http://nwhyte.livejournal.com/1317024...

This is a book of two halves, really. The first half (and a bit more) is rather standard mockery of cliches, as the three Witches (not my favourites among Pratchett's recurring characters) experience the delights of foreign travel and people who don't speak your language.

But when they get to their destination, the city of Genua, towards the end of the book, things really take off; it is as if the Brothers Grimm hit New Orleans - and who is that woman who looks like Granny Weatherwax? A lot of Pratchett's writing is about Story, in a way, no doubt reflecting the amount of time he has spent thinking about narrative in the last few decades, but I don't remember any of the novels (after the first couple) highlighting it quite like this.

So, harmless enough at the beginning, much more serious at the end. ( )

I had wanted to read a Terry Pratchett book for a while, I knew I would start with one about the Witches. I enjoyed the characters, and the fantasy elements, although I found the story a little weak. Somehow I expected more......Great hidden humour, I feel I may of missed some of the jokes, maybe I will read another pratchett in the future. ( )

Random Comments review ( )

For Granny Weatherwax, Nanny Ogg and Magrat Garlick, things are never simple. When they go on a mission to Genua to stop a wedding that was not meant to be it turns out to be more complicated than usual. They have got Mrs. Gogol's voodoo, Nanny Ogg's grouchy, domineering, one-eyed cat Greebo, and a second-hand magic wand courtesy of the late Desiderata, that seems to only do pumpkins. ( )

The usual witches are on a mission, and noone should prevent Granny Weatherwax from interfering in the narrative. Magrat inherits the job of fairygodmother; indeed, she sets poor standards in terms of magic. Travelling is not easy, but the action finally settles in an alternate bayou/Louisiana swamp place, with Mrs Gogol as the local voodoo witch. Despite their differences, Granny and Mrs Gogol will learn to work together to achieve a satisfying ending. The Story must go on! ( )

This is the first Pratchett/Discworld novel I ever read. And it's amusing, and funny, and clever, and all those other adjectives people employ to rave over Discworld. But, you know, reading it only confirmed once again that fantasy is not for me. It's possible to appreciate someone's artistry -- and believe me, Pratchett is a gifted writer -- while at the same time not wanting to partake of it any further. Sort of like the way I feel about Barbra Streisand or Andrew Lloyd Weber. Fabulous at what they do, but I'm not buying tickets.

Oh, but I loved DEATH. It may be worth reading more Discworld to get more DEATH. ( )

As someone who loves stories and tropes and fairy tales and all of that wound into a crazy rubber band ball, Witches Abroad is probably the perfect Discworld novel for me. Okay, it's not my absolute favorite, because I find that the witches books tend to drag a little towards the end, right before the grand finale, but it's definitely pretty awesome.

This, of course, manages to assimilate most of the big name fairy tales into the Discworld universe and in doing so sets up this idea that the Story is the reason things happen. Once you get started on a the path of a Story, it wants to finish itself to the end. So if you send a girl down to visit her grandmother, and she's wearing a red cloak, you better bet that the Story will do its best to have grandmother eaten by a wolf, and then we'll get those well-known words - "what big teeth you have, grandmother!" and the reply "The better to eat you with, my dear."

But Witches Abroad is also concerned with Granny Weatherwax and Nanny Ogg and Magrat Garlick and the way they deal with traveling, in their own ways. Nanny is the one to know foreign languages, only in her own way, which usually means some pretty funny puns and malapropisms. And Granny is always able to use Headology to take advantage of the con-men before they can take advantage of the naive tourists. Magrat is, well, Magrat.

I don't think of very many Discworld novels as rereadable (though I'm only a third of the way through the series on my first read-through), but this one very much is. ( )

I like this for delving deeper than past witches' book into how Story logic must go.The beginning is slow. Be prepared.

Magrat inherits a fairy god-daughter and must save her from having to go to the ball and marry a prince.
The witches turn into a more engaging set of characters in this narrative, which also introduces more background about Granny Weatherwax's family background. ( )

One of the best! A godmother dies and leave Magrat her wand along with strict instructions on how a girl's future is to go, and also carefully instructs Margat not to let Nanny Ogg and Granny Weatherwax "help". After the waving of this proverbial red flag, the three set off - the wrong way - to fly to Genua and stop the girl marrying the prince. It's not just Hans Christian Anderson's tales that have been mauled by an expert, someone is imposing happpy endings on people and Granny thinks she knows who. Sorting out the stories as they travel is easy, but when they arrive in the spick and span Genua life starts to get more interesting. It's not often that Esme gets as far as going "tsk tsk tsk", but when she does it's time to run for cover.

I'm not quite sure what happened to Genua, the witches travel across various bits of countryside that obviously isn't central Europe at all, but Geneva the likely basis of the name, suddenly is transplanted to Louisiana, with Voodoo, Gumbo, and a swamp. And a chief character Gogol who doesn't appear to have anything to do with King Solomen's Mines despite the similarity of name, gender, age and profession. You may spot other characters that manage to appear despite having no part. Gollum for instance.

However these are only minor quibbles. The puns, visual and verbal come quick and fast. although granny still can't tell a joke. At least I don't get it. Beneath all the humour though lurks a darker message, about black and white and shades of grey, and how easy doing something good with the best of intentions can still be bad, and doing evil so much more fun than being nice. Should you get what you need or what you want, never mind what you might deserve?!

Much shorter than his later novels, the darker social commentary is more muted and the puns more obvious. Esme is still one of the most incisive charaters on the Disk. ( )

See Equal Rites. ( )

Link to a review on my personal website (might be in Swedish). ( )

Terry Pratchett needs to write more books with Witches. He is at his finest when writing dialog between Granny, Nanny, and Magrat, the famous witches in the Discworld novels. It's not many a book that can make me laugh outloud, but the witches' no nonsense talk gets me everytime.
The story focuses on a satire/parody of fairy tales and does a good job of keeping things funny without mussing up a well-flowing plot. The reader also gets an insightful look at happy endings and what that entails in the philosophical sense.
A great book that ranks as one of the best in the Discworld series. ( )

Witches Abroad is the first book in the "Witches" sequence of discworld that I have read. The three main characters in the book are very interesting, and I will probably read more books that the witches in them.

The plot of the book was interesting. It discussed stories (mainly fairy tale stories), and how they work on Discworld. There were many delightful references to different folk tales and fairy stories in the book.

But the plot was too complicated, especially at the end of the book. I could have read a couple less twists and turns, and would have been happy.

This wasn't perhaps the best book to introduce the witches to me, so I'll check the rest and I expect them to be better... :) ( )

This is my first taste of Terry Pratchett after Good Omens, his collaboration with Neil Gaiman. I was not disappointed! Witches Abroad is such an enjoyable read, filled with wit and, er, witches' wisdom. Several bits even had me laughing out loud. I'm looking forward to reading more Terry Pratchett! ( )

I adore all of the discworld series. The witches, being Nanny Ogg, Granny Weatherwax and Magrat, are my favourite characters along with the librarian, DEATH and of course the Death of Rats. These are my ultimate bedtime companions when i'm after a quick, lighthearted read. ( )

Terry Pratchett is a god who walks among men. The entire Discworld series is a joy and only a strange mad creature cursed by gods and man would refuse to read and love these books!

one of the best in teh witches series, this sees magrat,Ogg and Weatherwax in Furrin Parts, causing terror and fear as they cross the dsicworld. At the end they confront a very dangerous enemy indeed... a Weatherwax gone bad! ( )

The witches in 'forn parts'. Hilarious. ( )

"Oh, Esme, you do take winnin' hard." ( )

http://cmoore.com/forum/viewtopic.php... ( )