A Hat Full of Sky
by Terry Pratchett

This sequel to The Wee Free Men continues the adventures of Tiffany Aching, the young witch of Discworld’s chalk downs, and her determined escort of tiny, red-headed, blue men who love fighting, stealing, and the drink: the Nac Mac Feegle, also known as Pictsies.

A couple of years have passed. Tiffany continues to make good cheese, visit the home of her deceased Granny (who was the witch of the downs before her), and squirm under the awkward attentions of the baron’s son. The time finally comes for the 13-year-old witch to go away, to serve as an apprentice to an older witch. She does not find her first taste of the craft very glamorous. Although Miss Level is that rare person who can say, “I left my long-distance spectacles on my other nose,” and although her house is haunted by an obsessive-compulsive ondageist (the opposite of a poltergeist), most of her witchcraft takes the form of milking goats, tending the herb garden, keeping bees, and administering medicine and midwifery to the local population.

If Tiffany hungers for a taste of real magic, however, she is about to get one; for an entity that has no body or even mind of its own, that cannot be killed, and that floats around possessing one unfortunate person after another, is after Tiffany. This is a creature that takes over people’s minds and turns them into power-grabbing monsters. How will Tiffany defend herself against a being that wants to make her part of itself? Can even the Nac Mac Feegle, or the Discworld’s witch of witches, Granny Weatherwax, save her?

Aha! That would be telling! You’ll just have to read this book for yourself. It is quite good, full of humor and friendship and magic and danger and a few moments of gruesome surprise. Be a good sport, Potter fans, and don’t let Terry Pratchett’s recent ill-tempered effusion of anger against J. K. Rowling prejudice you against reading this very entertaining book, now available in paperback!

Robbie Fischer
USA

Recommended Age: 12+

9/2/05

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