Wyrd Sisters

Wyrd Sisters is one of the funniest books I’ve ever read.

It is unapologetically satirical and seizes upon a well-fleshed-out genre and turns it upon its head, making every last detail into a caricature that somehow creates more interesting, realistic characters than fantasy ever could.

His witches aren’t really mystical but don’t mistake that for lacking power. They’re more like indomitable grandmothers you don’t dare cross.

This book has everything from ghosts to prophecies to bastard sons and lost heirs of the kingdom. Nothing turns out the way you’d expect.

Terry Pratchett’s genius includes an anthropomorphized thunderstorm waiting in the… show more.

The OG witches of modern fantasy literature. I’ve put down Wyrd Sisters because it’s the first of Pratchett’s Witches books to feature the trio of Granny Weatherwax, Nanny Ogg, and Magrat Garlick, but I’d list the whole series if I could. If you haven’t read them, I envy you, because you get to experience this trio and their world for the first time. Granny Weatherwax is a good witch because she has to be, but if she were to go the other way there’s no doubt she would be the greatest evil witch the Discworld has ever known. She plays… show more.

I love Terry Pratchett’s writing: the humour, the bite, the insightfulness. Wyrd Sisters is the sixth novel in his wonderful Discworld fantasy series and returns us to the doings of the three witches: Granny Weatherwax, Nanny Ogg, and Magrat Garlick. Any references to Shakespeare’s Macbeth witches or the traditional trilogy of crone, mother, and maiden are purely intentional. Granny Weatherwax with her dry and dour outlook on life, her wisdom, and the power she downplays as little more than “headology” is one of my favourite Discworld characters. At least one of the books about Witchery that I recommend has to… show more.

I was torn between recommending a few different Pratchett books, but Wyrd Sisters has a special place in my heart because although it isn't the first in the series, it was my first Discworld book. My grandma gifted it to me for Christmas when I was about ten, and I was transfixed by it, drank it down in just a few days, and was catapulted into the Discworld as an instant fan. Wyrd Sisters is a beautifully drawn satirisation of our world, wrapped in surrealist magic. I didn't appreciate it as deeply when I first read it, but I've returned… show more.