I was looking forward to rereading this one. Macbeth is one of my favourite Shakespeare plays and I love all the nods to it in this novel. In my opinion, the witches series are some of the best discworld books and Granny Weatherwax is one of my favourite characters so I knew I was onto a winner. I was not disappointed.

This follows on nicely from Sourcery because although the set of characters are completely different, it continues with the theme of power and who is best to wield it. This time, the whole land wakes up at the thought of a king who does not respect it and only wants the power for the sake of having it. The witches hear it and know that something unusual is happening but they are not sure what it is. They know, however, that they are going to have to do something about it.

Apart from Granny Weatherwax, this is the first time we properly meet the witches. Nanny Ogg and Magrat Garlick are useful foils to Granny’s strictness. Magrat is Granny’s polar opposite and they often clash, leading to both of them trying to rescue Nanny purely to stop the other one from rescuing her first. Nanny is unusual for a witch, having a huge family of children, grandchildren and a range of daughters in law who do her bidding. She is also hard drinking and lewd, opposite to Granny in a completely different way to Magrat. This means that their covens are more arguments than meetings and there is very little they agree on.

Then we have the gloriously awkward romance between Magrat and Verence the fool. Magrat is soppy and loves all the occult trimmings that come with being a witch. Verence is beaten down by the role of fool and tinkles when he walks. It seems like a match made in heaven but, of course, the path of true love does not run smoothly. In the end, both parties are too embarrassed to refer to their relationship so progress is extremely slow.

As well as Shakespeare, there are many references to fairy tales in Wyrd Sisters and so it seemed apt to me when Granny moves the narrative forward fifteen years by flying round and round the kingdom so that the foundling Tom John is old enough to come and claim the throne. I have seen some complaints online that this is lazy writing or a bit of a cheat. I can see why people may say that but it is not something that ever occurred to me. It always made perfect sense.

Overall, this is very funny, very clever and stands up as one of the best witches books.