While I went a bit nuts with the quotes, I was actually quite restrained. There is so much that is funny in this third installment in the Tiffany Aching fantasy series about an apprentice witch (it's thirty-fifth in the overall Discworld fantasy series).In 2007, Wintersmith won a Locus Award for Best Young Adult Novel and was nominated for the Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Children's Literature. If you're interested, there is a chronological listing of the Tiffany Aching books at KD Did It Takes on Books.My TakeHow to use witchcraft to do housework.ROFLMAO. I am so glad I discovered Pratchett's Discworld. Yes, I know that the rest of the world knew about it, and that I'm the slowpoke, and that's okay. At least now I'll have a couple of books to read…eeek!…41 of 'em and that's not including the short stories! I also suspect this is a series one needs to read in small doses."Of course they talked to their cats. After three weeks without an intelligent conversation that wasn't about cows, you'd talk to the wall. … it's an early sign of cackling…"The Wintersmith was fun with Pratchett coopting myths, fairytales, the Tin Man from Oz, and Jasper Fforde's Thursday Next stories with all the chat about building the Story, and it fires up Tiffany's encounters and flight from the Wintersmith.It's better to be "too clever by half than bein' too stupid by three quarters".It was confusing after the initial start (it's Tiffany battling the Wintersmith on the Chalk after the events that come later in the book — yes, I'm serious about that wording) as I didn't understand the importance of the Dark Dance and how it would influence later events. I think Pratchett could have made this more clear."'Ach, people're always tellin' us not tae do things,' said Rob Anybody. 'That's how we ken what's the most interestin' things tae do!'"Don't worry about the odd words if you don't enjoy made-up words, as Pratchett has a dictionary at the start of Wintersmith. The Wee Free Men's dialog does crack me up. Crivens! You may want to read your way through it, if only to warm up the laughter box for the actual story."…breeze through green corn on a spring day, to ripen an apple, to make the salmon leap the rapids … and merged into one great big, listening golden-yellow feeling…"This is a confidence-building battle for Tiffany as well as a lesson on the importance of listening and following the rules AND the essential nature of appearances, ROFLMAO. Although I do think that Miss Treason should have been more explicit about why Tiffany shouldn't join the dance. I do know I couldn't be as decent as Tiffany. She goes out of her way to help out, even with her worst enemy. I do understand her reasoning, that regular people need to be helped and not hurt, but still…As much as I adore Tiffany, my heart belongs to the Feegles. They so crack me up. Rob's reasons for coming up with all his "stories" are too funny, and I love reading on to find out what he'll fabricate next. It's all in their attitude! Well, an' ye know, Rob likes to give "real value for the money". It's so much less boring, lol. It may be an honor to be a kelda however temporary, but you'll lose all privacy and be forever protected *giggle*. On second thought, it's not such a bad thing.Oh, aye, "the art o' readin' is all aboot understandin' whut the wurds is tryin' tae say…"Well, when you think about it, this is what editors are for, to make the words say what the author means them to say, lol.Witches are so funny — don't miss the true reason for a coven! They're quite clever and practical. Look at how Miss Tick gets around for two ten pence stamps, lol. I know, I know, I keep cracking up throughout the story, but this one is a pip. I love the argument Miss Tick has for that poor coachman."Witches preferred to cut enemies dead with a look. There was no sense in killing your enemy. How would she know you'd won?"For all the fun Wintersmith has and is, there are serious subthemes revolving around Tiffany. That represented by the Boffo. It's a crack-up and yet very important in life. To give the necessary impression that you know what you're doing. To understand a person's underlying character and how to bring out the best in a person. To teach a person without teaching them. Wanting to be acknowledged for what you've accomplished.There are the Wintersmith's emotional dilemmas about a situation he's never encountered before: thinking and feeling. It does give you a different perspective about the human body and its emotions. You can't help but feel for the "guy" even though you want to run in the other direction! An excellent example of an antagonist for whom you feel sympathy!So true…"…you get the same amount of youth as everyone else, but a great big extra helping of being very old and deaf and creak."It's all Boffo in the end, and your first tip-off are the two skulls at Miss Treason's.And now I'm boggin' for another Tiffany Aching story! …and jam is available in the afterlife. No mustard though.The StoryIt's a bad sign as well when the folk of Dogbend tie a witch up and throw her in the river. A good thing they're following the Magavenatio Obtusis.What's worse though is the Wintersmith. Ach, and now the Wintersmith has found the big wee hag, and it's snowin' fit to burst. The land will freeze, people will starve, and Tiffany will lose it all. Because it's all her fault.Aye, it's gettin' so bad that Deputy Librarian Grizzler is talking about making soup from their own toes, although Senior Librarian Swinsley isn't sure about the recipe.The CharactersThe thirteen-year-old Tiffany Aching, a.k.a., the big wee hag, is learning how to be a witch from Miss Treason. A tiny part of a Dr. Sensibility Bustle is caught in Tiffany's head. He's quite useful, being as he's a D.M. Phil., B. El L., Patricius Professor of Magic at Unseen University. Mr. Aching, her father, is a sheep farmer, and the survival of the lambs is all too important. Granny Aching was Tiffany's amazing grandmother with her own magic. And she never lost a lamb. Wentworth is her missing younger brother. Horace is, um, an animate Lancre Blue cheese.The Nac Mac Feegles are……Pictsies and blue with very red hair and very wee with a preference for impossible odds. This particular group is the Chalk Hill clan. Rob Anybody is the Big Man, well, after his wife, the kelda — 'er name's Jeannie. Daft Wullie is soft in the head and Rob's brother. Wee Dangerous Spike was assigned to watch Tiffany while she's at the farm. Big Yan is 'sposed to be teaching the Hero Heroing lessons. The gonnagle is Awf'ly Wee Billy Bigchin. Slightly Mad Agnus. They also be needin' lessons on romance which they hope the librarian, Miss Jenkins, can provide. Hamish drives the bird, Morag.The Feegles' primary fears include the Explainin', the Pursin' o' the Lips, the Foldin' o' the Arms, and ooh, waily, waily, waily, the Tappin' o' the Feets!The witches are……quite varied. Granny Esme Weatherwax is the most powerful witch in the mountains with a DIY approach to magic. You is the kitten Tiffany brings Granny.The 113-year-old Miss Eumenides Treason is a terrifying witch with an obsession for black — most apprentice witches don't last more one night. As Tiffany puts it, she "didn't just take the cake, but a packet of biscuits too". She's also blind and deaf, but it's not a problem. She simply "borrows" the eyes and ears of anyone or anything around."…Tiffany distrusted black cheeses. They always looked as though they were plotting something."Miss Level has two bodies; Mistress Pullunder breeds worms; Old Mother Dismass has temporal issues; Miss Perspicacia Tick is a witch finder and teacher; Old Mother Blackcap is about to miss some of her potash; there's something about Miss Tumult's frog and Unlucky Charlie; and, Mrs. Gytha "Nanny" Ogg always "carries a string bag up her knicker leg" and has a cat named Greebo. She also has a son, Shawn, who is the postman.Mrs. Letice Earwig is quite a different sort of witch — she writes books!. She's all about appearances as well and quite puffed up about herself. Her best (and most clueless, untrained) student is Annagramma Hawkin.The apprentices include Dimity Hubbub; Petulia Gristle has a way with pigs (and she's seeing Davey Lummock and Makky Weaver); Lucy Warbeck; Lulu Darling; and, Gertruder Tiring.Villagers in the care of witches include:Mr. Armbinder, Mr. Easy owes the Widow Langley, Mrs. Frumment has a beef with Mr. Plenty, Mistress Fullsome can't fence that pasture off, Mr. Tissot is about to die, Joe Broomsocket and Shifty Adams own the same cow, Mrs. Carter, Mrs. Stumper loves her pig, Mrs Owslick, Mrs. Obble who is an ignorant peasant, and the Dogelley family who have the right of passage are all Miss Treason's. Bill Hogparsley and Mrs. Dowser are Nanny Ogg's responsibility.On the ChalkRoland de Chumsfanleigh is the Hero and the Baron's son whom Tiffany rescued in Wee Free Men, 1. Aunts Danuta and Araminta are embezzling like mad and determined to order everyone around. Old Robbins is the sleepy night watchman. Mr. Gamely is willing to stable his horse. Lord Diver is a neighbor and has a daughter, Iodine. Abe Swindell is a neighbor of the Achings.The Wintersmith is the snow elemental who switches with the Summer Lady as the seasons change. Only, the Wintersmith is intrigued, and the Summer Lady is ticked. Anoia is the Goddess of Things That Get Stuck in Drawers.First Sight is seeing what's really there while Second Thoughts watch the First Thoughts to be sure they're thinking right. Third Thoughts seemed to think for themselves. The Fool in a Morris dance mostly collects money for beer, but sometimes he whirls off into the dancers, dodging and leaping and twirling. The Magavenatio Obtusis (Witch Hunting for Dumb People) is a book about dealing with witches. A shamble is a witch's Swiss army knife. An argument is a group of witches.Don Weizen de Yoyo is an amazing artist and a lousy speller. Zakzak Stronginthearm has a Magical Emporium with a huge assortment of witchy toys. The Jolly Sailor sails in and out again. Marjory J. Boddice is a romance writer who doesn't know anything. Mr. Fusel Johnson suddenly misses handfuls of white lime powder. Assistant Postmaster Groat loses a bit of his sock sulfur. Miss Dymphnia Stoot, the innkeeper's daughter, served an odd human. Mrs. Umbridge is witch friendly and has a barn. Bogles eat your memories.The Cover and TitleThe cover is misleading. It's that white shift Tiffany is wearing. With her long brown hair flowing aorund her shoulders and covering her arms, it looks as though she's wearing a T-shirt with black sleeves. I do like the big white snowflakes drifting down. I'm not too sure about that purple Feegle in his woolly kilt walking across her overlapped hands. I must confess I was expecting it to be more of a plaid than a solid and for this Pictsie to be friendlier, funnier looking.The title is a misunderstood and confused elemental, the Wintersmith whose world has been turned upside down.
I physically twitch in the presence of cheap irony. You know the sort of lazy humor, like saying it's weird that a cop hates donuts, or acting surprised that a jock is smart. The sort of glib, lazy attempts at humor and cleverness that usually make it on to bumper stickers just makes me cringe. It's the same school of humor as people who put, "My other car is a broomstick" on their bumpers.When Terry Pratchett started the witch series in the Discworld universe I considered that as close as the witty, funny man would ever get to that sort of humor. Turning the fairytale villain into the shamans of the mountain towns had that vibe of lazy irony (I'm looking squarely at you, Wicked the Musical), but being Pratchett, he made a good story out of it just the same.The reason the witch books never grabbed me had a lot to do with the main characters. They were very interesting but poor entry point for the reader. One main witch, Granny Weatherwax, is probably one of my favorite characters in Discworld, but she's smart, brutal, and rather unknowable, making her a poor protagonist in many ways. Nanny Ogg isn't much better, though her character is amusing.Through the earlier books Pratchett tried more than one third witch (because that how it works, Macbeth style), but he never seemed satisfied enough with the dynamic to keep using it.The fact that three Tiffany Aching stories have already been written indicate something that's clearly working for him, and I personally think it's some of his best writing to date.Tiffany is a pretty astute choice in protagonist. She's bright, inquisitive, and annoyed when people don't give her the information she's asking for. I imagine this is highly relatable to many of Pratchett's fans, myself included. What really impresses me is how the stakes keep getting raised over the books. In "Wintersmith" Tiffany makes a mistake that draws the attention of the elemental who controls winter. The beauty in this is that it's not the sort of plot motivating accidents and serendipity guiding series like Harry Potter, where characters are essentially powerless and shuttled through circumstances beyond their control. This entire story comes about because Tiffany screws up and must deal with the consequences.The atmosphere in this story is some of Pratchett's best, with a depiction of the mountain towns so vivid you can almost feel the cold and the rustling of wind through leaves. Having a antagonist who freezes everything to the point of collapse works quite well with this, giving the book a truly powerful sense of dread.What I like best about the Aching books as a whole is that they're a seldom talked about discussion of responsibility. The witches are essentially the last line of defense when things go wrong for these people, they're the justice in a cruel world, so for them saying, "it's not fair," is unnacceptable. Having control means fighting for fairness and losing the ability to whine about it.Few young adult books address themes as deep and meaningful as this, and almost none with such humor and warmth. Though, come to think of it, most books in general don't, making it a truly rare accomplishment.
What do You think about Wintersmith (2006)?
Any book featuring the Nac Mac Feegle is a win in my world.But this, perhaps, is the bit I enjoy most from the book, and that's some of the hooptedoodle that Pratchett includes that's really not pertinent to the story, but oh-so-pertinent to developing his characters, which is a trait I admire in him:Marjory J. Boddice had got some things laughably wrong. Girls on the Chalk didn't often run away from a young man who was rich enough to own his own horse -- or not for long and not without giving him a chance to catch up. And Megs, the heroine of the book, clearly didn't know a thing about farming. No young man would be interested in a woman who couldn't dose a cow or carry a piglet. What kind of help would she be around the place? Standing around with lips like cherries wouldn't get the cows milked or the sheep sheared!And that was another thing. Did Marjory J. Boddice know anything about sheep? This was a sheep farm in the summertime, wasn't it? So when did they shear the sheep? The second most important occasion in a sheep farm's year and it wasn't worth mentioning?Of course, they might have a breed like Habbakuk Polls or Lowland Cobbleworths that didn't need shearing, but these were rare and any sensible author would surely have mentioned it.And these scene in chapter five, where Megs left the sheep to fend for themselves while she went gathering nuts with Roger . . . well, how stupid was that? They could have wandered anywhere, and they were really stupid to think they'd find nuts in June.Thanks, Tiff. I needed that writerly/readerly laugh.
—MisterFweem
Wintersmith is the third tale in the story of Tiffany Aching who found, at the age of 9, that she had inherited her grandmother’s legacy as a witch. Tiffany is now almost 13 and it is time for her to learn how to use her special abilities in the world as she finds herself in the house of Miss Treason who will guide her in her lessons. Oh, waily, waily, waily! Tiffany has attracted the attention of the spirit of winter himself and soon finds her likeness being etched in everything from the frost on the windows and the snowflakes that fall from the sky to the mountains of ice that float in the seas. She will need all the help she can get from her friends; the witches and witches in training, Granny Weatherwax and the fierce, fighting, blue-tattooed Scottish pictsies, known as the Nac Mac Feegle, as she tries to escape the attention of the Wintersmith. Stephen Briggs brings this book to life with voices that make you feel as if a number of people are tell-ing this tale rather than just one. His skill at bringing the Nac Mac Feegle to life will have you laughing so hard you’ll cry and you will be hooked. These characters are real human beings with a lesson – even when they are not quite human.
—Linda
Re-read. Tiffany impetuously joins a Dark Morris dance and finds herself pursued by the (not a, the) Winter elemental. Granny Weatherwax comes off as a little too nice in this but there are still many, many great moments. And Horace the cheese.Vintage lines:"Like, when we come back from drinkin', stealin', an' fightin', Jeannie gives ye the Pursin' o' the Lips," Daft Wullie went on. A moan went up from all the Feegles: "Ooooh, save us from the Pursin' o' the Lips!" "An' there's the foldin' o' the Arms," said Wullie, because he was even scaring himself. "Ooooh, waily, waily, waily, the Foldin' o' the Arms!" the Feegles cried, tearing at their hair. "Not tae mention the Tappin' o' the Feets." "Aargh! Ooooh! No' the Tappin' o' the Feets!" Some of the Feegles started to bang their heads on trees..."Look, just because a woman's got no teeth doesn't mean she's wise. It might just mean she's been stupid for a very long time.""You don't get manners from heaven," said Granny.
—John
