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snukes 's review for:
The Wee Free Men
by Terry Pratchett
3.5 stars. I liked it, I just didn't make it all the way up to really liked it. Perhaps because the humor didn't hit me in quite the same funny spot as other Pratchett novels? Not sure.
The characters are the best part of this book. Tiffany is a great protagonist - strong, thoughtful and self-assured. She does not sit idly by in any situation; she knows what she wants and she goes after it. She has common sense and a little uncommon sense too. She is quite refreshing. (Anyone who takes on her enemies with a frying pan has got to be good.)
The titular Wee Free Men are a lot of fun, what with their endearingly bad behavior and gruff charm.
I also liked the morals of the story (which I shall not spoil here). They went hand-in-hand with my appreciation of Tiffany as a character, saying something about strength of character and spirit (rather than the too-common-recently themes wherein having purple eyes and Mysterious, Undeserved Powers grants heroines instant love, fame, and ridiculous powerful enemies. That's not a theme? Oh... gee...)
But then the plot of the story? Just a little dull for my taste. I found it rather difficult to get interested in whether or not Tiffany got Wentworth back. The kind of personal growth she needed to do had pretty much nothing to do with her brother (unlike the obvious parallel of Labyrinth) - she just needed some kind of quest to go on. The business with the dreams at the end got rather dizzying. Perhaps I wasn't paying enough attention.
All in all, a light, fun read. I shall continue reading the other tales in this arc.
The characters are the best part of this book. Tiffany is a great protagonist - strong, thoughtful and self-assured. She does not sit idly by in any situation; she knows what she wants and she goes after it. She has common sense and a little uncommon sense too. She is quite refreshing. (Anyone who takes on her enemies with a frying pan has got to be good.)
The titular Wee Free Men are a lot of fun, what with their endearingly bad behavior and gruff charm.
I also liked the morals of the story (which I shall not spoil here). They went hand-in-hand with my appreciation of Tiffany as a character, saying something about strength of character and spirit (rather than the too-common-recently themes wherein having purple eyes and Mysterious, Undeserved Powers grants heroines instant love, fame, and ridiculous powerful enemies. That's not a theme? Oh... gee...)
But then the plot of the story? Just a little dull for my taste. I found it rather difficult to get interested in whether or not Tiffany got Wentworth back. The kind of personal growth she needed to do had pretty much nothing to do with her brother (unlike the obvious parallel of Labyrinth) - she just needed some kind of quest to go on. The business with the dreams at the end got rather dizzying. Perhaps I wasn't paying enough attention.
All in all, a light, fun read. I shall continue reading the other tales in this arc.