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. ( )