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A Genteel Black Hole

Tag: fantasy

  • Bookish Ramble: The Wee Free Men

    Ally

    Title: The Wee Free Men
    (Discworld #30, Tiffany Aching #1)
    Author: Terry Pratchett
    Year: 2003
    Country: UK

    Format: Hardback
    Pages: 310
    Read: 10 – 16 February 2026
    Reread

    Nine-year-old Tiffany Aching lives with her parents on a farm. Her duties include making the cheese and looking after her perpetually sticky little brother Wentworth. Also she’s a witch… or at least hopes to be someday, just like Granny Aching before her. One day Tiffany’s quiet, peaceful life is threatened by nightmarish creatures from another realm. Using Wentworth as bait, she fights off the first monster with nothing but an iron frying pan and righteous fury. But bigger, scarier things are coming, things too powerful for Tiffany to handle alone. Luckily she has help from a witch called Miss Tick, a talking frog that may once have been human, and a clan of tiny blue pictsies called the Nac Mac Feegle—the titular Wee Free Men. (Imagine, if you will, Braveheart crossed with Smurfs.)

    “Ye ken how to be strong, do ye?”
    “Yes, I think so.”
    “Good. D’ye ken how to be weak? Can ye bow to the gale, can ye bend to the storm?    “

    This is the thirtieth Discworld book overall, the first in the Tiffany Aching sub-series aimed at younger readers. As such it’s shorter than a standard Discworld book, the humour is moderately less bawdy (though there are still some references for Mum and Dad to stifle a smirk over), it follows a child protagonist, and it’s divided helpfully into chapters. But for me, as someone who first read it well into adulthood, it still ticks all my Discworld boxes.

    That was how it worked. No magic at all. But that time it had been magic. And it didn’t stop being magic just because you found out how it was done.

    In fact it’s one of my favourite Pratchett books! The Wee Free Men is a delightful, magical adventure told with Pratchett’s signature humour and keen insight. In some ways it’s very silly. Tiffany enters a whimsical world of dreams and, like Alice before her, finds it very annoying indeed. The Feegles—a clan of walking, talking (not to mention stealin’, fightin’ and drinkin’) Scottish stereotypes—constantly make me laugh, especially the scenes with No’-as-big-as-Medium-Sized-Jock-but-bigger-than-Wee-Jock-Jock. But the passages where Tiffany reminisces about her late Granny, trying to learn from her example as she comes into her own power as a witch, are some of the most touching moments in any Discworld book. And for longtime fans there are excellent cameos from Granny Weatherwax and Nanny Ogg, stars of the original Discworld Witches books.

    “The thing about witchcraft,” said Mistress Weatherwax, “is that it’s not like school at all. First you get the test, and then afterwards you spend years findin’ out how you passed it. It’s a bit like life in that respect.”

    My First Sight told me this book was wonderful. My Second Thoughts have since confirmed it. Crivens, it’s a bonnie wee book!

  • Bookish Ramble: Rocannon’s World

    Ally

    Title: Rocannon’s World
    (Hainish #1)
    Author: Ursula K. Le Guin
    Year: 1966
    Country: USA

    Format: Paperback
    Pages: 112
    Read: 11 – 18 January 2026
    Reread

    Rocannon’s World is Ursula K. Le Guin’s debut novel and the first in her loosely-connected Hainish series. It follows Gaveral Rocannon, an ethnographer for the League of All Worlds. When anti-League rebels attack and destroy his ship, Rocannon is stranded on the alien planet of Fomalhaut II. The planet is home to multiple intelligent (but technologically primitive) species, each with their own unique social structures and customs. Rocannon, aided by a diverse group of Fomalhaut natives, goes on a dangerous quest to contact the League and end the rebellion.

    Rocannon’s World is ostensibly a sci-fi novel, but the whole thing is steeped in fantasy. Rocannon comes from a hi-tech world of interstellar travel, ansible communication, and weapons of mass destruction; but he’s stuck on a planet of feudal lords and heroic quests. I’m not opposed to such a blend of genres, but I don’t think Le Guin quite pulls it off here. The book establishes many of her enduring themes, but with little of her best work’s profundity or poetic brilliance. It didn’t take her too long to hone her skills, but Rocannon’s World is very much A First Attempt. As an established fan, I enjoyed it the same way I enjoy listening to early demos by my favourite bands: It’s interesting in context, but I wouldn’t recommend it for first-time readers of Le Guin.

    My favourite part of the book is the prologue, which was first published as a separate short story. In fact the story, Semley’s Necklace, was included in Le Guin’s anthology The Wind’s Twelve Quarters, which I read just a few months ago. It was fascinating to read the story both as its own thing and the introduction to a longer work. That gave me some insight into Le Guin’s creative process—glimpsing the seeds from which she grew an entire universe.

    I read Rocannon’s World as part of a group reading project led by my BookTube friend Gareth (Books Songs and Other Magic). We’ll be reading all of Le Guin’s Hainish books during the year, discussing them in the group chat as we go. It’s been a great experience so far—my fellow readers have shared some valuable insights into the book and Le Guin’s career as a whole. Gareth also plans to host live-chat videos about each book, so be sure to tune your ansible devices accordingly!

  • Bookish Ramble: Night Watch

    Ally

    Title: Night Watch
    (Discworld #29)
    Author: Terry Pratchett
    Year: 2002
    Country: UK

    Format: Hardback
    Pages: 475
    Read: 21-30 December 2025
    Reread

    Night Watch is the twenty-ninth Discworld book, and the sixth starring Sam Vimes and the Ankh Morpork City Watch. Vimes is on the trail of Carcer, a vicious and unrepentant killer, when a freak accident transports them both back in time. Vimes finds himself stuck in the Ankh-Morpork of his youth, right as the Glorious Revolution of the Twenty-Fifth of May is about to kick off. But Vimes and Carcer’s arrival has changed history: John Keel, the man Vimes once knew as his mentor, is dead before his time. Vimes is forced to take Keel’s place and mentor his younger self, at least long enough for the History Monks to patch up history and send him back to the future.

    ‘I mean, doesn’t it change history even if you just tread on an ant?’
    ‘For the ant, certainly,’ said Qu.

    This is certainly one of the most dramatic Discworld books. Pratchett’s work is never completely devoid of humour, but in Night Watch the scales are tipped more towards tension, drama, and righteous anger. Pratchett incorporates themes of civil unrest, police brutality and torture, social inequality, nostalgia, grief, and corrupt politics, all within the framework of a fantastical time travel romp. It’s definitely Pratchett at the height of his powers.

    ‘They attacked the other Houses, and what’s the Night Watch ever done to hurt them?’
    ‘Nothing,’ said Vimes.
    ‘There you are, then.’
    ‘I mean the Watch did nothing, and that’s what hurt them,’ said Vimes.

    In fact, Night Watch seems to have a reputation among my fellow Terryvangelists as The Best Discworld Book. When I first read it, my expectations were high—perhaps too high, so I ended up faintly disappointed. But even then, I had a feeling it would improve on rereading. And it did! This time round, I absolutely loved it. This is a powerful book with a lot to say, and it manages to say it between—or sometimes with—silly puns and dirty jokes. Well, if it’s good enough for Shakespeare…

    And the foreshadowing was much more effective when, like the older and wiser Vimes, I already understood the full significance of the Twenty-Fifth of May and its lilacs.

    How do they rise up?

  • 2025 Wrap-up: My Year in Books

    Ally

    It’s that time of year when I fall down the Rabbit Hole of Introspection. Okay, maybe that’s just where I live! But at least the new year gives some structure to my musings.

    It’s been a strange year in a lot of ways. I started 2025 with a lot of big ambitions to read big books—chunky classics like David Copperfield and Anna Karenina… both of which I ended up DNFing! Not because I disliked them, I hasten to add. They both seemed great. But I didn’t approach them with the focus and dedication such hefy tomes demand. Seduced by other books, I let Dickens and Tolstoy linger on the shelf, unread, for so long that I lost motivation to pick them up again. If I do attempt either of them again, I’ll have to go back to the start.

    In fact I had bad luck with ‘classics’ in general. My first experience of Thomas Hardy was not a happy one! My first Anne Brontë, Agnes Grey, was… just fine. And worst of all, I ended up losing interest and DNFing A Passage to India. I had really hoped to enjoy that one, considering E.M Forster’s A Room with a View was my favourite read of 2024. Very disappointing!

    I struggled with my health, both mental and physical, through much of summer and into autumn. Long story short: My GP recommended some iron and vitamin supplements, which are slowly improving my energy levels. And I will soon be starting therapy to see if I can get my wonky brain back in shape too. Anyway, these issues evidently affected my reading, both in terms of how many books I read and how much I enjoyed them.

    But it’s not all doom and gloom! After accepting that chunky classic novels weren’t working for me, I pivoted towards shorter books. I read a lot of classic plays, falling deeper in love with the work of Henrik Ibsen. I also reignited my dormant love of sci-fi, reading excellent short story collections by Ursula K. Le Guin and Roger Zelazny. And I read plenty of delightful children’s fiction, falling deeply in love with Tove Jansson’s Moomins.

    Terry Pratchett remains my most reliable go-to author. I’ve had a great time going through the Discworld series in order. Most of those books are rereads for me. In fact I’ve filled in almost all the gaps now: I’ve read 40 of the 41 Discworld books. All that remains is the final book, The Shepherd’s Crown, which I’ll probably get to in 2027 at this rate. I plan to take my time and enjoy the journey.

    I also finished rereading Le Guin’s Earthsea series, which I can now confidently say is my favourite fantasy series ever. My admiration for Le Guin continues to grow all the time. I’m excited to explore more of her work outside of Earthsea.

    And one chunky book that didn’t let me down was Mervyn Peake’s Titus Groan. That book was a revelation. A bizarre, bewitching fictional world described in such obsessive detail, it felt more like visiting in person than merely reading about it.

    December saw a big uptick in my reading. I recently bought a phone-sized e-reader, which allows me to read comfortably while lying down at bedtime. It’s much less overstimulating than my actual phone, so bedtime reading has become a viable option again. I mostly read children’s books at night. It’s a good way to unwind at the end of the day. But whatever my bedtime read is, it’s helpful to have that extra variety in my book diet. (Watching more films in 2025 also helped with that. Whatever I’m not getting from my morning read, I can supplement with films, short stories, and bedtime books.) This past month I feel like I’ve enjoyed more of what I read, and I’m feeling optimistic about the year ahead.

    And now—drum roll please—it’s time for graphs, charts, and lists!