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On the
reverse of this book's cover are the ominous words "The
Final Discworld Novel". Published posthumously, this
is the last book Terry Pratchett wrote and in this we say
goodbye to everything he created. Tiffany Aching is now the
witch of the Chalk, but is she spreading herself too thinly?
A lot of disgruntled people seem to think so, especially as
something is stirring on the other side. A while back she
got the better of the Queen, but now the host of Faerie want
to once again make merry in our world, a merry which only
they are going to enjoy. It is going to be up to Tiffany and
her friends to send them all packing once again…
Writing a review of something that nobody is going to be reading
unless they are already established fans is perhaps rather
unnecessary, but here I go. As it says at the end Terry hadn't
quite finished with the writing so he had a little help; the
final product is as enjoyable as ever with some almost unbearably
poignant parts. As with all his work this is ostensibly a
comic tale of witches and fairies but of course so much more
than that. This is a story about life and death, standing
up for what you believe in and being yourself. Dying is the
final stage in life but how a life has been lived and how
many people somebody touched in a positive way is the important
part, as Tiffany is going to learn. The Discworld now has
railways and a telegraph system and has become a far more
modern place, the Feegles are as funny as ever and we get
to see what happens when a man wants to be a witch. There
is a lot to enjoy and ponder over in here, things to make
us laugh and cry and even a few words about the ideas Terry
Pratchett had which we will never read about. In other words,
there is a lot inside this cover and that is a wonderful thing
to say about any book. Goodbye, Terry Pratchett.
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