Aided by her tiny blue allies, the Wee Free Men, Tiffany must find the source of this unrest and defeat the evil at its root–before it takes her life. As the witch of the Chalk, she performs the bits of witchcraft that aren’t sparkly, aren’t fun, don’t involve any kind of wand, and that people seldom ever hear about: She does the unglamorous work of caring for the needy.īut someone–or something–is igniting fear, inculcating dark thoughts and angry murmurs against witches. Tiffany Aching has spent years studying with senior witches, and now she is on her own. When people turn on witches, the innocents suffer. will have something to say about the matter.Ĭan an unlikely ally in far-off Ank-Morpork help even the field?Īnd why is the hare not burned when it jumps though the fire? The Cunning Man – the tormented spirit of an ancient witchfinder – has returned and Tiffany must defeat him on her own land using her own cunning.

This is all in a day’s work for a witch but when more things go wrong than usual, Tiffany senses a sickening fog settling over the land. And then there’s the matter of the Old Baron and the iron chest, plus a new housekeeper in the castle that does more eavesdropping than housekeeping. For another, Tiffany’s attempt to help a local girl with the Soothings goes wrong.

However difficult Tiffany found the Queen of the Faries, the Hiver, and the Wintersmith, there’s difficulties in the mundane, too.įor one, Roland has grown up and taken a fiance with a rather domineering mother. As for black, she says, “I shall wear midnight when I am old.” Sure, she has the pointy hat, but she wears earthy colors. She is officially *the witch* of the Chalk, and her people know it, even if she doesn’t always dress the part. This is the 38th Discworld novel and the 4th in the Tiffany Aching series. The quotes I share should not be considered the whole of Sir Terry’s excellent prose indeed, they are the tasty appetizers to a succulent, nourishing meal. With the passing of Sir Terry Pratchett and the publication of The Shepherd’s Crown, I embarked on an epic re-reading of all 41 official Discworld novels, with the goal of finishing by 31 December, 2016.įamous for its wit and wisdom, the series offers countless quotable quotes on a variety of subjects. No one is actually dead until the ripples they cause in the world die away