Book Review: Wintersmith by Terry Pratchett

Crivens! The Nac Mac Feegles are back!

Terry Pratchett's newest book, Wintersmith, finds the tiny blue men on the loose again, doing their best to protect Tiffany Aching, their own Wee Big Hag. The Feegles may be only six inches high, but they're fiercely devoted to their Tiffany. In fact, they're pretty fierce about all their undertakings -- the drinking, the fighting, the.... well, okay, most of what the Feegles do is related to drinking and fighting, but you have to admit they're pretty intense about those activities. And loyal! And their singing is, er, "interesting", you could say. Their particular talents make them well-suited for some of the exploits they perform in this adventure -- for example, when faced with the prospect of rescuing the spirit of Summer from the Underworld, they don't have to worry at all about being trapped there. After all, they've never found a place yet they couldn't get kicked out of! Other than that, well, they're good-hearted, but as the author says, "they've seen Braveheart way too many times."

Tiffany is now under apprenticeship to Miss Eumenides Treason (a witch so senior that she refers to Granny Weatherwax as "the Weatherwax girl") and she's attracted the attention of the Wintersmith, an Elemental embodiment of the spirit of Winter, who tries to turn himself into a human man out of love for Tiffany. Tiffany's task is to assume responsibility for her part in the matter, and ultimately to set things right. Along the way she helps another young witch to learn that witchcraft is less about "Magick-with-a-k", and more about helping people, learns some lessons about jealousy, and has some challenging experiences with a pro-active cornucopia.