The Shepherd's Crown by Terry Pratchett (Discworld 41)

"'I get up Aching, and I go to bed Aching,' she whispered to herself, smiling. One of her father's jokes, and she had rolled her eyes when hearing it again and again as a child, but now its warmth curled over her body.”

With Discworld's forty-first and final main volume, we also have the last Tiffany Aching novel. Tiffany’s workload is suddenly increased, we get to see more of Magrat, and we meet the unusual Geoffrey Swivel, all while dealing with some very witchy situations.

*Spoiler warning!* There is an extremely important event that happens in this book that has ramifications that go far beyond this final volume. It’s too important to the story of this book to avoid getting into detail about it. Be aware of this fact before reading further!

Granny Weatherwax has been one of the most important and enjoyable characters in the Discworld books since she was introduced all the way back in the third book, Equal Rites. She has been a pillar of strength and wisdom, and despite her curmudgeonly demeanor, one of the best people on the Disc. She was looked up to and admired by many people, even other witches, and this rings especially true for a young witch named Tiffany Aching. Early on in this book, Granny knows her Death is near, since all witches become aware of it, and she gets everything prepared. She cleans her cottage so much that the grime of decades now shines. She changes her note that she used to leave on her body when her mind was borrowing animals, a note that Tiffany and Nanny Ogg find with sadness in their hearts, as the note no longer declares that she isn’t dead.

Her loss has ramifications throughout the Disc and even beyond. Mustrum Ridcully, the archchancellor of UU, makes a personal trip out to distant Lancre just to pay his respects. They had something of a relationship when they were young, something that was brought up in earlier books, and he shows a powerful and genuine sorrow at her loss. Many other witches, including Agnes Nitt, whom we’ve not really seen since Maskerade, even makes an appearance. Even Death is sad that he had to take her. He lets her know that she left the world a better place than she entered it, something not many can say. Despite her still being quite young, Tiffany is selected to take over Granny’s stead while still maintaining her own. This sees her running herself ragged to be the witch for both communities and maintain her high standards of care.

Her loss is also felt in the parasitic world of the elves. Granny was so important to the Disc that the elves knew that her death had occurred because the barriers that keep them out have weakened, and they start raiding, although their raids are held back a bit when they see the trains. Beasts of iron and steel, the elves are inherently repelled by the great clanking machines. The queen, whom we’ve met before in Lords and Ladies and The Wee Free Men, is cautious and concerned, but elves are an unruly lot, and she comes into conflict with Lord Peaseblossom, who has her thrown out of their world, and plots to raid the Disc in force. Her story does not end there. Her interactions with Tiffany, several other witches, the Nac Mac Feegles, and other humans on the chalk feels a bit predictable, but it is still enjoyable and felt like it belonged here.

We also meet the aforementioned Geoffrey Swivel. He is the third son of a noble family and does not get on with his father at all. He is eager to learn and gets along with everyone except his wretched father. He and his highly unusual goat that he named Mephistopheles leave the estate and seek his place in the world, and interestingly enough, that world is the world of witches. While we got our first woman wizard in Eskarina back in the same book in which we first met Granny, and there were some cursory mentions of the possibility in other books, this is the first time we actually see a male witch in the books, although there is some evidence that Geoffrey may be gender fluid, he is nominally referred to as male. His ability to calm almost anyone and any situation, barring his overbearing father, is impressive and he uses it often in this book, greatly aiding Tiffany with what used to be Granny’s lands. Magrat, once one of our beloved Lancre coven has been queen for some time, and barely did any witching, but she too arrives to help and convinces Letitia, whom we saw show some witchy potential in I Shall Wear Midnight, that she can be the baroness of the chalk and be a witch as well.

And they need all of those witches, along with the Nac Mac Feegles and some of the older and more inventive gentlemen of Lancre who work with Geoffrey, when the elves return in force, both at Lancre and the Chalk simultaneously. The Discworld defenders are as ready as they can be, and the resulting battle is chaotic as one can only imagine from the Nac Mac Feegles alone, and ultimately satisfying. The fallout of all this is where this, the final Discworld novel, ends.

This was one of the shorter Discworld books. This is largely due to Sir Terry’s deterioration. He had been planning for more, but passed before he could do so, so they took what he did have and published this book. While it once again dealt with the elves and the witches, as we’ve seen before, it was still a satisfying conclusion to a beloved series of books. A good book to be sure, but not up there with the best of the best, and I wonder how much higher I’d have rated it if he had been able to add in the other bits that he had planned for it.

Reading into the notes and acknowledgements in this book, Sir Terry had a lot of other ideas in the works for the Disc, but he had the hard drive with all his ideas and notes destroyed so no one else could taint the legacy of his creation. I’m sad we’ll never see the other ideas, but also glad that other people won’t tread on what was uniquely his style of writing and his brilliant wit. These 41 novels, along with some collections of short stories and related books, represent a wondrous idea brought to life in written form. I can’t recommend these books enough, and I strongly encourage anyone who likes humor mixed with observations of the human condition to read them. You will find yourself lost in one of the best series of books the world has ever seen.

3.75 Witch’s cottages out of 4.

Some fun quotes:

Thus proving that books can teach you much, if only to give you a good name for a devilish, smart goat.

And at the end of time, living is about fightin’ against everything.

But the reward for lots of work seemed to be lots more. If you dug the biggest hole, they just gave you a bigger shovel.

Morella is a Gen Xer who likes strange things a bit too much.

• Discworld home
• Book Reviews home