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Terry Pratchett’s Discworld novels are among the most beloved in fantasy literature. Since 1983, the tales of the witches, Rincewind the wizard, and the City Watch have continued to make readers laugh, cry and think. In his thirty seventh Discworld novel, I Shall Wear Midnight, Pratchett rejoins Tiffany Aching, a young witch with a rather large problem.
Tiffany has been a witch long enough to know that her skills are usually, though not always, appreciated. But the murmurs currently stirring against her are something new. And they coincide with the appearance of an eyeless man in black that smells horribly of corruption.
Unsure of what the creature is, Tiffany and her tiny blue guardians, the Feegles, journey to Ankh-Morpork in search of answers. What she finds there is a hatred that goes back centuries, and it may destroy both her and the people that she cares about.
When I try to analyze Pratchett’s books, I’m always put in mind of a story I once read about the poet Robert Frost. Someone was talking with him about one of his poems—one about a tree—and was mentioning the symbolism and the metaphors and so on. When he was done, Mr. Frost politely said something to the effect of “I just wrote a poem about a tree.” In that same vein, I have a secret fear that one day, I will get the opportunity to discuss Discworld with Sir Terry, and that he will listen to me and then tell me—in a very kind and British-accented manner—that I am full of shit. And yet, I think that’s one of the beauties of Discworld. Pratchett is so skilled at mirroring things from our own world that it might be impossible to not see more in his stories than he’s actually put there.
And he does put a lot into each novel. While any given Discworld tale has one overarching theme, there are always other things that creep into the narrative. For example, I Shall Wear Midnight is mostly about the psychology of fear and anger—the eyeless man in black induces people to think negative thoughts about witches, and eventually those fears turn to anger and to violence. But woven through the main theme are other things: a heartbreaking take on child abuse; the idea that appearances can be deceiving; and a dash of “evil stepmother” thrown in for good measure.
While all of this may sound unbearably grim, Pratchett has a way of presenting his stories with seriousness and humor combined. The Discworld novels are the only ones that regularly make me laugh out loud. And of course, if you can laugh even while exploring a serious subject, that subject doesn’t seem so threatening. I will admit, I appreciated the appearance of the humorous Feegles at the end of chapter two, because Tiffany’s confrontation with an abusive father was so intense that it was difficult to read. But that intensity was lifted at the end of the chapter without diminishing its impact in the least.
As a character, Tiffany Aching is one that just about any reader can identify with. She’s young and trying to find her own way in a world that sometimes seems unfair and difficult, but she always has family and friends to back her up. Pratchett has used this book to bring his massive Discworld down to a more personal level, focusing on the small concerns of a young woman just as much as the broader concerns of her village and her people.
Pratchett’s storytelling contains more than just the common British love of the absurd. He takes that absurdity and twists it one hundred and eighty degrees so that it ends up coming back to the truth. Because of this, he has a way of talking about common things in such a way that you think about them differently. A couple of my favorite quotes from I Shall Wear Midnight are “The problem with getting angry at Nac Mac Feegles was that it was like getting angry at cardboard or the weather; it didn’t make any difference” and “Behind everything simple is a huge tail of complicated”. Every one of his books is filled with little nuggets of wisdom that, as wacky as they sound, present the world to readers in a fresh, new way.
And of course, Pratchett uses footnotes. What’s not to like about humorous footnotes?
Combine a set of unique characters, a setting unlike any other, and a slyly sideways sense of humor, and you’ll get a Discworld novel. I Shall Wear Midnight will have you laughing even as you say to yourself “Wow, I never thought of it that way before.”
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