one who will now take over it. And when she meets Death, it’s done in such a charming, heartfelt way, as a reader, you’ll feel that Terry Pratchett was telling you that life must go on and (thanks to many things about publishing) will always be near. 

Also, the story is somewhat disjointed, a bit blunt, and simple. It features the return of the Queen of the Elves from the first Tiffany Aching novel (Wee Free Men), who has regained her power and has discovered the rift between the Land of Elves and Discworld has grown thin. But before she can hatch her revenge plan, an upstart goblin (whom she though humans hated) who has learned iron can hurt the elves, has dethroned her and tossed her onto Chalk where she must survive. Taken in by Tiffany, who distrusts her (along with the Nac Mac Feegl), but knows that she can make Nightshade understand that humans, witches, goblins, and wizards can live together.  So an alliance of sorts is hemmed, as Tiffany (already overburdened with taking care of a lot of people, as well as training a new apprentice {a boy who wants to be a witch} along with being the heir to Granny Weatherwax’s home and people) must prepare for a fairy horde that is about to invade Chalk. Her land.

In the Afterword at the end, we are told that while Pratchett did finish the book, he was unable to go over it again, to add or subtract new plot points -it reads like a first draft. This is fairly evident throughout the story, as it seems to missing the tangents he would often go on. The action is fast paced and some characters get lost in the crowd, so to speak. I mean, one of the great things that made these novels work, for new readers especially, was the ability to start almost anywhere, despite the books building one upon the other. Here, Pratchett makes several direct references to past novels, including the trains that were part of the last book, Raising Steam (which seems to me a bit of analogy about change, not only in the Discworld, but the real one as well). It’s as if he knew this would be the last book and was trying to tie the series together. 

Overall, it’s a satisfying novel, even though a funeral like atmosphere hangs over the book. For fans who’ve kept up reading each new book as they came out, it’s a sad day. For me, of course, I have many more to go through. But like life, while this is the end, we will continue on. I think this is what Terry Pratchett was trying to say, along with the empowering notion that he had the ability to pass away with some sort of dignity. And he maybe that will get us, his family and his fans, the strength to march on towards our own undiscovered country.

Books: Wintersmith By Terry Pratchett (2006)

Let us now return to Discworld with Wintersmith, the 35th novel set there and the third featuring Tiffany Aching. Almost two years have passed since the last book and Tiffany is still in training as a witch. She spends her days with Miss Treason, a scary witch who -like many other witches of Discworld- use very little magical power and more common sense. In many ways, these witches are more like wise woman of stereotypical small towns, helping solve land, chicken, and cow problems. Helping the sick and the infirm and being the midwife to all that are born. But as a soon-to-be thirteen year-old, Tiffany still feels lost. She misses her family, and even Roland the son of the sickly Baron (and whom Tifffany rescued in Wee Free Men from the Queen of the Elves). As a matter of fact, she's not sure if she even has feelings for Roland, despite the sense that everyone around her thinks she does. Things get complicated when Tiffany is taken to see the Dark Dance, or the Morris Dancers, that is the crossover between summer into winter. Caught up in the beauty of it all, Tiffany does what no else has ever done -she leaps into the dance. This propels her into one of the oldest stories ever told and draws the attention of the Wintersmith. But as an elemental, the Wintersmith does not know humans. So as Tiffany, with help from Granny Weatherwax and, of course, the Nac Mc Feegle, tries to deal with the consequences of her actions -as giant Tiffany-shaped snowflakes hammer down along with giant Tiffany-shaped icebergs causing ship wrecks- Tiffany must figure out how to stop a god bent on becoming human. Of course, even this elemental has never met an Aching who is backed up by a group of blue pictsies who will do a lot of fighting' and thievin' to save their "big wee hag."

What makes these young adult books work is that Pratchett does not water down the themes for kids. As a matter of fact, he seems to think there is no reason to forgo those ideas, which makes for a wonderful, very touching and always funny tale. Tiffany, through her own blundering, must figure out how to save herself and the people around her from the Wintersmith, who really does not know or comprehend the damage he does. This theme of responsibility is woven through out the book. We see her lose a fellow witch, though the sadness is lessened a bit by a cameo appearance of Death. But there is a deep philosophy here about death and about acceptance of it. And Pratchett goes out of his way to alleviate the superstitiousness of witches (apparently there a store where witches can buy everything you would find in tales about witches. It reminded me of the Wicked Witch of the West in The Wizard of Oz. Picture her not as evil, but as helpful -yet bitter- woman who must put on the "face" of a witch because no one believe witches could look normal) along with just everything else. And while there is some seriousness to the tale, there is plenty of humor in the form of the ever brave, Nac Mac Freegle.