When reading all of the Discworld books, I decided to leave out the Witch series at first, because I didn't find Equal Rites to be particualrly brilliant in comparison to the other books written by Mr. Pratchett (though it was still very good).

But when I ran out of Discworld books, I decided to give the rest of the Witch Series a try and that was a good decision, because they stood up far better than I thought they would.

In fact in some ways, I think they are better than the Death series of books. A very good read, I have to say.

What does everyone else think of the Witch Series as a whole?

You do get the idea that this is a back up site to go to if the other one isn't working don't you? Though there aren't any regulations that say you can't post here, you may not get many responses to your posts.

Anyway, personally I read all the books in order as they came out; I never saw them as seperate little series, or even considerd the idea until some people mentioned them as such on the Terry Pratcthett message board.

Dragon's Kingdom - Stop typing "alot" when you mean "a lot"! - Disappointed

I read them totally out of order, it was a matter of which ones could I get my hands on through lie, cheating and stealing (but most commonly boring and buying second hand :o )... I don't think it matters that much but I reckon the later books are better for having read the earlier ones.

The witches aren't my favourite, I'm a watch person myself so I shall leave to let the people who prefer the witches...

PhD Student: Research information sheet

There once was a man named Bruce
Who liked to sit on a spruce
He ate lots of chowder
And yelled at me louder:
"I'm talking to YOU, Mrs. Hughes!"
--> The Literary Genius: Mowgli

Same here. (Both on on being a watch person, and reading them out of order).

I have a soft spot for Equal Rites, since that was the book I first read all those years ago. I also read them in no particular order, I think I have them all read now and purchased as well so I am going to start from the top, I just had to take a little break to read a little Elizabeth Moon and Anne McCaffrey, etc.

I think that there is more in store for Granny Weatherwax, she probably is training Tiffany to be her sucessor as the "top" witch, even if Tiffany is tied to the Chalk she could be the top witch, I see the witch world as being sort of extranational, maybe even intercontinental. Witches fly over the landscape and they know the boundaries shown on maps are imaginary.

() ()
( ' ,') "don't eat green potatoes"
(> >) Last words of Mrs. Bertha Sperling
@( )_ )_

The witches are my favourite characters so far (although I do love the Watch books as well). Not sure why I like the witches, but I do and I'm desperate for TP to write more books involving them. Especially Granny.
Equal rites is probably my least favourite of the witch books, Carpe Jugulum being my favourite (unless we're counting the Tiffany books...in which case A hat full of sky is my fav).
I agree that Tiffany seems to be in line to take Granny's place (although not for some time I hope :? ), she reminded me so much of Granny as I was reading Wee Free Men that I was glad when Granny made an appearance at the end of it.

Anyhoo...as a whole, I think they're fantastic. I both admire and fear all of the witches. Those books are the most frequently read in my collection and Nanny's cookbook is a frightening curiosity in my kitchen. :p

Cass.

If I remember correctly, I always thought that Agnes was one witch too many. Granny works extremely well on her own (well, not throughout the story, but as a character...), Granny and Nanny together work perfectly well (I found the scenes with Nanny Ogg as the only witch in it never quite as thrilling as the solo pieces Granny had within a story, though - it was a lot comical relief, which is a fine thing, but still), and with someone else at their side (first Magrat and then Agnes) whom they can excercise their strengths at, they are great.

But while Magrat still had a charm of her own, and was allowed to surprise the reader from now and then, Agnes as a character never quite rised above the initial idea of the clumsy newbit with a split personality (not excercised very consequently, too). I think I remember reading one times too many that when she turned around, parts of her needed some extra time to arrive on the new spot (or something along those line, I'm far away from home right now and can't check.) She simply had the function -at least at times- to give -mainly- Nanny Ogg someone to talk to. And for a pure background character, something she never quite stopped being, she got way too much space.

"Hoher Sinn liegt oft im kindischen Spiel." (Friedrich Schiller)

I agree, Hsing. I think that may be part of the reason Tiffany Aching has cropped up. It's part of the development of the witches.

The thing with Tiffany is she's too much like Granny. By the time she's old enough to be in the main series (after wintersmith) I think Granny will be dead. Tiffany will be to young to fill Grannys role within the Coven, so it wouldn't work.

Or, if Granny is alive, Tiffany is to much like her for them to work that well in a main book. Unless, it's in the teacher/pupil role like Men in Hats.

Women in Hats, though.
I sometimes thought that PTerry may have felt like writing a relatively non-nonsensical Doscworld-related story for a younger audience (which he did quite well, I like the Tiffany-books very much), and thus introduced Tiffany as the young heroine. I think that was also a reason for entering an area that wasn't really mentioned before in the Discworld books, to give it all an independant stance.
That might enable him to keep the two witches apart, despite Granny's role in Tiffany's life.

"Hoher Sinn liegt oft im kindischen Spiel." (Friedrich Schiller)

Tiffany has plenty of room to develop and become something else than a young Granny, though. If Granny dies, I think Tiffany's books would continue the Witch side of things. Not necessarily in the main series.

Ah well, maybe that's looking too far into the future.

Witches are pretty territorial, and Tiffany is from the chalk, while Granny is in the Ramtops. I think they can coexist for quite some time ..

I do agree with Hsing that Agnes never really seemed to fit in into the witches' world.

Addressing the main topic: I definitely like the Witches' series, partially because Wyrd Sisters was the first Pratchett I ever read ..

I'm actually reading wyrd sisters at the moment, i haven't read equal rites yet though am getting round to it.

I love the characters, granny particularly. They have very strong characters and because of the stereotypes surrounding witches there is so much you can do to move that image around. The way pTerry manages to take the 'all witches are evil' stance and make them more into people who dodge magic almost as much regular people.

Anyway, seing as i haven't read them all yet I'm probably missing a lot of points but, for the moment, granny is probably a favourite character. Her attitude is simply a pleasure to read and has so many opertunities to do more with. She would be a horror to read but is a pleasure to read.

Although the watch is my favorite story arc in Discworld I really did enjoy the witches series. I feel however that TP has taken them as far as he can at the moment. When I finished Carpe Jugulum (which I thoroughly enjoyed) I came away with the standard feeling of awe and amazement of Granny, however ... ... I thought she was portrayed as a bit too powerful and wonder where TP could go with that series after that.

I was impressed with Wee Free Men, and A Hat Full of Sky blew me away. I enjoyed the new direction the "witches" stories were being taken. I also like this new approach to Granny Weatherwax, a teacher and more suprisingly travelling out of her comfort zone. I feel that in Carpe Jugulum she proved she could not be beaten on her home turf so it is good to see her moving around a bit.

On the whole though I do enjoy the witched series. Books about magic, sex, cookery and songs. Plenty to enjoy and I find the blend of characters to be superb.

Cheers

The witch books are my second favorite, aside from the Watch. The first discworld book I read was [i:58b4a2ae18]A Hat Full of Sky[/i:58b4a2ae18]. My friend told me about Discworld last year, when I went to the library and checked out as many as I could. The first was that one, and the next ones were all Watch books.

I love the interactions between Granny Weatherwax and Nanny Ogg. Nanny Ogg makes me laugh.