I Shall Wear Midnight (Discworld Hardback Library: Tiffany Aching 4)

by Terry Pratchett

Other authorsPaul Kidby (Illustrator)

Hardcover, 2021

Status

Available

Call number

823.92

Publication

Doubleday Childrens (2021), 432 pages

Description

Fantasy. Humor (Fiction.) Young Adult Fiction. Young Adult Literature. HTML: The fourth in a series of Discworld novels starring the young witch Tiffany Aching. As the witch of the Chalk, Tiffany Aching performs the distinctly unglamorous work of caring for the needy. But someone�??or something�??is inciting fear, generating dark thoughts and angry murmurs against witches. Tiffany must find the source of unrest and defeat the evil at its root. Aided by the tiny-but-tough Wee Free Men, Tiffany faces a dire challenge, for if she falls, the whole Chalk falls with her. . .

User reviews

LibraryThing member Eat_Read_Knit

Tiffany Aching is now fifteen. No longer a trainee, she is the witch of the hills. She spends her days and nights delivering babies, setting broken limbs, bandaging sores, clipping toenails and doing a hundred and one other thankless tasks for the people of the chalk. Just occasionally, she also

gets to eat, sleep and do a little bit of magic.

But someone somewhere doesn't like her very much. And they've woken up some old fears, and the fears are spreading. Witches are being threatened again. In fact, anyone with books with strange symbols and languages, or a cat, or a warty nose is becoming a target for hate. And the Thing - a Thing with no eyes but an awful lot of hate - is coming after Tiffany...

Tiffany has grown up a lot in this book: she's a little worn down by the responsibility, and she's suffering the normal romantic tribulations of a fifteen year old girl. The story is very focused on her, and her role within her community. That won't be to everyone's taste - the Tiffany-must-beat-the-supernatural-threat plot is only one of many, and if one thing disappointed me slightly it was that the final confrontation was resolved without as much suspense and drama as I expected.

The supporting characters were strong, both the old friends and the new characters, and the Thing chasing Tiffany was wonderful horrible, in part because of its subtlety. The character development of Tiffany herself, of Roland and of the new characters Letitia ("Halfway between a salad and a sneeze") and Preston ("When I'm on night duty and somebody comes to the gate, I have to say 'Who goes there, friend or foe?' To which, of course, the correct answer is 'Yes'.") is excellent.

All in all, I think this a wonderful addition to the Tiffany Aching series.

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LibraryThing member pwaites

I Shall Wear Midnight is the fourth book following Tiffany Aching, a young witch. While the plot of I Shall Wear Midnight is completely separate, I would suggest reading the earlier books, which start with The Wee Free Men, so you can see how Tiffany ages over the course of the series (so far

it’s 9 to 15).

Unless The Shepherd’s Crown tops it, this is the darkest of the Tiffany books. Just to illustrate, in the beginning Tiffany is called out to deal with a situation where a thirteen year old girl who was pregnant was beaten so badly by her father that she lost the baby. In I Shall Wear Midnight, Tiffany has finished her training with the older witches and has taken over her own steading in the Chalk, which means dealing the messes and the people who fall through the cracks.

“And there’s always an excuse, isn’t there, to throw a stone at the old lady who looks funny. It’s always easier to blame somebody. And once you’ve called someone a witch, then you’d be amazed how many things you can blame her for.”

In the past, Tiffany has faced off against creatures like the Hiver or the Fairy Queen, but now she faces the Cunning Man, who is a very different sort of antagonist. For one, the Cunning Man is mostly dangerous in what he represents – the darkness in ordinary people, all the ugly emotions that lead to the witch hunts in our own world. But don’t be mistaken – “Poison goes where poison’s welcome.” The Cunning Man isn’t putting thoughts into people, he’s just bringing them to the surface.

“I ken well that witches looks after everybody but theirselves.”

Tiffany herself feels tired. It’s the natural result of the last three books. This series has been about Tiffany taking on ever more responsibility, and in I Shall Wear Midnight you can really feel how she’s straining under the weight of it. She’s really grown since the last book, and she feels older than her years. Also, she needs to remember to be a person first and a witch second.

“There have been times, lately, when I dearly wished that I could change the past. Well, I can’t, but I can change the present, so that when it becomes the past it will turn out to be a past worth having.”

I love Tiffany so much. This is the girl who chose to be a witch. No one chose her, and she wasn’t born with any natural ability. She saw an injustice, and she decided to become a witch so nothing like that would happen ever again. Tiffany’s smart and brave, and I love how she can use character traits like selfishness and pride to her advantage. Of course, she’s also flawed and makes mistakes. One, which is also an example of how generally amazing this series is with female characters, is that she was so judgmental of Letitia. Tiffany was so immediately scornful of the soppy blond girl in the frilly dress that she didn’t look closer. Tiffany, who’s always rejected the narrative the storybooks foisted on her, fell into the trap of applying “fairy tale thinking” to another girl.

I strongly recommend the Tiffany Aching books. Please, please don’t avoid them because they’re not one of Pratchett’s “adult” books. These are magnificent books with so much to say about what it is to be human.

Originally posted on The Illustrated Page.

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LibraryThing member reading_fox

This is not a funny book. It is perhaps the most serious book pTerry has written about the Discworld. Tiffany Aching is growing up, despite taking her witchcraft very firmly when she was only eight, and is now sixteen, she still has a lot to learn, and among many other messages, one of the hardest

is that there is evil in the world. No laughing matter, and hence nearly all of pTerry's trademark jokes and puns are absent. The Feegles are of course irrepressible, but other that this is the dark side of the story.

The evil in question is an ancient witch hunter, denied his lawful prey and banished from the world. But not forever, and the shock of Tiffany's kiss with Winter in the last book, has drawn him, like a moth to the flame. He lives in the minds of everyone, in the rumours and distrust, sly asides and repeated gossip, casting aspersions without standing to defend them, destroying the respect a witch needs to survive. Parallels to the troubles any 16 yr old might get themselves into are clear. Given the difference in ages between the author and subject this is a superb achievement. I was also very impressed at the subtle way all the other discworld tales are neatly integrated into the story. We get brief cameos from Captain Carrot, and references to the very early Equal Rites which doesn't normally happen.

This isn't a suitable book to start reading Pratchett, at least the previous Tiffany books should be read beforehand. Although nominally part of the younger Discworld series, with young Tiffany the heroine, and featuring the direct plot style and chapter breaks that hallmark this, it is in no way just a young persons book. The topics and interpersonal relationships are too intense. Influenced by pTerry's own spartan upbringing, is also exposes some of the truths of life in the countryside, rather than the bucolic impression that is often portrayed in fantasy books.

Powerfully moving, this is a coming of age story highlighting the best fantasy can do to cast new light on the world around us.

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LibraryThing member bragan

Volume umpty-zillion in the Discworld series, and the fourth to feature young witch Tiffany Aching, who this time out has to deal with a wedding, a funeral, and an all-too-literal witch hunt, on top of all the truly important everyday responsibilities that make a witch a witch.

I thought Pratchett's

last book, Unseen Academicals, was okay, but far from the series' best. So it's nice, with this one, to see proof positive that he's still got it. The plot is perhaps a bit thin, but it says a great deal about the book's other strengths that I barely realized this fact until very near the end. It's not trying to be laugh-out-loud funny, the way some of his books are, but in classic Pratchett style, it's witty, cleverly written, insightful, and populated with interesting and memorable characters. Tiffany Aching, in particular, is one of those characters whom Pratchett is so good at writing, and whom I find so wonderfully admirable: a woman who turns sheer, forceful practicality into something magic.

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LibraryThing member fyrefly98

Summary: Tiffany Aching was once a sheep farmer's daughter with a knack for making cheese, and is now The Witch for all the people of The Chalk, and the Hag of the Hills for her ever-present companions, the six-inch-tall rowdy Nac Mac Feegles. Tiffany's gotten used to what being The Witch means in

practical terms - she's young, but she's certainly adept at all of the things it falls upon The Witch to do - but she's still not quite accustomed to what being The Witch means in personal terms. People she's known her whole life - even her family! - are treating her differently now, and not always for the better. But their thoughts are not always their own, for it turns out that when Tiffany kissed the Winter, she accidentally woke up an old and twisted power... one with a special dislike of witches.

Review: I don't know what more I can say in praise of the Tiffany Aching series that I haven't already said at least twice. They're brilliant! They're imaginative and entertaining! They're bust-a-gut funny in places and heart-wrenching in others! They have the most sensible attitude about life that I've ever encountered in fiction! These are the books that converted me into a full-fledged Pratchett-o-phile, and I'm terribly sad that there aren't going to be more of them.

I Shall Wear Midnight is a worthy addition to the series, and is tied with A Hat Full of Sky for my favorite - although they're all really, really good. As the series has progressed, the focus has shifted from heavily magical to more about regular life - not coincidentally, at the same time that Tiffany is learning how much of what people call magic is made up of regular life. On the one hand, this is somewhat unfortunate, since it means the Nac Mac Feegles get less and less screen time as the series wears on, but Tiffany herself is such an appealing and relatable narrator that it's easy to forgive the shift. I loved watching her deal with growing up, and coming in to her own, and having to navigate not only magical problems but also interpersonal ones.

Any quibbles? There were a few details that were added in to the story but not utilized to their full potential, and I did think that the ending felt a little too rushed, and somehow too easy - it would have been more compelling if Tiffany were actually a little less sure of herself and a little more in danger. But regardless, I enjoyed listening to every second of this book (Stephen Briggs did a wonderful job with the narration, as always), and am now really sorely tempted to go back to The Wee Free Men and start over. 4.5 out of 5 stars.

Recommendation: Everyone. Certainly everyone who's read the first three books, although Pratchett does a pretty good job summing up what's come before. But I'd recommend the series as a whole to adults and young adults alike who like their heroines intelligent, down-to-earth, and competent; their fairy folk six inches tall, blue, and with a thick Scottish burr; and their stories entertaining, smart, hilarious, and heartfelt.

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LibraryThing member dmsteyn

“Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live”

Sir Terry Pratchett has been accused of frivolity and escapist tendencies often enough, though there is at least one book that accuses him of literature. In my opinion, he is a much better writer than he is often given credit for being, and, despite being

a master of the comic form, he is also capable of serious writing. This is perfectly borne out by I Shall Wear Midnight, the fourth book in his series concerning the young witch, Tiffany Aching. Although Pratchett would deny it, or at least dodge the question, this series of books (billed as youth literature) is in some ways a reaction to J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series. There are certain obvious similarities (e.g. series following a young person realising they are magically gifted) yet Pratchett seems to comment on the state of children’s literature by making his series much more down-to-earth than the Potter books. “Down-to-earth” may be a strange way of describing a Discworld novel about witchcraft, but that is the prevailing sense that pervades this book.

It begins with Tiffany, now sixteen, having to deal with a case of domestic abuse in which a village man beats his pregnant daughter into having a miscarriage. This is certainly a shocking start to a children’s book, but Pratchett handles it sensitively. There is an inherent seriousness to Pratchett’s themes in this book, something that may surprise readers who either (1) have not read Pratchett before, or (2) only skim the books for the jokes. The main plot concerns an anthropomorphic representation of superstition and hatred that comes to the “Chalk”, Tiffany’s rural home (based on Pratchett’s own Wiltshire). This entity causes all the hidden prejudices against witches to come to the fore, causing fear and hatred to boil over. Tiffany has to deal with this entity, as well as the natural feelings of a teenager who has too great a load on her young shoulders. Her love life (or lack thereof) is weighing heavily on her, as are her responsibilities to the community, which mostly involves helping old and disabled people who have fallen through the cracks of society.

Pratchett paints a very realistic portrait of a rural community, where magic, despite its presence, mostly consists of acute psychological understanding on the part of the witches. These witches, including his most well-known witch, Granny Weatherwax, are perhaps Pratchett’s greatest creations. They are more wise-women than witches, implementing their “headology” to influence their communities for the better. When the hatred begins, we realise how bigotry operates, its indiscriminate and unappreciative nature. Tiffany has to learn how to be a witch, but also how to be a young woman in a world that can often be cruel towards women, especially those that are unusual. Her relationship with the young heir to the dukedom of the Chalk, whom she used to fancy, also complicates things. He is about to marry a young woman whom Tiffany disapproves of, but before the marriage can takes place, his father dies in mysterious circumstances, circumstances which seem to implicate Tiffany.

I know I am either preaching to the converted, or to those who will never be convinced, but Pratchett really is good at what he does, and a much better fantasist than 90% of what is out there. Yes, his books can be formulaic, but it is at least a challenging formula that does not accept compromises in integrity or honesty. I love Pratchett, as does a large percentage of the book-buying populace. Nor is he frowned upon by all “serious” authors. I know A.S. Byatt is very fond of him, for example. I Shall Wear Midnight is a great book for anyone interested in Pratchett. It might not be the best place to start with him, but it does work as a stand-alone book. We could all do with prod to our biases from time to time, and Pratchett gives a stern-yet-funny poke to the sensibilities.

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LibraryThing member lauriebrown54

This is the fourth book in the Tiffany Aching series set on Discworld. Tiffany is THE witch of the Chalk- the open farmlands outside of Ankh-Morpork. As the witch, most of what she does is birth babies, tend to the sick and poor, and ease people as they die. It’s messy, dirty work that is unpaid

except for potatoes, hams, old sheets to make in bandages and an occasional pair of old boots. Because witches can’t be paid, and most of the people of the Chalk are too poor to pay her, anyway. On Discworld, being a witch has little to do with sparkle and wands and much to do with human need.

Tiffany is (almost) sixteen, and is almost as mature as she thinks she is. She’s tired all the time and scarcely stops to eat. When she tries to take a day off to attend the scouring (a country fair on the Chalk), of course things go badly- she ends up tending to a 13 year old young woman who’s father has beaten her so badly that she has miscarried. Tiffany helps her by taking her to the Feegle mound to be tended to by the kelda of the Nac Mac Feegle, a woman- a wee tiny woman- who has the art of the soothins, the easing of emotional pain, leading to misunderstandings with the girl’s family. Then the old Baron dies, with Tiffany in attendance, and she finds her self accused of murder, theft, kidnapping and of doing black magic.

Tiffany has a couple of enemies, supernatural and human, but they aren’t the only problems that have led to her troubles. She has brought some of her troubles on herself, and this can be harder to deal with than the spirit of an ancient witch burner who has been roused from his long sleep and is set on destroying her. Tiffany doesn’t understand people nearly as well as she understands fire and magic, and her behavior has made it easier for people to turn against her when the spirit triggers their prejudice.

It’s a novel about growing up, about letting go of preconceptions, about understand the first thoughts and second sight, about catching the words that people almost say but don’t dare to. I love all the Tiffany Aching books, but this one is my favorite. In between the slapstick humor of the Nac Mac Feegle and the magic flying broomsticks is a lot of psychology and philosophy and some musings on what constitutes magic.

A lot of people have said that this is the last Tiffany Aching book. I do hope not. She is my favorite Discworld character, and there are a lot of plot threads left untied at the end that could launch several more novels of witching life on the Chalk. Well done, Mr. Pratchett, you have created the most believable witch in literature.

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LibraryThing member katekf

At the heart of I Shall Wear Midnight is a simple idea that we all have something that we're meant to do. Tiffany Aching knows that she is meant to be the witch of the Chalk, but knowing and doing that are two different things. In this fourth book about Tiffany Aching, she matures and the people of

Chalk adjust to what it means to have a witch. The plot is not terribly complex but rooted in the fear of the unknown and the powerful. As with all Pratchett books, there's humor to counterbalance the way he captures the darkness and hope within every person. Difficult themes are faced with some violence shown and so this book is best for a advanced middle grade reader and a reader of young adult books. Since it is the newest book in the Tiffany Aching books, it will make more sense with the background of the other three books.

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LibraryThing member London_StJ

Tiffany Aching of the Chalk is no longer wielding iron pans against mythical creature, but she is still driven by the same fire that has always existed in her soul. She is now The Witch, and the Hag of the Hills, and she's damn good at it. Too good at it, at times, as her past actions bring her to

the attention of a demonic soul intent on seeking revenge on a memory.

While I have enjoyed all of the Tiffany Aching books, I Shall Wear Midnight is undoubtedly my favorite. Pratchett's wit and keen eye for social criticism and satire are on full display, and the story itself will take readers on a wild and magical ride.

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LibraryThing member mattries37315

Anti-witch feelings are on the rise and rumors of old women being burned are in the air, unfortunately for Tiffany Aching she’s finding the Chalk getting infected and it could be her fault. I Shall Wear Midnight is the 38th book of Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series and the fourth to feature

the young witch Tiffany Aching, who is finding out that being a witch-in-training and being on her own are two different things entirely especially when the Cunning Man is after her.

Now 16 years old, Tiffany is now the witch of the Chalk doing everything that needs to be done from tending the Baron to looking after newest of babes. Then things seem to start to go wrong from a father assaulting his daughter to the old Baron dying in front of Tiffany and the nurse accusing her of killing him. Events transpire that Tiffany attempts to persevere through but she senses something is up, especially on her way to Ankh-Morpork when she meets a “man” that the Feegles fall through. Thanks to the Feegles, Tiffany spends a night in jail but learns witches all around are feeling pressure. Upon her return to the Chalk, Roland attempts to take out the Feegle’s mound and later has Tiffany detained but the young witch realizes that Roland’s fiancé is hiding a secret—she’s using magic—and confronts her getting the spell broken. As things return to normal in the Chalk, Tiffany must gear up to face the Cunning Man, a ghost of a witch hunter who’s hatred is infectious, even while attending a funeral and preparing for the new Baron’s wedding as senior witches gather and watch.

Building upon the previous three books to feature Tiffany, Pratchett continued the character’s growth by showing her face the everyday humdrum of the profession as the witch not a trainee, especially when something vicious shows up. Unlike previous books, the Feegles are more important minor characters than major secondary ones which focuses the book on Tiffany alone with her dealing with everything and everyone. Tiffany’s interactions with Carrot and Angua in Ankh-Morpork and the reappearance of Eskarina Smith, whose time traveling ability comes in handy in “assisting” Tiffany, just added to the quality of the book and connected various subseries together than just the same world.

I Shall Wear Midnight is a delightful return to the Disc and a somewhat return to form for Pratchett with a solid story that does not meander like some of the previous books of the series. Although a first time reader might want to get one of the earlier Aching books to understand some of what’s going on, any long-time fan will love this book.

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LibraryThing member SonicQuack

I Shall Wear Midnight is the darkest of Discworld novels with a very adult theme about death (not Death). Old people die, babies die, good people die and evil people die - noone escapes death in this tale, which is not particularly morbid, thankfully. Pratchett is the ideal author to conjure up a

story with so much violence in it and make it seem like a fairy-tale, however it doesn't seem to fall in to the younger audience's category previous Ms Aching books have.

Darkness aside, Midnight is initially a challenging read. Each sentence has a humourous angle, a twist on language or a concept to be considered. It's hard work trying to follow a story and its characterisation when your brain has to work so hard just to make it through the paragraph. Once settled in (and many of Pratchett's books take a good third to do so), the story starts to flow and the darkness seems to settle for a distinct second place to the relationships between the characters, which are executed flawlessly. If you look between the protagonists there is a haunting story, full of menace, kept at bay with sheer humanity and Pratchett's unique view of events and ideology.

This very solid novel, although under-paced at times, is definitely the best Tiffany Aching book do far and a welcome addition to the series. It doesn't set out to expand the Discworld concept and offers a story packed full of bittersweet charm instead.

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LibraryThing member riverwillow

Tiffany Aching is now the sole witch of the Chalk, spending all her time caring for everyone who lives on or under the hills. But something isn't right, and Tiffany embarks on the biggest battle of her life, knowing that if she loses the other witches will have to kill her to save all the other

witches. Along the way Tiffany learns that appearances are deceptive, what 'Happy ass corp ass' is, that Wee Mad Arthur can stop marauding Nac Mac Feegles - does anyone else see them as small be-kilted Billy Connolly's? - and, finally, what love sounds like. This is a dark tale filled with some great laughs, fantastic footnotes and brilliant images 'He looked like a cat on the day it rained mice.' Crivens!

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LibraryThing member beserene

I love you, Sir Terry Pratchett. You really are a knight in shining armor, who has rescued me from the clutches of literary despair and given me joy, humor, developed characters and all sorts of other bookish delights. I sorrow to think that some day you will have to stop writing. 'Til then, I beg

you, write on!

Okay, so maybe I should make a few serious comments about this book. This YA fantasy novel is the fourth (and, I believe, final) installment in the Tiffany Aching series, which is a sub-series of the Discworld novels (the many-tomed, decades-old paragon of humorous fantasy) but can be read on its own (though it helps if you have read a couple of the witch-oriented Discworld books, such as Equal Rites and Wyrd Sisters if you want to get most of the jokes). Tiffany is now 16 and a full-fledged witch, though (as always) there are a few problems that go along with that. Most of the problems are caused by the Nac Mac Feegles, tiny blue men who are the unqualified hilarity of the series.

Frankly, I think that the Tiffany Aching books are the best of Pratchett's prolific career and, though not perfect (the Cunning Man is not Pratchett's best villain), this last volume more than lives up to the standards of the series.

The first book of the series, The Wee Free Men, is a laugh-yourself-silly, startle-the-dog, practically-pee-yourself sort of book, but the succeeding volumes in the series have gotten progressively more emotional, balancing the humor with a little more heart. This final volume, one may logically expect, has tipped the scales somewhat, dealing more in heart (and matters therein) than in humor, but there are still plenty of chuckle-and-guffaw-worthy moments here. The great thing about this book, however, is the emotion. Our dear Sir Terry has delivered a teen novel that does in fact include (gasp!) romance, without going all snivelly and smushy on us. Never the less, one finishes the book with a distinctly warm (and I could also be detecting some fuzzy) feeling, one that lasts far after the book is closed. (Warning: reading this book may cause you to hug your spouse/domestic partner with significant enthusiasm.)

I cannot be more specific without taking away some of the joy that comes from discovering these books, but if you have not encountered them before -- READ THEM. You will not regret it. If you are familiar already, READ THEM AGAIN. You won't regret it either, and you know exactly what I am talking about.

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LibraryThing member Mothwing

Compared to other Witch books, it struck me as a very patchy, with plot and cohesion not always stringently followed through. Many of the main characters were introduced, but I still couldn't really care about them by the end of the book. The love stories appeared to be rather stuck on, as though

coming-of-age stories about women always mean two things - coming to terms with misogyny and finding love, and that doesn't convince me at all.

I liked the way the text introduces three women with very different background who all three face the same difficulties in different ways and the way the three different stages of womanhood that are always present in the witch books are also present in this one, I like that we get to see how the negative effects of these three different stages or kinds of womanhood can be forced onto women through circumstances they can't control. Tiffany becomes a crone through having too much on her plate alone too soon, Amber becomes the teenaged mother of a dead child through both early love and abuse, Letitia retains her maidenhood through enforced ignorance. Neither of them has much choice in the matter, and each of them has to deal with her lot and to change what they can change and work around what they can't.

I liked that Tiffany has to fight with what I Finished as misogyny personified. It was convincing, overpowering, affected men and women alike. I also liked that she'd have to fight that battle alone, because it's realistic in a depressing way - because it affects everybody there are no allies, really. I emphatically didn't like the way that this force was characterised as magical - it's not. It's people being people, and I am sad that the author who managed to write empathically about torturers in Small Gods ("There are hardly any excesses of the most crazed psychopath that cannot easily be duplicated by a normal kindly family man who just comes in to work every day and has a job to do") can't manage to see batterers the same way.

The entire Amber subplot left me open-mouthed. So she moves back in with her parents, and that's the end of that because her father, was under the influence of a magical force? It led him to punch her so hard she lost her baby and that's that, and she now understands? I loved the bit about the thistles, that is very realistic, but it is realistic without any mythical magical forces at work, and least said, soonest mended doesn't cut in in this case. Especially, witch or not, if the girl in question is all of thirteen years old. The text seemed to say, "Well, but these things happen, so you have to learn how to deal with them and be understanding about them". No, you don't. That's sort of what being a witch used to be about, about not understanding unspeakable cruelty. While that is true, depressingly enough, soothing someone out of their wits and then informing them that their abusive father was under the influence of magic is no fitting end, especially seeing as how he's been abusive before. While it's sad that he himself was abused, that is not an excuse. Even though I can imagine families staying together after abuse happened I doubt that an "I'll understand" spoken by the survivor of horrible abuse is in any way an appropriate ending, witch or not.

Letitia I couldn't grow that fond of, because while I see that her position was difficult and, in a way, as restrictive as the lives the other two young women were facing, her life-story was introduced too hurriedly and too patchily for me to grow attached to her.

The love plots I hated. I don't see why Tiffany'd need a boyfriend to conclude her coming-of-age, and he seemed to be rather shoe-horned into things. Of course it's helpful to have a partner if you can't ask your colleagues because it goes against a twisted sense of professional honour, but seeing as how Granny Weatherwax also always had plenty of help, it doesn't seem to make sense and just happens too quickly.

Also, "bitch" and "whore"? Really? Really? I never felt as slapped in the face by the use of a profanity in a book before. Even though it emphasises the double-bind and the idiocy of calling someone who is a virgin and completely ignorant of all things sexual a "whore", as well a the strange circumstances under which women are kept ignorant, are then expected to suddenly be sexual beings from one second to the next and get labelled as "whore" once they express an interest in doing so, it just did not fit.

It did not fit the first time, when the word "bitch" was used for the first and only time as something other than a rather unfortunate typo or a word used in reference to female dogs in the discworld novels, and Finisheding the word "whore" in a book which is still a book for children in a coming-of-age novel with a mostly female audience is all kinds of inappropriate, especially because Tiffany's etymological argument for the usage of the word doesn't check out, it seems that the meaning of this word has always been "promiscuous, immoral woman", at least according to my etymological dictionary - which, admittedly, is not very good.

I don't mind bad language, but using misogynistic terms for the first time in the entire series in the book which is a coming-of-age story for girls is just wrong. Yes, these things happen, and young girls will know about that better than anybody, but for me it ruined the book rather than adding them out of respect to people's experience who hear these terms often enough.

I loved seeing Esk again, but I didn't like the way her life was characterised as one spent as the shadow of Simon. Esk is powerful in her own right, thank you very much.

All in all, what I didn't like most of all is the way the book breaks up homosocial groups in favour of heterosexual relationships and constellations, something which is beneficial for Tiffany, who can't ask her witch friends for help at this point, but dangerous for both ignorant Letitia and abused Amber. And while this is, again, realistic, it is not a positive thing, and something that I really didn't miss while Finisheding the other witch novels.

So, I loved the way that coming of age in a misogynistic world as a powerful woman is dealt with, I really didn't agree with the way misogyny is portrayed. I have to think about this a bit more.

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LibraryThing member Booklady123

Summary: It starts with whispers.
Then someone picks up a stone.
Finally, the fires begin.
When people turn on witches, the innocents suffer. . . .
Tiffany Aching has spent years studying with senior witches, and now she is on her own. As the witch of the Chalk, she performs the bits of witchcraft that

aren t sparkly, aren t fun, don t involve any kind of wand, and that people seldom ever hear about: She does the unglamorous work of caring for the needy.
But someone or something is igniting fear, inculcating dark thoughts and angry murmurs against witches. Aided by her tiny blue allies, the Wee Free Men, Tiffany must find the source of this unrest and defeat the evil at its root before it takes her life. Because if Tiffany falls, the whole Chalk falls with her.

The Tiffany Aching series is one of my favorite young adult series. The fourth installment in the series I Shall Wear Midnight is an excellent read. It was like meeting up with a good friend you had not seen in some time. I find it very sad that this is the last in the series. Though Tiffany would be the first to admit that she's not perfect, she comes about as close as you can get. It's hard to believe that she is only 16 years old. She has wisdom beyond her years, which is why I suppose, she is a witch. Tiffany and the Mac Nac Feegles and Granny Weatherax and Nanny Ogg will be greatly missed.

This story is somewhat darker than the other Tiffany books. It explores the worst of human nature. The writing and imagery are very powerful and will have the reader examining their own actions and thoughts.

I highly recommend this and the other Tiffany Aching books (you really should read them in order) for any young adult (or old adult) that enjoys fantasy and books that make them think.

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LibraryThing member bell7

The fourth and last of the Tiffany Aching series begins with Tiffany set apart from the rest of the town. She is a witch. Roland will barely acknowledge that they were once friends, and the townspeople look on her with distrust. They need her, and they don't like that they need their witch. She

soon realizes, however, that something much more dark and sinister than the townspeople is behind their distrust.

I really enjoyed returning to Tiffany Aching's Discworld. This book was the most connected of the mini-series to the larger series, with references to the wizarding university, Ankh-Morpork, and other characters familiar to series readers. Yet it works as a standalone as well. It had been four years since I read Wintersmith, but had no trouble following the story line and appreciated the short references that reminded me of Tiffany's past adventures without devolving into paragraphs of exposition. While a few elements left me scratching my head, the story moves along at a steady pace and I read it in a day.

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LibraryThing member MagicalSibylle

Let me preface this by saying that this is my first Tiffany Aching story and since it's the end of her story, it's a rather peculiar place to be in.
This book is not what I expected it to be, not by a long shot. I said no spoilers so let's just sum this up by saying that Tiffany is a witch and as

such her job is to take of people nobody takes care of. It's a really sad book because Pratchett confronts death and suffering in a way I've personally never encountered before in his books. Sure, Death as a character makes regular appearances in Discworld and even has his own books (Mort, Reaper Man, etc) but I Shall Wear Midnight really looks at death in the face, and it ain't pretty. There's a passage involving blue-eyed cats that I won't talk about but which I found deeply striking. I know a lot of people will link this to Pratchett's recent medical condition (he's suffering from Alzheimer) but I don't believe things are quite so neat so I won't venture there. It would be downplaying the great imagination this fabulous author has.

This book is not humourless but it's not a funny book either. It wraps up Tiffany's story in a way that reminded me of traditional coming-of-age stories, which is both a good and a not-so-good thing. It even had moments of brilliance that reminded me, strangely enough, of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (the character of the Duchess in I Shall Wear Midnight reminded me of the Queen of Hearts in Alice). I didn't fall in love with Tiffany the way I did with Death, who remains my favourite Discworld character. She has so much to do and such responsibility it was very hard to see her go through all this on her own.

So, despite all this, why did I choose to give I Shall Wear Midnight four stars? I think it's a very mature book by the issues tackled (domestic violence is brought in as soon as in the first chapter, for example, pain is everywhere and talked about beautifully) and it remains a Terry Pratchett book. Terry Pratchett is the warmest author I know and his characters and words are all deeply endearing. The plot itself may have been very flawed but I Shall Wear Midnight is still a really good book, and an important one at that. I personally found it extremely moving in a way I wasn't expecting it to be. I'm very glad I own a copy - it's not a cheerful book, but it's a very realistic one and I applaud Terry for that, it must have taken great courage to write I Shall Wear Midnight and it showed me a whole new aspect of Pratchett, which completes my already-superlative opinion of him.

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LibraryThing member klai

I can't help feeling that the Tiffany Aching series is arguably better than the other books Pterry has put out over the same period. YA? Sure, but other than the protagonist being underage, it's pure Pratchett throughout, including the darker themes which have been increasingly evident in Discworld

novels over the last half a dozen yeas or so.

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LibraryThing member tcarter

Not many laugh out loud moments in this latest installment in the Discworld corpus, which is really quite dark. This book raised an interesting paradox for me. On the one hand, as a young parish priest, I identified strongly with the feeling of being slightly set apart from normal folk experienced

by the lead character of the book, a young witch called Tiffany. I also appreciated Pratchett's analysis of the evils of unthinking bigotry and prejudice against the "other". On the other hand, as a parish priest, I have experienced at first hand the damage that witchcraft does to people's lives in the world that we actually live in. The walls between this world and the Discworld seem to have got very thin in places, and this causes me some disquiet.

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LibraryThing member susiesharp

I am glad to see that even with his illness Sir Terry Pratchett can still write a fun romp in the Tiffany Aching Series.

Tiffany is back and she has trouble, when she kissed winter in The Wintersmith she woke up something evil and it is now after her. The Feegles are back to in all their glory

Crivens I love these little blue guys! It was also a bit bittersweet knowing this is the final Tiffany Aching story and you could feel that in the ending. I will miss this series!

This is and always will be one of my favorite fantasy series these can be read totally separate from the Discworld Series, however since Tiffany went to Ankh-Morpork there was some fun name dropping if you have read all those books.

If you haven’t read the Tiffany Aching Series what are you waiting for? Go get it!

5 Stars

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LibraryThing member mumfie

Nac Mac Feegles are some of the most wonderful characters Pratchett has developed and steal the show away from Tiffany.

There are some remarkable insights into human character as always with Discworld. As always, it's a genuinely enjoyable romp to read and thoroughly enjoy.

Tiffany meeting our

favourite witches is a joy to read. Unlike previous Nac Mac Feegles this is definitely part of the 'grown up' Discworld books, not that there is anything to stop younger readers reading this.

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LibraryThing member heroineinabook

After the witches, Nac Mac Feegles are my second favorite set of characters in Discowrld and "I Shall Wear Midnight," the last Tiffany Aching book the very short series hopefully does NOT mark their last appearance in the Discworld.

TPerry's books always contain a subtext element of commentary

about the modern world and with ISWM, the only commentary I could find was the comment on love. And of peace. And of hope.
I don't think we could ask for a better ending than that.

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LibraryThing member ecumenicalcouncil

This the fourth book in the Tiffany Aching discworld series is a hard one to place. I found it a lot darker that the earlier books in the series and it would probably be more at place amoung the adult discworld books. Tiffany is now 16 and the official witch for the chalk. She has however attracted

the attention of the cunning man, an ancient Omanian witch hunter. This foe may be far worse than anything she's come up against before.

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LibraryThing member ChrisRiesbeck

A fine conclusion to Pratchett's series on the young Discworld witch Tiffany Aching. Knowledge of Discworld is not really needed but reading the prior books is important, if only to set up the context for the engaging character. I did feel that there was too much clever commentary, especially early

on. Clever but like too much frosting on a cake. But the book ends well, if not surprisingly. Recommended.

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LibraryThing member pjane

I can't help but feel a touch of sadness as I read this, knowing that Sir Terry Pratchett is suffering from Alzheimer's disease and realistically will not be able to crank out much more in the way of light, funny fiction that unexpectedly makes the reader think. This is up to par, however, and I

read it with delight, then read it a couple more times just because.

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Awards

Andre Norton Nebula Award for Middle Grade and Young Adult Fiction (Finalist — 2010)

Mythopoeic Awards (Finalist — Children's Literature — 2011)

Locus Award (Finalist — Young Adult Novel — 2011)

BCCB Blue Ribbon Book (Fiction — 2010)

Geffen Award (2011)

3 more

Locus Recommended Reading (Young Adult Book — 2010)

Capitol Choices Noteworthy Book for Children and Teens (2011)

Rise: A Feminist Book Project for Ages 0-18 (Selection — 2012)

Fewer

Language

English

Original language

English

Original publication date

2010-09-01 (UK)

Physical description

432 p.; 8.03 inches

ISBN

0857536087 / 9780857536082

Local notes

As the witch of the Chalk, Tiffany Aching performs the distinctly unglamorous work of caring for the needy. But someone - or something - is inciting fear, generating dark thoughts and angry murmurs against witches. Tiffany must find the source of unrest and defeat the evil at its root.