Well, this was surprising. I enjoyed this much more than I expected. I’m really not sure what I disliked about it so much last time round. It may have been the division between witch (female) magic and wizard (male) magic which was seemingly reinforced by Granny Weatherwax. I was a little disappointed in Granny, I think, as I knew her from later novels before I read this one. She doesn’t seem quite her later self. The division felt entrenched in the first half of the novel although by the end it is less so.

I still thought that this time round but perhaps because I was expecting it I didn’t find it quite as jarring. Certainly, this is still underdeveloped in places. The Librarian is still quite a small character compared to his later appearances. Granny seems even more set in her ways although to be fair, she does end up giving in and taking Esk to Unseen University once she realises that she needs to learn wizard magic.

That aside, it trots along nicely as a story. Esk is a strong female character – headstrong and determined to do what she wants – something that means that Granny has to rescue her regularly. Granny is not quite fully formed but a lot of the things that are good about her are already there. She is one of my favourite Discworld characters but she is definitely better in the comic trio of Nanny Ogg and Magrat.

So overall, this was a fairly solid read – not my favourite but definitely moving in the right direction.