Review: Wyrd Sisters

So i now must make a rather shocking statement. I have not until recently enjoyed the Discworld books. I think my mistake came in starting at the beginning. I remember picking up a copy of the short and not that interesting The Color of Magic back when i got my first iPad and I was buying just about anything that made it close to the top ten of the Kindle Fantasy store. And that’s unfortunate because as I’ve found more reason to expose myself to the Discworld I’ve grown to love it more and more. (If Hogfather ever makes it’s way back to Netflix, do yourself a favor and watch it. Great flick.)

I premise the review this way for the important reason that you might see the title of this book presented as: Wyrd Sisters (Discworld #6)(Witches #2), and whoa how can you come into the story six books late and two books into some kind of sub-story. It’s a hard pitch I know, but I’ll tell you there’s a simple reason.

Terry Pratchett is a flippin genius.

I know it’s said a lot, but for real he’s great, and Wyrd Sisters is my favorite of his stories. Seemingly a collection of parodies for various Shakespearean works, Wyrd Sisters is entirely unique. It’s many storylines, at once both disparate and yet obvious in their convergence, each contains a near perfect trajectory of story and pacing.

The world presented is easily recognizable from the usual tropes of fantasy and history but in every instance twisted easily by Pratchett for humor, and humor expressed in so many different forms. From the satiric to the truly ridiculous the humor moves through the story in a manner that supports and raises all the other emotionally charged pieces of the story, and none of it stands in the way of the simple themes and complex characters as they navigate the amazing Discworld and all its weirdness and wonderfulness.

This is an all ages tale that I would encourage anyone to read. I don’t think it even requires any particular love of fantasy. 5 stars out of 5.