Some books are harder to review than others. Sometimes it’s just difficult to find something interesting or original to say, and you don’t want to just summarise the plot and wrap it up with some platitudes about the author’s writing style. But this isn’t that kind of difficult. The Wee Free Men is so full of wonderfulness that it is impossible to capture it all – and to fail would be a disservice to the breadth of Pratchett’s skill as an author. It’s not perfect of course but it’s pretty damn close. For younger readers it is an ideal entry point into Discworld.

The Wee Free Men features the magnificent nine-year old Tiffany Aching. She lives with her farming family, helps out around the farm, and looks after her irritating younger brother Wentworth. Tiffany is special – ferociously intelligent and with a thirst for knowledge and understanding.

I am careful and logical and I look up things I don’t understand! When I hear people use the wrong words, I get edgy! I am good with cheese. I read books fast! I think! And I always have a piece of string! That’s the kind of person I am!

Pratchett’s ability to create fully-rounded female characters always astounds me, and here he does it again, entering imaginatively into the mind of a precocious young girl and getting it pitch perfect. I can’t think of another author of his generation who writes such brilliantly fierce, independent and strong women as Pratchett. They are not just adornments to his novels, they are centralised and given distinctive voices which articulate the reality of their lives. Of course a man can never fully understand what it is to live the life of a woman, but Pratchett does an amazing job of trying. And he defies stereotypes at each turn, not in a self-conscious “I am going to create a gender-fluid character to show how progressive I am” way, but because such characters genuinely interest him.

Although this is a younger reader’s novel, there’s nothing patronising or simplified about the story – it is nuanced, layered, and contains several moments of genuine peril. The bad guys have grim-hounds, dream-stealers and things too scary to describe, and are led by a witch several times scarier than anything in Narnia.

“Zoology, eh? That’s a big word, isn’t it?”
“No, actually it isn’t,” said Tiffany. “Patronising is a big word. Zoology is really quite short.“

In the previous novels in the series Pratchett created many vividly imagined settings: the sprawling chaos that is Ankh-Morpork; the mountain kingdom of Lancre, the Unseen University, and so on. The Wee Free Men is set in the countryside, a sheep-farming area of grassland known as The Chalk. This small patch of Discworld is vividly evoked and drawn with so much reverence and respect – you have to wonder if Sir Terry grew up somewhere similar to The Chalk.

Anyway, back to the novel. One day while out for a walk with Wentworth, Tiffany sees what the reader knows are Nac Mac feegles, tiny blue kilted men speaking a chaotic and hugely entertaining form of Glaswegian. They warn her of a monster lurking in the river. Using Wentworth as bait, Tiffany bashes the creature with a frying pan. Without mentioning this supernatural experience to any other adult, all of whom are too busy to listen anyway, she seeks out Miss Tick, a visiting witch, who teaches Tiffany some important lessons:

“If you trust in yourself. . .and believe in your dreams. . .and follow your star. . . you’ll still get beaten by people who spent their time working hard and learning things and weren’t so lazy.”

She also tells her all about the Nac Mac Feegle. These riotous pictsies are at the heart of the novel, and are an inspired, vibrant creation. I particularly enjoyed their fear of lawyers – “We’ve got a cheap lawyer an’ we’re not afraid to use him!” In a nod to Tolkien, the Feegles’ swords glow blue in the presence of lawyers. The Feegles believe they are dead – this world is so full of wonders that it must be heaven. When they die therefore there is no cause for grief – you can’t die if you are already dead. That feels seriously profound to me – comforting and at the same time reminding one to appreciate the world as it is.

All of which is a prelude to Wentworth being kidnapped by the Queen of the Fairies, and Tiffany’s rescue mission. She is aided by the Nac Mac Feegles, including Rob Anybody (I confess I only got that joke (that he will steal from anyone) when I read the name out loud; before that I just thought it was a silly name. This might suggest that the novel was written to be read to younger children perhaps?) Big Yan, Daft Wullie, Hamish, the Feegle’s Gonnagle William. The Gonnagle is the Feegle’s battle poet, reciting poetry of Vogon severity that causes enemies to flee. Well I never said the jokes were going to be sophisticated did I?

Tiffany and the Feegles’ adventures in fairyland are scary enough. All through the novel Tiffany remembers her Granny, Granny Aching, an iconic figure of the Chalk who died a few years earlier but remains a crucial figure in her life. This is a touching tribute to the importance of grandparents in children’s lives, and I am sure would be a comfort to any younger reader going through a similar loss.

The novel ends with what is in effect a guest appearance by Granny Weatherwax and Nanny Ogg. In true fairy godmother style, Granny gives Tiffany an imaginary witch’s hat. Tiffany asks

“Is it really there?”

“Who knows….It’s virtually a pointy hat. No-one else will know it’s there. It might be a comfort.”

“You mean it just exists in my head?” said Tiffany.

“You’ve got lots of things in your head. That doesn’t mean they aren’t real”.

The Wee Free Men, page 307

Surely it’s not just me who sees this line reappear in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, when Dumbledore says to Harry:

“Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry. But why should that mean that it is not real?”

I’ve only scratched the surface of the wonders of this novel. If you haven’t read it before I am so jealous.