One of the reviews compared this book to Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I don't understand that. Buffy never made a habit of carrying string everywhere.
Tiffany is a sensible girl. She carries string because it has many uses on a farm in the Chalk. She knows many such useful bits of information because she is observant and willing to re-evaluate her current knowledge and understanding. These are traits that make her a potential witch, and the Chalk needs a new witch.
You see, the Chalk needs a witch to look after it, kind of like a flock of sheep need a shepherd, and the previous witch is several years dead. Tiffany's grandmother used to look after the Chalk, and now it's Tiffany's turn. Her first task is to stop the Queen of the Fairies from invading her world, and also rescue her little brother from the Land of the Faerie.
And no, at no point does she meet some handsome and charming fairy boy who is supposed to be her enemy. There is no romance subplot in this story. I think Mr. Pratchett parodies this, actually. More on that later.
On the surface, this is a pretty standard fantasy-adventure novel. Our protagonist, Tiffany Aching, is going about life in the rural farming area known as the Chalk, and then she encounters trouble. It takes the form of a supernatural creature in the local river. The trouble escalates into more numerous and more dangerous creatures, ultimately leading Tiffany to enter the creatures' own world. She consults with a mentor, acquires supernatural aid, and then overcomes many challenges. Finally, she comes face-to-face with the ruler of the monsters in an epic showdown. Her adventure complete, she returns to her mundane farm life.
This is the surface, what you would see if you used Second Sight. It fits the general conception of a fantasy novel, and so it appears to be such. You see something different with First Sight.
That's one of the things I like about this story. It is a reformulation of fantasy tropes, making them both familiar and new. Other fantasy stories would say that Second Sight is a supernatural sight, for seeing ghosts and stuff. Tiffany even mentions this. No, in this story, "Second Sight" is more like a Weirdness Censor. It is what people don't see because it doesn't fit their worldview. First Sight is when you see the world (and yourself, that's important) as it really is, unencumbered by preconceptions. This means that if a ghost is there, you will see it, and if there isn't any ghost, then you won't see it. This is a useful ability when dealing with Fair Folk, tricky creatures who work through illusions and dreams.
That's another subject, dreams. Following one's dreams/believing in one's dreams is another common trope in fiction for young adults, such as fantasy novels. Early on, Tiffany's mentor says that such talk is nonsense and harmful, because it is laziness. That rubbed me the wrong way, because it sounded like cynicism for the sake of a joke. This line was couched in a scene that portrayed teachers as vagrants and chicken-thieves, which made it seem all the more so. Except, this line of thinking is developed throughout the book.
It's not that dreams, i.e. aspirations, are bad. No, it is that one has to know what one truly wants, as well as the implications and realities of that aspiration. Then one has to take the necessary steps, in reality, to achieve that aspiration. In other words, wishing on a star gets you nowhere, but /studying/ the star can get you somewhere, if your aspiration is to be an astronomer.
Tiffany's little brother is a glutton for sweets. All he does is demands sweets from his parents and elder sister/ babysitter. When the Fairy Queen kidnaps him, she surrounds him with delicious sweets. This makes him miserable, because it is more sweets than he can eat. He ends up not eating any of them because he can't eat all of them at once.
The Fairy Queen's realm is stuck in perpetual winter because the queen herself is upset. She had a domestic spat with the Fairy King, leading him to leave the world entirely for a different one. Then winter set in, and instead of dealing with it, she created a dream of summer to live in. And she's still upset.
Tiffany's dream is to become a witch. She has her own preconceptions about what it means to be a witch, all kinds of magic and flying on broomsticks. All those things really do exist and are part of being a real witch. She meets several witches who can do those things, but being a witch in reality is not like being a witch in her dream. She has to adjust her expectations. There is this marvelous scene after all the supernatural adventure stuff is over, where one normally expects falling action and the protagonist accepting their normal mundane life (a-la the Blue Bird of Happiness). That's not what happens. Instead, we get something else.
Tiffany accepts what is basically an offer of apprenticeship from a real witch. It will begin when she is a little older, so she can leave home without spooking her family. In the meantime, she goes back to her farm life, except with the understanding that "being a farmgirl" and "being a witch", are not too terribly different. After all, Tiffany's grandmother was a witch and a shepherdess and never made a distinction between the two roles. Nobody ever thought she was a witch, just a wise and skilled old woman who worked hard and could solve problems. That is basically what a witch is supposed to be.
One more thing about dreams. In your dreams, have you ever encountered monsters with flaming eyes and teeth like razor blades? Did you ever wonder how they could see with eyes made of fire, or how their razor teeth didn't cut open their own mouths? Evidently, that is exactly what happens when hellhounds leave the land of dreams and enter reality.
Now for the romance parody. That is a great part of the story. It is funny stuff.
There is a scene where Tiffany becomes the "kelda" for the Nac Mac Feegle (the Wee Free Men from the title). A "kelda" is the word for the leader of a clan of Nac Mac Feegle, who is also the mother of the clan, and is married to one of its members. Neither Tiffany nor any of the Feegles are happy about this, but it's the rule and so they have to obey it. In another fantasy story, this could be part of a set up for a romance arc (Marriage Before Romance). Instead, we get this funny scene of both sides repulsed by the idea, and Tiffany finding a loophole to make sure the actual marriage never happens.
Also, she happens to find a lost baron's son in the Fairy's World. Would you expect him and Tiffany to work together, bond through danger and fall in love? He turns out to be useless, unconscious for most of the time, and kind of a prat. There isn't a hint of romance here.
Trickster Eric Novels gives "The Wee Free Men" an A+
P.S. Not-as-Big-as-Medium-Sized-Jock-but-Bigger-than-Wee-Jock Jock is a famous name among the Nac Mac Feegles, and passed down through generations.
Click here for my next book review: Sweetness and Lightning
Click here for my previous book review: Reborn as a Vending Machine, Now I Wander the Dungeon. Volume 1
Brian Wilkerson is a independent novelist, freelance book reviewer, and writing advice blogger. He studied at the University of Minnesota and came away with bachelor degrees in English Literature and History (Classical Mediterranean Period concentration).
His fantasy series, Journey to Chaos, is currently available on Amazon as an ebook or paperback.
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