Title: Wyrd Sisters
Series: Discworld, #6; Witches, #2
Author: Terry Pratchett
Narrator: Indira Varma, Bill Nighy, Peter Serafinowicz
Publisher: Penguin Audio
Publication date: Original print edition published 1988; audio production date 2022
Print length: 265 pages
Audio length: 9 hours 53 minutes
Genre: Fantasy
Source: Library
Rating:
Over 1 million Discworld audiobooks sold – discover the extraordinary universe of Terry Pratchett’s Discworld like never before
The audiobook of Wyrd Sisters is narrated by Indira Varma (Game of Thrones; Luther; This Way Up). BAFTA and Golden Globe award-winning actor Bill Nighy (Love Actually; Pirates of the Caribbean; Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows) reads the footnotes, and Peter Serafinowicz (Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace; Shaun of the Dead) stars as the voice of Death. Featuring a new theme tune composed by James Hannigan.
‘Destiny is important, see, but people go wrong when they think it controls them. It’s the other way around.‘
Three witches gathered on a lonely heath. A king cruelly murdered, his throne usurped by his ambitious cousin. A child heir and the royal crown, both missing.
Witches don’t have these kinds of leadership problems themselves – in fact, they don’t have leaders.
Granny Weatherwax is the most highly regarded of the leaders they don’t have. But even she finds that meddling in royal politics is a lot more complicated than certain playwrights would have you believe. Particularly when the blood on your hands just won’t wash off…
With an afterword by Joanne Harris.
In 2020, I challenged myself to read the Discworld series. The idea was to read one book per month, going in chronological order by publication date (which, by the way, is not the way people usually recommend experiencing Discworld). After only four books and four months, I threw in the towel. Terry Pratchett’s writing is always a treat, but the (self-imposed) pressure to read one book per month was sucking the joy out of it for me. Plus, too much of a good thing can be… a lot. Pratchett’s humor is great, but I think it works best for me in small doses.
Which brings me to 2025, and the witches. For as long as I’ve been talking to people about Discworld, I’ve been hearing that the witch books are the way to go. Word to the wise: This is great advice! After also hearing about how terrific the audiobooks are (narrated mainly by the amazing Indira Varma), I decided to give the series (and the witches) another try.
Although I’d read the 2nd Discworld book, Equal Rites, back when I started my challenge, I revisited the book via audio before starting the next witch book, Wyrd Sisters. Wyrd Sisters is #6 in the Discworld series, and #2 in the Witches sub-series.
In Wyrd Sisters, we once again spend time with Granny Weatherwax, who we met in Equal Rites. Here, she’s joined by two other witches, Nanny Ogg — a woman with a huge family and the ability to drink just about everyone under the table — and Magrat Garlick, a younger witch who loves to dress up in occult garb and who has a remarkably wise head on her shoulders.
The story opens on a dark and stormy night:
As the cauldron bubbled an eldritch voice shrieked: “When shall we three meet again?”
There was a pause.
Finally another voice said, in far more ordinary tones: “Well, I can do next Tuesday.”
The witches almost immediately become involved in a very Macbeth-like plot, as an evil Duke and his wife kill a king and seize the throne. But a missing heir adds complications to their scheming, and the plot stretches to include a theatrical troupe, the kingdom’s fool, a haunted castle, forests and standing stones with minds of their own, and all sorts of magical spells and powers.
The delight, of course, is in how Terry Pratchett tells this tale. The humor is sly and clever, woven neatly into scenes of action, adding a slapsticky feel at times, or just plain silliness. The wordplay soars, and manages to constantly surprise throughout the book. The Shakespearean references are hilarious, twisted to fit the story and yet recognizable and amazingly woven into random scenes and dialogues.
As for the audiobook itself, it’s a blast. As I mentioned, Indira Varma is an excellent narrator. Bill Nighy provides the book’s footnotes interspersed throughout the main narrative, and Peter Serafinowicz provides the voice of Death.
I’ll most likely take a break from Discworld for now — I find that for me, a little goes a long way. But, at some point I will want to continue, and when I do, it’ll be with more witches!
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