The Wee Free Men

A nine-year-old dairymaid who wants to be a witch vs. an evil fairy dreamland queen.

4/4 (Great).

I find the fact that this is Discworld Book #30 makes it weirdly difficult to review. This far into the series, I've got pretty serious Discworld fatigue. And there's a lot of background, from a lot of lesser Discworld books, that this builds off of. At the same time, this book is absolutely delightful and one of the best books I've read in a while. It's frustrating.

(Apr. 2022)

This was a great choice to read for my first foray into Pratchett’s Discworld as I did not need to know anything of prior books to fully enjoy it. And, it worked quite well as a stand-alone book. Of course, now I want to continue reading further adventures of the Wee Free Men and hope to come across more of Tiffany Aching, the 9 year old witch introduced in this tale.

This is an uproarious fantasy, adventure tale. Tiffany is not particularly fond of her younger brother, Wentworth. He is obnoxious, only interested in “sweeties”, and is chronically “sticky”. But when the Queen of Faeries steals him, Tiffany sets out to save him armed with only her frying pan and the help of the Nac Mac Feegle. The Nac Mac Feegle are 6” tall show more blue skinned, red haired men who speak with a Scottish accent and whose main interests are drinking, fighting and stealing. If you like the irreverent humor of Monty Python or Douglas Adams’ Hitchhiker series, I suspect you will enjoy this book. I highly recommend this as an audio read. Stephen Briggs does an admirable job with Pratchett’s writing. It’s simply hilarious! show less

Exciting, thought-provoking and riotously funny—in addition to being more tightly plotted than many of Pratchett's books. Just about the perfect YA fantasy!

Tiffany Aching is a wonderful, unique protagonist, and her titular sidekicks are a hoot. Only Terry Pratchett could take a fantasy novel about an old-beyond-her-years nine-year old, add a group of six-inch-tall Scottish hooligans, and turn it into a thought-provoking exploration of the living nature of stories.

The Wee Free Men is the kind of book that makes writing look like an effortless endeavor. And the ending...well, it was just wonderful.

I read this one aloud to my kids, and it was an absolute delight. My daughter is nine, just like Tiffany, and doesn't need me to read books to her anymore, but I still do because we love sharing stories. My five-year-old loves talking like the Nac Mac Feegle ("Crivens!" he says, innumerable times each day), but it's not clear to me just how much else he got from the story. My daughter, however, laughed along with me at the puns and other fun little jokes with which Pratchett peppers this story and was moved along with me at the moving bits (which I won't detail because I don't want to spoil it. Suffice show more to say it was more than I expected from a book for young people). Both children were kind enough not to make fun of my version of the Nac Mac Feegle accent.

I'm betting my daughter is going to want to pick up another Discworld book tomorrow...and probably will want to make butter, too. show less

The Chalk is a place of sheep and shepherds but never a witch was known to be there, however that might have been incorrect. Terry Pratchett’s 30th Discworld novel, The Wee Free Men, is the second time he’s written for young adults but his writing and humor are top notch as well follow a nine-year witch Tiffany Aching going up against the Queen of Elves with only a horde of six-inch blue little men.

Tiffany Aching finds her family farm being invaded by monsters from dreams as well as a horde of little blue men, the titular Wee Free Men. Tiffany is very smart for her age and sees things as they are just like her grandmother, so when strange things pop up she uses an iron pan to beat them back. Although she later figures out that her show more grandmother was a witch, Tiffany has her first encounter with one in the form of Ms. Lick who tells her to be careful but not to tackle the problem on her own but when her brother is kidnapped by the Fairie Queen, Tiffany knows she’s going to need help while not sounding desperate. Tiffany’s help comes to her when the local clan of the Wee Free Men shows up looking for the new “hag ol’ the hills” because of the invasion of the Queen. Tiffany and the Wee Free Men invade ‘Fairyland’ and manage to return with her brother, a feat that Granny Weatherwax finds impressive for someone so young and untrained.

The Wee Free Men features Tiffany as the only point-of-view character, save from a narrator, which keeps the book fairly orderly when reading as well as being in line for a book for younger readers. The story itself is somewhat familiar for long time Discworld fans with the antagonist being the Queen of the Elves invading, but Pratchett changes things up with the use of dreams and the conflict as seen from a nine-year old. The cameo appearance of Granny Weatherwax and Nanny Ogg at the end, sets up further adventures of Tiffany and connects her subseries with the Witches subseries with the hopes of seeing favorite characters in future books.

The second young adult and first Tiffany subseries book of the Discworld canon is a fantastic book; The Wee Free Men gives someone new for long time fans while introducing older characters for younger new readers. While it’s intended for a younger audience, older fans will appreciate Pratchett’s humorous fantasy writing with his twists and turns. show less

This is the first “Discworld for Children” book I have read, and the first one in the series that follows young new witch Tiffany Aching. Since it was written for children, the story is simpler, it is less satirical with fewer layers and fewer references than the adult series has, and of course, no innuendo (also no Nanny Ogg)! But otherwise Pratchett doesn’t change his tone and never talks down to a younger audience; this is definitely Discworld, and I was impressed!

Our new protagonist, Tiffany, is a child character. She is 9 years old, but she is very smart and independent and not, blessedly, in a precocious way. Tiffany is an intelligent character who always stops and thinks, and draws her conclusions based on evidence, and she show more is open to learning without thinking she knows best. So in that way, she’s a nice contrast to Esk from Equal Rites. I generally prefer characters who act more thoughtfully and less from impulse. Like a true witch, Tiffany only tries magic when she really has to, and has a natural inclination towards Headology, even if she doesn’t know what it is called yet. I thought she was fantastic!

Tiffany is the lone human for a lot of the book, but she does have help from the Nac Mac Feegle. These little blue tattooed “pictsies” (think Smurfs but drunk, violent and Scottish) were introduced in Carpe Jugulum, so it’s fun to see them back with a more central role! She also has a toad companion, left to aid her by the witch Miss Tick, who she’s away looking for grown-up witches to help them ward off the fairy Queen.

Granny and Nanny do briefly show up at the very end of the story, and Granny is impressed. The end is a little melancholy as Tiffany has been changed by her adventure, and now with knowledge and growing power, she also has a responsibility, but it is poignant, and I am excited to read more of her books and see her grow as a witch!

“And what do you really do?” said Tiffany.

The thin witch hesitated for a moment, and then:

“We look to…the edges,” said Mistress Weatherwax. “There’s a lot of edges, more than people know. Between life and death, this world and the next, night and day, right and wrong…an’ they need watchin’. We watch ’em, we guard the sum of things. And we never ask for any reward. That’s important.”

This book was wonderful, and the audiobook narrators were brilliant again. Not only Indira Varma, who I loved from the Witches series, but Steven Cree is doing the voices for the Nac Mac Feegle! (Crivens!) I definitely can see myself returning to this in the future!

This book also does good duty in the Law of Fives reading bingo this year: first in a series, magical creatures, and won the Lotus Award for young adult book (2004).

REVIEW SUMMARY
I LIKED

Tiffany is a fantastic character. I loved her.
The Nac Mac Feegle are also hilarious.
Doesn’t talk down to a younger audience.
A cameo from Granny and Nanny at the end! show less

Reread 2026: This was fun! I love the Feegles. I also picked up a lot more of the folklore inspirations for Tiffany's trip through fairy land this time around.

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There's trouble on Aching farm. A strange green monster has appeared in the river. A headless horseman has been seen riding about. Things from nightmares have been spotted in the hills. And now Tiffany's little brother has gone missing and it's up to her to get him back. She grabs her weapon (a frying pan), her magic book (granny's old copy of Diseases of Sheep) and some unlikely allies, the Nac Mac Feegle, the Wee Free Men, the fightin', thievin', tiny blue-skinned pictsies who were thrown out of Fairyland for being Drunk and Disorderly. Feeling as prepared as show more she'll ever be Tiffany sets off on her quest to find her brother and put a stop to the strange goings on around the farm.

The Wee Free Men is Terry Pratchett's the 30th Discworld book and first in the Tiffany Aching story line. This is designated as a YA book which I found odd because, aside from Tiffany being a 9-year old girl, this book easily stands up with the rest of the Discworld novels. This time around Pratchett takes on classical fairy tales and gives them his own imaginative twist. This is combined with his typical moments of laugh out loud funny situations and a surprising philosophical depth that those familiar with the series have come to expect.

All the new characters are wonderful. Tiffany is a highly capable young lady who thinks she may be a witch like Granny Aching was and has taken it upon herself to rescue her brother when he's abducted by the Fairy Queen. Not because she really likes him exactly, he is sticky and whiny, but because he's hers. Tiffany has the First Sight and Second Thoughts, making her uniquely qualified for her trip into Fairy Land. She also has a frying pan and is not afraid to use it! The Nac Mac Feegle are a group of "pictsies" and are a mad, drunken, fightin' family of wee free men that have decided to help Tiffany on her quest. They a decidedly Scottish feel to them by speaking with brogue and wearing kilts and I found them absolutely charming. They have a full history and a surprising amount of depth and nuance to their characters and motivations.

If you are a Discworld fan and have not picked up the Tiffany Aching books due to the YA classification, put those fears aside. This is an absolutely delightful entry to the series. show less