The Wee Free Man / Review

[OOGH!!]

Und wieder aus Discworld monthly:

7. Review: The Wee Free Men
by Jason Anthony

The Wee Free Men is Terry's second children's novel set on the
Discworld. The story is about Tiffany Aching, a nine year old who
lives and works with her family on a sheep farm located in a place
know locally as 'The Chalk'.

Once a lonely old lady with no teeth was wrongly accused of being a
witch and of cooking and eating the Baron's son. The old lady was
turned out of her house and left to die in the winter. Tiffany
knew the old lady was innocent because she only had a small oven (so
couldn't possibly cook a person in it) and unexpectedly decided to
become a witch to prevent this sort of thing happening again.

Being the youngest of the girls in the family Tiffany spends a lot
of time looking after Wentworth, her little brother. When Wentworth
is taken by an evil Queen, Tiffany decides to get him back. Armed
only with her wits and the Nac Mac Feegle, Tiffany enters Fairyland
on a quest to rescue her brother.

Being "a story of Discworld" Fairyland is not a very nice place. It
is full of nasty creatures and is very difficult to get out of.

With this book Terry gets the opportunity to develop the background
and culture of the Nac Mac Feegle (the titular Wee Free Men) to whom
we were introduced in Carpe Jugulum. We discover that the Nac Mac
Feegle used to live in Fairyland but were thrown out for being too
rowdy and that they have a hatred of lawyers.

Tiffany is a very strong character and acts much older than her age.
I imagine that Granny Weatherwax was probably like Tiffany as a
child. She is sensible, intelligent and always carries a piece of
string in case it may come in handy.

The Wee Free Men follows a single storyline and thereore doesn't
have the complexity of some of the Discworld novels. This makes the
book much easier to read. On first reading I didn't want to put the
book down.

The UK edition sports a Paul Kidby cover featuring the Nac Mac
Feegle and a small china shepherdess Tiffany won at a fete. The US
edition features a highly stylised version of the Nac Mac Feegle
attacking a sheep.

Each chapter in the UK book includes a small picture relevant to the
chapter whilst the US version I saw didn't. I am unsure whether
this will change for the final book.

I found The Wee Free Men to be highly entertaining and well worth a
place on your bookshelf.

The UK edition will be published by Transworld (ISBN 0-385-60533-1)
and the US edition will be published by HarperCollins (ISBN
0-060-01236-6). The Wee Free Men will be released worldwide in May
2003.

[Tod]

Fortsetzung folgt (vielleicht):
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