Terry Pratchett never disappoints.

“Them as can do has to do for them as can’t, and someone has to speak up for them as has no voices.” ~Granny Aching (Tiffany’s Grandmother)

The Tiffany Aching Series by @terrypratchettbooks and cover art by artist @paulkidby

I just spent November and December reading this series. I finished it yesterday. 

If you like fantasy, witches, wizards, pictsies, and fairies (er, not the fun kind, though, they only exist is picture books). If you like books that can make sense of the best and worst of humanity while being intelligent, charming, and very, very funny. 

If you like stories about stories. 

If you like protagonists who are powerful heroes who must own up to their mistakes and shortcomings. 

Well then, this is a series for you.

Wee Free Men begins with 9-year-old Tiffany Aching discovering that she has a knack for facing the other worlds (with the help of some blue, heavily tattooed, red-haired tiny men with a language that is a mixture of Gaelic, Old Scots, Glaswegian, and gibberish, and ruled by one woman called the Kelda) and ends with her being a powerful witch, respected by all for her discernment, hard work, and determination to do what must be done.

Each story has her fighting some supernatural element while also discovering the limitlessness and limitations of her power. 

Our family has listened to the audio files of these books while on road trips, and I have read each more than once. While I never made it to the end of another not-to-be-named famous witch & wizard series, I have devoured each of Pratchett’s books more than once. I rarely re-read books. And, yet, each time I read a book in this series, I get something new.

There is no other way to describe my experience when reading Tiffany’s stories and the stories of the other witches than to say that I feel grounded, energized, and connected. They make me want to be a better human.