The Wee Free Men

OK, I promised you an occasional reading rave, so buckle up: here’s rave #1.

Terry Pratchett’s 30th Discworld novel, The Wee Free Men, is at the top of my list for the 2006/2007 reading season. Yes, there were other titles I particularly enjoyed -- The Glass Castle, The Book Thief, All Over Creation, Eventide -- but The Wee Free Men really left an impression.

How could it not? There’s 9-year-old Tiffany Aching, of Home Farm, The Chalk, who clobbers a big green water monster with a frying pan. And there’s her horrid, sticky little brother, Wentworth, whose constant cries of “Wanna wanna wanna sweetie!” perhaps explain why Tiffany used him as bait for Jenny Green-Teeth, but do not explain why he gets kidnapped by the Queen of Faerie.

There are the Wee Free Men, masterful brawlers, theivers, and drinkers, blue with tattoos, red-headed, and 6” tall, who’ve come down to The Chalk looking for the new witch. And wasn’t the old witch Tiffany’s Granny? And doesn’t it begin to look like Tiffany herself will be called upon to save Wentworth, the Baron’s son, and the Chalk Hills from the clutches of the evil Queen? Crivens! There are Grimhounds, Nightmares, and Headless Horsemen, a Queen who steals your dreams and traps you in them, and a creeping iciness devouring The Chalk. Will Tiffany, armed only with frying pan, common sense, and steely determination, be able to put things right?.

I guess it’s because I enjoy both fantasy and word play that I am besotted with The Wee Free Men. Tiffany’s tutor in the witchly arts is Perspecatia Tick. Miss Tick gives her a talking toad (he used to be a lawyer) and advises Tiffany to pay attention to her first sight and her second thoughts. The Wee Free Men, aka the Nac Mac Feegle, Pictsies, or “person or persons unknown, believed to be armed” sport delicious names, like Rob Anybody, No’-As-Big-As-Medium-Sized-Jock-But-Bigger-Than-Wee-Jock-Jock, and Daft Willie. And what do those ferocious Feegles shout when things are going badly? “Waily, waily, waily!” of course. Too funny.

If you haven't read Terry Pratchett, I recommend starting with The Wee Free Men. If you like it, there are two more in the series (s0 far): A Hat Full of Sky, and Wintersmith. Yum!