Mark Reads ‘A Hat Full of Sky’: Chapter 1, Part I

In the first part of the first chapter of A Hat Full of Sky, a familiar character deals with leaving home. Intrigued? Then it’s time for Mark to read Discworld. 

Welcome to book #32 in the Discworld series, friends, and I am so incredibly happy that I get to return to the world of Tiffany Aching. It’s a little strange to read all of this without the illustrations, but I admit that they have helped me greatly in visualizing this world. I felt like I was returning to a familiar place! It also helps that even in these fifteen pages or so, A Hat Full of Sky really seemed like a direct sequel to The Wee Free Men, picking up fairly soon after where that one ended. 

That’s so exciting to me because I wanted to know where Tiffany’s journey would take her, given how witchcraft in this series works and how different it is from traditional fantasy novels. It’s not a memorization of spells; it’s not a granted skill that must be harnessed. There’s so much thought put into it, and witches more or less need the right guide. So, who would Tiffany’s guide be?

But there’s a mystery that opens A Hat Full of Sky, an ancient thing that has zeroed in on Tiffany and her unique mind. As is usually the case with Discworld stories framed like this, I basically get no real information about what this is. It’s just a hint of what is to come, but it’s interesting to me how this is timed to occur right as Tiffany leaves home—really leaves home, that is, not like the adventure she went in during The Wee Free Men—for the first time. Here’s me overthinking this again, but that isn’t just a plot coincidence or foreshadowing; it works as a commentary on children testing out adulthood. What other point in time is a person more interesting inside their head than when they’re entering a new world for the first time? Tiffany is absolutely about to do that, even if she stays on the Disc for the entirety of the book. Leaving home is frightening, exhilarating, and it’s a huge change for a person to go through. It’s no coincidence that so many young adult and middle grade novels feature disruptions like this, you know?

It’s also sobering and relatable that while A Hat Full of Sky recounts the events of the previous Tiffany Aching book, we’re reminded of what Tiffany went through and then shown that she is still nervous. Courage and bravery are not granted as life-long qualities that eliminate all fear forever, and it’s perfectly beautiful that Tiffany survived an unreal ordeal and still experiences fear over what is to come next for her. I love that she cries as she leaves Granny Aching and the farm behind because we’re so often shown heroes who aren’t emotional like this. YES, MORE CRYING ALL THE TIME. More characters being afraid or emotional or nervous about having to do big, scary things! 

I do hope that we see lots of the Nac Mac Feegle during this, though I wonder if the scene that ends this section is a warning: they’re always going to be around, but they might not be there. I don’t get the sense that Pratchett would keep them around just to provide a means of protecting Tiffany, for example. They’re not plot resolutions, you know? If anything, I wonder if they’ll just annoy Tiffany more than anything else. It’s hard to guess, though, because I don’t have much to go on to predict where Miss Tick is going to take her. Somewhere far? Will she be teaching her or someone else? WILL I KNOW THE TEACHER? Oh, I’m so excited!!! BRING IT ON.

https://youtu.be/esEiRJwdsFs

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