In the first part of\u00c2\u00a0Witches Abroad<\/i>, WHAT. Intrigued? Then it’s time for Mark to read\u00c2\u00a0Discworld<\/i>.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n
Trigger Warning: For xenophobia\/racism<\/b>.<\/p>\n
I don’t know what’s happening, BUT I’M OKAY WITH THAT.<\/p>\n
The Story<\/b><\/p>\n
I’d like to say that my work here on Mark Reads has demonstrated that stories shape us. They’ve certainly done that for me, you know? They’ve changed my opinions; they’ve changed my perceptions; they’ve changed my\u00c2\u00a0life<\/i>. So it’s fascinating to me that this is how Pratchett chooses to open this novel. The\u00c2\u00a0Discworld<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0books have always been highly referential, you know? They build off stories and tropes and fairy tales that many of us are intimately familiar with. You can’t ignore that aspect of these stories. So what makes\u00c2\u00a0this<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0story different? How is it not a repetition of what we’ve seen before?<\/p>\n
Honestly, I’m into this already because the meta nature of the introduction and the references that come after it. Because seriously:<\/p>\n
This is a story about stories.<\/p>\n
Or what it really means to be a fairy godmother.<\/p>\n
Bit it’s also, particularly, about reflections and mirrors.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
OKAY.\u00c2\u00a0YES<\/i>. Yes??? Y E S. Please,\u00c2\u00a0please<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0deconstruct Cinderella or something. I actually could not tell (yet!!!) if Pratchett was dismantling a specific fairy tale or just the many tropes that appear in them in general, but mirrors\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 maybe it’s\u00c2\u00a0Snow White<\/i>?<\/p>\n
You’ve Lost<\/b><\/p>\n
Except that Desiderata Hollow doesn’t fit into\u00c2\u00a0any<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0of this. Oh man, I\u00c2\u00a0loved<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0the mysterious and ambiguous introduction of Desiderata, which called back to the opening of\u00c2\u00a0Moving Pictures<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0in one sense: Did Desiderata’s death bring chaos with it? Had they been the gatekeeper for something awful? Or had their power stopped some evil\u00c2\u00a0thing<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0from gaining control? I love power struggles like this in general (HELLO,\u00c2\u00a0LOST<\/i>, WHICH I HAVE BEEN RE-WATCHING AND UTTERLY ENJOYING), and this one seems like a doozy. Pratchett cleverly waits to reveal that Desiderata was a fairy godmother until she’s discussing it with Death, which is a FANTASTIC scene.<\/p>\n
But what does it all mean? Who exactly is Lady Lilith? Is her second sight a glimpse of a\u00c2\u00a0Cinderella\u00c2\u00a0<\/i>parody or something more? And why did that face in the mirror say that she had\u00c2\u00a0lost<\/i>??? LOST WHAT???<\/p>\n
Lady Lilith<\/b><\/p>\n
And then, Pratchett wastes no time introducing us to Lady Lilith, the other half of the godmother pair, and SHE IS ALREADY TERRIFYING. I think that’s a matter of perspective, though, because from the outside, she doesn’t seem like a good person. That’s despite that she thinks stuff like this:<\/p>\n
[Desiderata] was one of those people afraid to do good for fear of doing harm, who took it all so seriously that they’d constipate themselves with moral anguish before granting the wish of a single ant.<\/p>\n
Brutal and cruel? Perhaps, but not exactly the most untrue statement imaginable. So does Lady Lilith\u00c2\u00a0want<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0to do good? Is that what I’m supposed to take away from this? I’d say yes, but this line creeps me out:<\/p>\n
Nothing stood in the way of what Lilith liked more than anything else.<\/p>\n
A happy ending.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
That sounds\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 vaguely threatening, no? I’M SCARED.<\/p>\n
The Witches<\/b><\/p>\n
If absence makes the heart grow fonder, then I’m pleased it’s been quite some time since I last got to read about Nanny Ogg, Granny Weatherwax, and Magrat. What a\u00c2\u00a0treat<\/i>, y’all! And even they jump right into the action, openly discussing who they want to put forward to take Desiderata’s place. I assumed that this meant that the witches were responsible for fairy godmothers in some way, correct? I mean, I guess I’d never previously considered that godmothers\u00c2\u00a0were<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0witches, but it makes sense that they would be.<\/p>\n
Which means I\u00c2\u00a0totally<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0want Magrat to be the next fairy godmother. It feels like her characterization hasn’t changed much since\u00c2\u00a0Wyrd Sisters<\/i>, at least in terms of her genuine nature and her optimism. But what I\u00c2\u00a0did<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0notice about Magrat \u00e2\u20ac\u201c at least from what I heard out of the mouths of the other two witches \u00e2\u20ac\u201c was that she’d learned to be far more independent than she’d ever been before. That drive felt new to me, something that only could have existed post-Wyrd Sisters<\/i>. I appreciate that! I love that she rejects the king, refuses to be objectified, and goes off to teach her own self-defense classes. She’s certainly\u00c2\u00a0proud<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0to be a witch, but she’s also willing to do it in her own way. Screw tradition! Magrat is the living embodiment of change here, and she’s clearly willing to do things differently than everyone else.<\/p>\n
Granny? Not so much. This section was painful:<\/p>\n
That’s not the same as foreign. Foreign’s where they gabble at you in heathen lingo and eat foreign muck and worship, you know,\u00c2\u00a0objects<\/i>,” said Granny Weatherwax, goodwill diplomat.<\/p>\n
My hope is that the events of this book challenge that opinion because good\u00c2\u00a0lord<\/i>, that’s a pretty terrible thing to say, you know? So what might take the witches abroad, which would hopefully alter her perspective, too? World travel to find the witch to replace Desiderata? I LOVE THIS IDEA, MAKE IT HAPPEN.<\/p>\n
The original text contains use of the word “madness.”<\/p>\n
https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=P3_OR-3cFPE<\/p>\n
Mark Links Stuff<\/b><\/p>\n
– Please help book\/finalize the Mark Does Stuff European Tour!<\/a>
\n– I am now on Patreon<\/a><\/b>!!! MANY SURPRISES ARE IN STORE FOR YOU IF YOU SUPPORT ME<\/a>.
\n– The Mark Does Stuff Tour 2015 is now live and includes dates across the U.S., Canada, Europe, the U.K., and Ireland. Check the full list of events on my Tour Dates \/ Appearances page.<\/a>
\n– My Master Schedule<\/a> is updated for the near and distant future for most projects, so please check it often.\u00c2\u00a0My next Double Features for Mark Watches will be the remainder of\u00c2\u00a0The Legend of Korra<\/i>, series 8 of\u00c2\u00a0Doctor Who<\/i>, and Kings<\/i>. On Mark Reads, Diane Duane’s Young Wizards<\/i> series will replace the Emelan books.
\n<\/b>-\u00c2\u00a0Mark Does Stuff is on Facebook!<\/a>\u00c2\u00a0I’ve got a community page up that I’m running. Guaranteed shenanigans!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In the first part of\u00c2\u00a0Witches Abroad, WHAT. Intrigued? Then it’s time for Mark to read\u00c2\u00a0Discworld.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[451],"tags":[463,248,499],"class_list":["post-3431","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-discworld","tag-mark-reads-discworld","tag-terry-pratchett","tag-witches-abroad"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3431","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3431"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3431\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3431"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3431"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3431"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}