Fledgling witch Tiffany Aching has been taken on as an apprentice to Miss Level, who is one person with two bodies, yes two bodies, not twins, but two whole bodies. However, our young heroine has a big problem. Tiffany has been taken over by a hiver--an invisible creature that controls and misleads the mind of its host until death. Our Tiffany has the strength to hide a portion of her mind despite being completely under the control of the hiver. Coming to her rescue are the cranky wee free men, the Nac Mac Feegle, along with the intrepid Miss Level.

A rather disappointing book to come after the excellent Wee Free Men. The heroine spends too much time wallowing in self pity, which is a shame after showing herself to be such a strong character in the previous book. ( )

Summary: Although she banished the Faerie Queen from her homelands, the Chalk, when she was just nine, eleven-year-old Tiffany Aching doesn't feel particularly magical during her daily life of tending her family's sheep and making cheese. Going to study with the witch Miss Level doesn't really help, as Miss Level's brand of magic is mostly doing other people's chores and some basic medicine. However, Tiffany's going to have to find her magic reserves deep within herself, because she's being stalked by an ancient, unkillable evil force - The Hiver - who takes over people's minds and drives them mad. At least she won't have to fight it alone, though... for the Nac Mac Feegle (six-inch-tall blue "faeries" who like nothing more than getting drunk and fighting a lot) have befriended her, and they'll stop at nothing to protect their "big wee hag."

Review: I listened to The Wee Free Men almost a year ago, and while I quite enjoyed it, I didn't really feel the need to rush out and get the sequel, even once I found out it existed. And yet, as soon as I started this book, I realized how terribly much I'd missed the Feegles... and didn't let ten hours, let alone ten months, elapse before starting the next book in the series.

I think the reason I liked this book so much was that it had a good balance of all of the elements that go into YA fantasy. Before I found the Tiffany Aching books, I'd only read two of Pratchett's Discworld books, and was somewhat underimpressed - it felt like they were trying too hard to be funny all the time, and that the jokes had all been made before. A Hat Full of Sky, on the other hand, is frequently laugh-out-loud funny, but it balances it with some good adventure, a not-overly-preachy coming of age story, some interesting character development, and a cracking good story. It also doesn't talk down to its readers - Tiffany's eleven in this book, so the target audience is probably not much older - with things not always working out easily or perfectly, and the world sometimes being dark and unfair. The humor also helps its cross-over appeal to adult readers - there are plenty of things that young teens would find funny, but also plenty of sharper and more subtle humor for the grown-ups.

This is also an excellent book to listen to in audiobook form. I very rarely vocalize accents in my head when I'm reading, unless the accent is written out phonetically, which gets really tiring really fast. Anyways, the Nac Mac Feegles just wouldn't be the same without their thick accents, and Stephen Briggs narrates their dialogue, along with the rest of the story, just perfectly. Ach, crivens! 4.5 out of 5 stars.

Recommendation: This series is definitely recommended to fantasy fans who want something simultaneously hilarious and also taking a sensible stand on the issues that come with growing up. ( )

http://wartaalman.blogspot.com/2009/0... ( )

Much better than the other Tiffany Aching books. ( )