Crivens! The Start of One of the Best Discworld Subseries

A note: this review, or any review I write of a Terry Pratchett book, will be biased. That’s because Terry Pratchett is my favorite writer of all time. This note is especially true for my favorite subseries of the Discworld books, which is a tie between Tiffany Aching and the Watch books.

I share a deep kinship with Tiffany Aching, you see. She is so much like me when I was a child, and plenty like me now, too. A bit in love with words (susurrus wasn’t my favorite word, but syzygy was), smart but not sure how to use those smarts at times, practical, and determined. And like any Pratchett character, she is allowed to have faults and a dark side. She is fully, gloriously human.

I’ve reread most Discworld books several times, but I particularly loved rereading this one because I found more resonation with one of the ideas in it: that of First Sight and Second Thoughts. First Sight lets you see what’s really going on, and Second Thoughts help you think about what you’re thinking. I actually make use of these tools when I do AA stepwork, or when I catch myself letting anxiety run rampant. Pratchett was just so insightful that so many ideas that he expresses so perfectly become useful and important beyond the reading of them.

Plus, one can’t write a review of this without noting how absolutely fun and delightful the Nac Mac Feegle are! I would love to know some of them and sic them on some current political figures.