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4.12 AVERAGE
4.12 AVERAGE
adventurous
lighthearted
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
“Opera happens because a large number of things amazingly fail to go wrong, Mr. Bucket. It works because of hatred and love and nerves. All the time. This isn’t cheese. This is opera. If you wanted a quiet retirement, Mr. Bucket, you shouldn’t have bought the Opera House. You should have done something peaceful, like alligator dentistry.”
When Agnes Nitt joins the opera, she hopes for fame and fortune. Instead she finds drama that extends well beyond the stage. Despite the fatphobia this Phantom of the Opera esque story is probably my favourite of the witches stories so far. I apparently forgot to review this one when I read it a few months back but I remember loving the clever puns and references. As much as she can be frustrating at times (mostly through other characters though) I hope we get to see more of Agnes in the future!
When Agnes Nitt joins the opera, she hopes for fame and fortune. Instead she finds drama that extends well beyond the stage. Despite the fatphobia this Phantom of the Opera esque story is probably my favourite of the witches stories so far. I apparently forgot to review this one when I read it a few months back but I remember loving the clever puns and references. As much as she can be frustrating at times (mostly through other characters though) I hope we get to see more of Agnes in the future!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body shaming, Fatphobia
Moderate: Ableism, Murder
adventurous
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Would have definitely rated it higher if it wasn’t smothered in fatphobia
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Content Warnings
Moderate: Fatphobia, Violence, Murder, Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Misogyny, Sexual content
This took me quite a long time to read. Several weeks, which is ridiculous for me. It’s a very entertaining book (I always love Granny Weatherwax and Nanny Ogg!) life is just complicated. Anyway, very enjoyable book in the Discworld universe a lot of fun theatre puns which I love. Even some musical theatre jokes!!! I love it!
A thing I frequently noticed in the previous Witches books is that Pratchett would often go pretty far out of his way to make a joke about how skinny and flat chested the character of Magrat was. In this book Magrat is gone, with the character of Agnes taking her place. Where Magrat was skinny Agnes is instead fat and Pratchett never stops reminding us of this. I see a lot of people calling Pratchett fatphobic because of his treatment of Agnes. This is unquestionably so. But I also think that when you consider that fatphobia alongside the way he talked about Magrat that maybe this dude just had a problem with women’s bodies in general?
Anyway the fat jokes in this book are cruel and never ending. Most of the non fat jokes fail to land. The mystery the plot of the book is built around is easy to work out very early on, even if you’re like me and unfamiliar with the Phantom of the Opera, or even opera in general. This leads to the annoying experience of waiting for the characters to figure out a thing at the end of the book that has been obvious to the reader for a couple hundred pages. The only times where this book is really firing on all cylinders is when Granny and Nanny are just standing around shooting the shit with each other and there’s nowhere near as much of that as you want in a Witches novel.
All in all a very rough read, and coming after the one two punch of Soul Music and Interesting Times, it feels like this stretch of three books might be the nadir of the series for me. Very grateful to have Feet of Clay coming up next to look forward to.
Anyway the fat jokes in this book are cruel and never ending. Most of the non fat jokes fail to land. The mystery the plot of the book is built around is easy to work out very early on, even if you’re like me and unfamiliar with the Phantom of the Opera, or even opera in general. This leads to the annoying experience of waiting for the characters to figure out a thing at the end of the book that has been obvious to the reader for a couple hundred pages. The only times where this book is really firing on all cylinders is when Granny and Nanny are just standing around shooting the shit with each other and there’s nowhere near as much of that as you want in a Witches novel.
All in all a very rough read, and coming after the one two punch of Soul Music and Interesting Times, it feels like this stretch of three books might be the nadir of the series for me. Very grateful to have Feet of Clay coming up next to look forward to.
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes