The Wee Free Men
Terry Pratchett
The latest Discworld book. It’s supposed to be a Young Adult book.
It’s the story of Tiffany, who’s good at making cheese, is the sort of person who always carries a bit of string and is prepared to use a child as monster bait. OK, she’s destined to be a witch.
When her annoying (wanna sweetie!) little brother Wentworth goes missing she takes her frying pan and resolves to retrieve him from the the Queen of the Elves with the aid of the ‘Wee Free Men’ of the title. The Wee Free Men are kind of daft – they’re a caricature of the drunken, thieving Scot – down to the kilts and the bizarre psuedo-Scots dialogue. I’m Scottish so I’m hypersensitive to these things but on the whole they’re funny and they come out of the story well.
It’s the best book that Pratchett has written in a while. Superb writing, funny and involving. It had me in awe at times.
It’s not very Discworldy in setting, and only the appearance of Granny Weatherwax and Nanny Ogg near the end places it in the Discworld. Even though he’s tackled the story of Discworld Witches and the Elves before, this is a fresh take and one with even more insight than in Lords and Ladies
Without hesitation I recommend you go out and buy this book and put time aside to sit and read it. Regardless of the type of book you like to read, this is a masterpiece.