I Shall Wear Midnight

In 1983 a book called A Colour of Magic hit the bookshelves. It was a strange little volume about a disc shaped world, supported on the backs of 4 elephants, who in turn were standing on the back of a space turtle, and the largely insane and magical inhabitants of said world, which came to be known as Discworld. That was 27 years and 38 books ago. Discworld's creator; Terry Pratchett has become one of the world's most loved fantasy authors and been knighted for his efforts.

Over the years the Discworld series has evolved into a number of separate threads (Rincewind, Death, The Witches, The City Watch, etc...) depending on which character or character grouping the books deal with. I Shall Wear Midnight is the 4th of the Tiffany Aching novels, because Tiffany herself is a witch and the books feature some of the other Discworld witches such as Granny Weatherwax and Nanny Ogg, the Tiffany books belong to The Witches category, but they're also rather more YA in tone than the other Discworld books, probably because Tiffany is a young adult (nearly sixteen in I Shall Wear Midnight) and they feature a tribe of mad, little blue creatures called the Nac Mac Feegle, also known as the Wee Free Men. So Tiffany kind of occupies a category all of her own.

In The Wee Free Men, an eleven year old Tiffany goes into the world of the elves with her friends the Nac Mac Feegle in order to rescue her baby brother and this is when she first becomes interested in following in her grandmother's foot steps as the witch of the Chalk. Even then the Feegles were calling her the 'big wee hag' (hag is their word for witch).

In A Hat Full of Sky Tiffany finds out that even a witch can be corrupted and has to fight off the malevolent presence of the Hiver. Death comes in rather handy here.

The last time we saw Tiffany in Wintersmith she was trying to prevent an eternal winter along with the Feegles and Roland; the son and heir of the local baron.

When I Shall Wear Midnight opens, a fifteen year old Tiffany Aching has largely taken on the duties of the witch of the Chalk by herself. Presumably at some stage either Granny Weatherwax or Nanny Ogg will come by to see how she's doing, but she seems to be handling herself just fine. That is until the ailing baron dies while Tiffany is easing his pain, and she finds herself accused of causing his death and stealing from him in the process. To complicate matters even more an evil presence of a long dead witch hunter is preying on people near to Tiffany and trying to kill her. Tiffany has to deal with that, put the new baron; Roland, on track, while trying to understand her own feelings for the boy she grew up with and now has to see married to the somewhat scatter brained and spoiled Letitia (who may herself be a witch, even though she's totally unsuited for it and doesn't understand), try and keep the Feegles under control, live up to the responsibilities of being the Chalk's sole witch and see to the regions well being. It's a lot for a fifteen year old girl to handle, but if any girl on Discworld or anywhere else can do so it will be Miss Tiffany Aching, the 'big wee hag' o the Chalk.

Sir Terry Pratchett is in vintage form in I Shall Wear Midnight. One page the reader is chortling away about tales of dangerous cheeses and the antics of the Feegle and the next weeping at the situation the town drunk finds himself in after having nearly beaten his own daughter to death. Although the Tiffany Aching novels tend to be classified as YA, I Shall Wear Midnight transcended that label and became a fully fledged Discworld book. Tiffany even took a trip to Ankh Morpork and dealt with the City Watch, mostly their Feegle guardsman; Wee Mad Arthur.

Terry Pratchett has always had an amazing skill with words. He somehow seems to make them say exactly what he wants and go beyond that function. The following two passages are, to me, an example of that:

'The girl was sitting on her bed, twisting a handkerchief - a clean one, Tiffany was pleased to see - and looking worried, which was to say more worried than her usual expression, which was that of a hamster that had had its treadmill stopped'

'But generally speaking when Nanny Ogg came out with a silly, embarrassing comment by accident, it was because she had thought about it very carefully beforehand. Tiffany knew this,and Nanny certainly knew that Tiffany knew, and Tiffany knew that too. But it was often the kind of way that witches behaved, and it all worked perfectly if nobody picked up an axe.'

I Shall Wear Midnight contains the authors signature footnotes, the appearance of Death (he seems to be limited to one appearance per book these days, maybe his fees got too steep), an amusing Feegle glossary written by the very proper Miss Perspicacia Tick (she describes pished as meaning tired) and an author's note which explains where one of the books key concepts came from.

I can't speak highly enough of this book and I am stunned that Terry Pratchett hasn't even been nominated for a Hugo, let alone won a rocketship, yet. 2011 could be the year. He'd be a very popular and worthy winner.

The Last Dragonslayer

I’m a Jasper Fforde fan. I have been ever since I stumbled across The Eyre Affair and was instantly hooked by his inventive and quirky way of writing. I’ve recommended The Eyre Affair to everyone I can and regard it as one of my top 10 favourite books ever. Fforde first started to move away from the alternate 1985 he had created for the Thursday Next adventures and the related world of Bookworld with the first of a new trilogy: Shades of Grey The Last Dragonslayer continues that progression, moving into the ever growing field of YA literature.

Jasper Fforde is the most recent successful SFF adult author to write for YA, the number is growing rapidly and it’s no longer just the prerogative of Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett to write books for a younger audience. Aside from the book being a Fforde and also a departure from his best known work, I found it interesting, because I hadn’t heard anything about it and had virtually no knowledge beyond being familiar with the author’s work.

The Last Dragonslayer is set in a typically ‘Ffordeian’ world. An alternate England, this one is called the Ununited Kingdom and the country seems fragmented into a number of kingdoms and duchies along the lines of counties and shires. Magic works in this world, although it’s on the way out. Fforde has also populated it with some of the odd flora and fauna that he’s fast becoming known for. Marzipan appears to be a drug and a source of power. I defy anyone not to fall in love the quarkbeast, a small, feisty, fiercely loyal creature with five rows of razor sharp teeth and the seeming ability to ingest almost anything. The central character is fifteen year old Jennifer Strange. Jennifer is a foundling brought up and cared for by the Sisters of the Lobster, and as such was indentured out to the Kazam magical agency some years ago, she has 4 years of her indenture left. Despite her tender years she’s a remarkably capable girl and is largely running the agency on her own, she later gets another foundling assistant; the improbably named Tiger Prawns. Jennifer was very much like a younger version of Thursday Next, she had Thursday’s outlook on things and handled events and people with the same no nonsense approach. The big sister, little brother relationship between her and Tiger was, for me, one of the book’s highlights.

Jennifer inherits the title and responsibility of being the UK’s one and only dragonslayer, as the last dragon is the mighty Maltcassion and Jennifer has been prophesied to kill him on Sunday, she’s also the last dragonslayer. It’s not a responsibility the girl asked for or wanted and unless she can think on her feet and stay one step ahead of the people that want to use her, largely everybody from King Snood IV down, then she could also usher in the end of the world as she knows it.

This was a lot of fun and I enjoyed navigating through the new world Fforde created for his YA romp. In some ways it’s actually better drawn than Thursday’s world. At times it seems like our world (Einstein existed and so do Volkswagons) and at other times it is so far removed (carpets fly, magic works and then there are the quarkbeasts). The dragons owe more to Naomi Novik than they do to JRR Tolkien. I finished it and was satisfied with the end, I thought it was a standalone, it was only when I did a bit of research for the review that I discovered it’s the first of a trilogy. Like the works of Pratchett and Gaiman, while The Last Dragonslayer, was written with a younger audience in mind, it does not talk down to it’s readers and can be read and enjoyed by the author’s grown up fans and in fact anyone who’s fond of clever and fun SFF.

Favourite Authors

Some time ago I participated in a forum topic that asked people to name their top 5 favourite SFF authors. This is what I came up with at the time.

I tried to limit myself by not including an author who doesn’t have a body of work behind them or whose work has not yet stood the test of time. I also tried not to include authors who are still writing unfinished series, because I may not like the ending of
the series or they may never finish that series. Now having said all that I just know my choices are going to contradict some of it. These are in no particular order, all I had to was name my 5 favourites not choose who was better than someone else:

1) Tad Williams: I haven’t seen this bloke write a bad book. From Tailchaser’s Song to the first volume of the Shadow series. He also writes different things. Tailchaser’s Song was a whimsical little piece about the mythology of cats.
Memory, Sorrow & Thorn was a big LotR style epic, in fact I feel it was William’s homage to Tolkein.
Otherland mixed fantasy and science fiction and had nods to everything from Alice In Wonderland to modern role playing computer games.
Then he blew me away with the dark, but ultimately uplifting The War Of The Flowers.
I’m reserving judgement on the Shadow series. The first book was less gripping than his other work and I’m waiting until he puts out the final book of that before getting the others.

2) Terry Pratchett: you can’t not include him. When A Colour Of Magic came out there were a number of ‘funny’ fantasies along the same lines of hapless, inept wizard (Rincewind) blunders from disaster to disaster, but eventually comes out on top, ACoM was a cut above most, but then when he decided to use totally different characters and examine another part of the world in Equal Rites that elevated him to a new level. He’s demonstrated that he can write across ages (the Bromeliad trilogy and the Johnny Maxwell books) and genres (Good Omens with Neil Gaiman and the new Nation, which is very different, but
still immensely enjoyable).

3) J.K Rowling: the first contradiction. The Harry Potter books, whilst fantastic, are all one genre and about the same characters. She may have other books in her, but following HP is a hard ask. I’ve included her because I loved the HP books, the way the world was presented and how the characters, even the peripheral ones (Neville Longbottom from shy, awkward kid to butt kicking revolutionary hero) grew throughout the 7 books. She also provided many people with their entry into the wonderful world of fantasy and reading in general.

4) Jasper Fforde: he’d get in there just for Thursday Next, a concept which turned amusing fantasy on it’s head. I think the books have been described as silly books for smart people. He’s also done some ‘nursery rhyme’ mysteries, which while not as groundbreaking orbrilliant as the Thursday Next series, are still thoroughly enjoyable and made me laugh out loud on public transport, something which always earns me disapproving glares from the people in dark suits and I love it when that happens. He did a good job with the first book of a completely new series: Shades of Grey, which I reviewed here back in January.

5) JRR Tolkien: had to be there. The Hobbit is one of my all time favourite books, very different from LotR. I’m not a big LotR fan, I liked the book and the films and I can appreciate the achievement and the writing, but mainly the good professor makes this list for what his masterpiece did. It legitimized fantasy writing, it revolutionized the genre. If not for LotR and it’s stunning success many of the authors we have all loved and enjoyed may never have written and certainly would not have been inspired to turn their talents to thetype of work that they have produced.

There were a whole bunch of people who missed out: George RR Martin,I’m a huge Ice and Fire fan, but I haven’t really enjoyed anything else that Martin has done and the last half a book (don’t kid yourself AFfC is half a book, no matter what spin the author or his more enthusiastic fans try to put on it) and the time and obvious struggle that the creator is having with the second half and the delay in producing it leads me to believe that he has lost control of the concept and that it may remain unfinished.
Alan Dean Foster missed out, he’s predominantly a science fiction author, but his Spellsinger series was something I really had a lot of fun with, however the last couple of books in that were written purely for the money and cheapened the whole concept. Clive Barker couldn’t quite get in there, yes I know he’s mostly horror, but Weaveworld and Imajica were pure fantasy.
Parke Godwin, although I see Firelord as fantasy, his other work was largely historical fiction.
Roberta MacAvoy, probably my fault because I’ve only read the Damiano series, but I did try to read The Book of Kells and was unable to get through it.
I would have loved to have included Scott Lynch, but the Gentleman Bastards series is unfinished and has yet to stand the test of time.
Joe Abercrombie was unlucky, because The First Law trilogy almost tops Martin for edgy, hard, epic fantasy, but again we’ve yet to see how well his work will be regarded in 5 or 10 years time.
Dave Duncan was another person I couldn't include. I still think his first Pandemia series: A Man Of HIs Word is one of the best fantasy series I've ever read, but aside from it's sequel series and the two Omar books (Reaver's Road and Hunter's Haunt) Duncan hasn't ever reached those same heights for me.

Unseen Academicals

Unseen Academicals is Terry Pratchett’s most recent book, and the 37th in the extremely successful Discworld series.

You used to be able to rely on Sir Terry (he was knighted in 2009 for services to literature) for at least 2 books a year, but age and illness (he was diagnosed with early onset Alzheimers disease in 2007) have affected his once prolific output. Unseen Academicals is the first Discworld book since 2007’s Making Money.

The Discworld books can be hit and miss, Unseen Academicals is, to my way of thinking, a hit. The loose story concerns the efforts of the Wizards of Ankh Morpork’s Unseen University to play Discworld’s version of football against a team comprised of more accomplished footballers from Ankh Morpork’s poorer and less genteel neighbourhoods.

I saw one blogger say that he hadn’t gotten around to reading this, and wasn’t particularly interested, because it was about football and he didn’t much like football. That attitude can be put to rest by a quote from Pratchett himself on the back of the book: The thing about football - the important thing about football - is that it is not just about football. Being an avid follower of Australian Rules and a somewhat fanatical supporter of my team I can agree with that statement. Only 10% of any widely followed sport is about the game itself.

This particular installment deals with class, food, cosmetics, fashion, friendship, religion and occasionally football. That’s the thing about the Discworld books, they tend to hold modern society up to a looking glass and score goals with their criticism. I’ve often thought the key to their success is that you have fantasy tropes living in their typical medieval society, but they think like 21st century people and try to solve medieval situations with 21st century logic.

The series is episodic, the reader does not have to have read any of the other 36 books to enjoy this one, although it will improve the experience if there is some knowledge of the recurring characters. Pratchett has developed a large supporting cast over the past 26 years.

Unseen Academicals reunites readers with the characters of: Mustrum Ridcully (Arch Chancellor of UU), his much put upon assistant Ponder Stibbons, the Librarian (who happens to be my personal favourite character), the inept wizard Rincewind (he started the whole series back in 1983 with The Colour of Magic) and Ankh Morpork’s unnerving and menacing ruler, former assassin Havelock Vetinari. There are also cameos from other fan favourites: Death, the Luggage, Sam Vimes and Cut Me Own Throat Dibbler. The bulk of the story follows the new characters of: mysterious young candle dribbler Mr Nutt, his best friend, the streetwise Trev Likely, the very sensible and responsible Glenda Sugarbean, who runs the Unseen University’s Night Kitchen (wizards keep unusual hours and are most likely to want a pie or a sugary treat along with a good cup of tea in the middle of the night), Glenda’s friend and object of Trev’s affections, the beautiful, but somewhat vacuous; Juliet.

As a story it hangs together remarkably well, while simply meandering along collecting the author’s thoughts on a myriad of subjects and articulated in only the way he can. I have to confess to being less than impressed by Making Money, and that was over 2 years ago. Unseen Academicals was a welcome return to form from the recently knighted author.

Welcome back Terry, you have been missed!