Pratchett, Terry: Wintersmith

With a new book, I tend to read and then re-read, immediately. Wintersmith improved with the second reading. I had wanted to dismiss it as another pale imitation of the first Tiffany Aching book, the wonderful Wee Free Men ("Ach, crivens!"), but on the re-read, it revealed its own rewards. It's better than A Hat Full of Sky (the first sequel), IMO.

Tiffany is now 13, and has started yet another apprenticeship with yet another eccentric witch. At the end of one extremely hectic day with her new mistress, she makes the mistake of actively participating in a ritual that she was meant only to observe. The result is another of Pratchett's explorations of the nature of the divine, and what happens when it comes into contact with the mudane and the mortal. And Tiffany remains Tiffany throughout and at the end, which is not a trivial consideration.

( Read on ... 'ware some spoilers )

Dear Wintersmith: The snowfall Saturday was very pretty, but don't you think enough is enough? Yrs respectfully, Cho.