In Memoriam: Sir Terry Pratchett {Feat. WITCHES ABROAD}

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Last month, the death of Sir Terry Pratchett, best-selling sci-fi author best known for his Discworld series, was a huge blow to the literary community. Terry Pratchett was one of the greats and will be read by new generations for years to come.

RIP, Terry Pratchett!

I had never read Pratchett before, though I'd look at his books from time to time. A day or two before he died, I picked up his fairy-tale influenced Discworld novel WITCHES ABROAD and began reading. Then he passed away and I had to stop reading because I just couldn't. Especially since there's a character named Death who comes to take a fairy godmother away in the very first chapter. I finally picked the book up again this month so I could honor Pratchett during Fairy Tale Fortnight, but I haven't had a lot of reading time this month. (I've only completed ONE book so far this month! ONE!! *stares balefully at the heap of fairy tale books she wanted to feature*)

I still want to make time to finish reading this book because it's so much fun already. You don't have to read the series in order to read this one despite it being book twelve. I jumped in blind and haven't had any issues so far! I'm told that there are little nods to previous books and reoccuring characters (Such as, apparently, Death himself), but they don't hinder the reading--or haven't yet!

What intrigued me about WITCHES ABROAD was the fact that it's about a pair of fairy godmothers, and there are several different fairy tales mixed up into it. I believe I first heard about it on Sur La Lune (The best fairy tale resource website on the internet!). Books featuring godmothers are rare and fun, though in recent years, I'm finding more books centered around them than in the past...which is a good thing!

Here's a summary for WITCHES ABROAD:

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O F F I C I A L   I N F O:

 
Title: WITCHES ABROAD

Author: Dorian Tsukioka

Release Date: July 30, 2002
(First Pub. 1991)

Publisher: HarperTorch

SUMMARY:

Be careful what you wish for...

Once upon a time there was a fairy godmother named Desiderata who had a good heart, a wise head, and poor planning skills—which unforunately left the Princess Emberella in the care of her other (not quite so good and wise) godmother when DEATH came for Desiderata. So now it's up to Magrat Garlick, Granny Weatherwax, and Nanny Ogg to hop on broomsticks and make for far-distant Genua to ensure the servant girl doesn't marry the Prince.

But the road to Genua is bumpy, and along the way the trio of witches encounters the occasional vampire, werewolf, and falling house (well this is a fairy tale, after all). The trouble really begins once these reluctant foster-godmothers arrive in Genua and must outwit their power-hungry counterpart who'll stop at nothing to achieve a proper "happy ending"—even if it means destroying a kingdom.