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christieatthelibrary 's review for:
The Wee Free Men
by Terry Pratchett
Terry Pratchett is often through of first as a great fantasy writer, but it cannot be denied that he has a wit and humor that permeates all his books. I have concluded that Terry absolutely must have been a father, because his stories read like one big, silly, punny, delicious eye roll of a dad joke. This is particularly evident in his first novel for young adults, The Wee Free Men. In the story, the protagonist is a young girl named Tiffany Aching, whose family has lived on the same farm raising sheep for many many generations. As her father says, “The Aching family has always been Aching to stay, not Aching to leave”! But, despite the Aching’s farm having been as normal as can be for as long as can be, Tiffany is about to learn not only is she a witch , but that a great and strange danger is coming their way. She sets off to stop it, with the help of a talking toad, a frying pan, a band o’ rebellious 6-inch-tall men in kilts, and a mistic mentor named Miss. Tick.
Pratchett is very aware of the stereotypes and archetypes that make up the fantasy and fairytale genres. Part of the humor in this book comes from how he plays with those expectations. In some ways, Tiffany is a typical hero, an innocent ingénue embarking on a journey. At times Tiffany doesn't know what to do, is learning about herself and coming into her own. But early in the novel she is also able to defeat a headless horseman just by giving him a long judgmental stare in the eyes (eyes that he doesn't have, by the way, because he’s a HEAD less horseman). Other characters follow this same pattern. The warriors of the novel are certainly fierce and noble fighters able to hold their own, but they are also only 6 inches tall. One of my favorite subversions is Tiffany’s grandmother – the caregiver archtype. We might expect a caregiving grandmother to be kind, soft, attentive and traditionally feminine. Granny Aching is anything but. She smells of turpentine, clonks around in big ol’ boots and puffs on Jolly Sailor (cheap and horrible pipe tobacco). Granny Aching is practically the town patriarch , more like John Wayne than a traditional grandmother. Both Granny and Tiffany struggle to communicate their affection for each other and when Granny dies, before the main action of the novel begins, Tiffany is left without a caregiver. Left with her own guilt and many unanswered questions about who her grandmother was. Yet throughout the novel she relives so many special memories that make it clear that Granny was and still is a loving embodiment of the caregiver archetype, just in a bit more of a nontraditional wrapping.
It is hard not to fall in love with the atypical characters of this silly, witty little novel. I very much enjoyed it and think anyone with a love of fantasy or humor would love it too. If you are a teen who grew up on Harry Potter or Lemony Snicket or Dav Pilkey, If you binged watched Stranger Things and lived for the moment where Suzie very nearly caused the deaths of all the main characters by insisting on a duet of "Never Ending Story", If you’ve ever watched the movie Labyrinth, or heard tell of Monty Python and The Holy Grail, well, then you might just like The Wee Free Men. And...the best part is, this is the first in a five-book series on Tiffany Aching, within an even larger fantasy world of 41 Terry Pratchett Discworld novels! So, give it a try! This mission, should you choose to accept it, means you’ve got lots of reading, adventuring, chuckling (and eye rolling) ahead of you!
Pratchett is very aware of the stereotypes and archetypes that make up the fantasy and fairytale genres. Part of the humor in this book comes from how he plays with those expectations. In some ways, Tiffany is a typical hero, an innocent ingénue embarking on a journey. At times Tiffany doesn't know what to do, is learning about herself and coming into her own. But early in the novel she is also able to defeat a headless horseman just by giving him a long judgmental stare in the eyes (eyes that he doesn't have, by the way, because he’s a HEAD less horseman). Other characters follow this same pattern. The warriors of the novel are certainly fierce and noble fighters able to hold their own, but they are also only 6 inches tall. One of my favorite subversions is Tiffany’s grandmother – the caregiver archtype. We might expect a caregiving grandmother to be kind, soft, attentive and traditionally feminine. Granny Aching is anything but. She smells of turpentine, clonks around in big ol’ boots and puffs on Jolly Sailor (cheap and horrible pipe tobacco). Granny Aching is practically the town patriarch , more like John Wayne than a traditional grandmother. Both Granny and Tiffany struggle to communicate their affection for each other and when Granny dies, before the main action of the novel begins, Tiffany is left without a caregiver. Left with her own guilt and many unanswered questions about who her grandmother was. Yet throughout the novel she relives so many special memories that make it clear that Granny was and still is a loving embodiment of the caregiver archetype, just in a bit more of a nontraditional wrapping.
It is hard not to fall in love with the atypical characters of this silly, witty little novel. I very much enjoyed it and think anyone with a love of fantasy or humor would love it too. If you are a teen who grew up on Harry Potter or Lemony Snicket or Dav Pilkey, If you binged watched Stranger Things and lived for the moment where Suzie very nearly caused the deaths of all the main characters by insisting on a duet of "Never Ending Story", If you’ve ever watched the movie Labyrinth, or heard tell of Monty Python and The Holy Grail, well, then you might just like The Wee Free Men. And...the best part is, this is the first in a five-book series on Tiffany Aching, within an even larger fantasy world of 41 Terry Pratchett Discworld novels! So, give it a try! This mission, should you choose to accept it, means you’ve got lots of reading, adventuring, chuckling (and eye rolling) ahead of you!