Books For Keeps
  • Home
  • Reviews
  • Articles
  • Past Issues
  • Latest Issue
  • Authors and Artists
  • Latest News
  • Search
  • Menu Menu
November 1, 2010/in Fiction 10-14 Middle/Secondary /by Angie Hill
BfK Rating:
BfK 185 November 2010
Reviewer: Geoff Fox
ISBN: 978-0385611077
Price: £24.99
Publisher: Doubleday Childrens
Genre: Fiction
Age Range: 10-14 Middle/Secondary
Length: 352pp
Buy the Book

I Shall Wear Midnight

Author: Terry PratchettIllustrator: Paul Kidby

Working as a witch for the people of the Chalk can be fairly humdrum for Tiffany Aching, appearing here in her fourth Discworld adventure, more health visitor than magician. Every now and then, however – and this is such a time – more is called for. Folk are becoming disenchanted, hostile even, towards witches in general; they are being corrupted by the evil machinations of The Cunning Man. This novel records Tiffany’s struggle and final confrontation with her dark enemy.

For Discworld fans, much of the fun of a new Pratchett must lie in the reappearance of old acquaintances; one of the most influential figures here has not been around for more than 30 titles. But the Nac Mac Feegles, the kilted and boozy mini-warriors led by Rob Anybody, Granny Weatherwax, Nanny Ogg, and Tiffany’s sometime sort-of romantic interest Roland are all there. Discworld is sacred ground, of course, but at the risk of heresy, I thought the humour which permeates every page sometimes laboured, not to say coy. For example, there is much nudging and giggling when the young women of the village set about cleaning up the local hillside chalk giant with his, ‘enormous, as it were, lack of something – e.g. trousers – and what was there instead’; and Sir Terry indulges in footnotes adding more than a few jokey words, often coming back for second or third bites at the same cherry. The basic gag about Rob and the lads being a load of good-hearted Scottish vandals works for a while – but it becomes predictable.

These quibbles aside, there is much to enjoy. The tale is told with confident vitality, there is Tiffany’s resilience, her almost unconscious attraction towards Preston, a late-developer private in the castle guard, a bevy of sharply caricatured minor players and the repulsive Cunning Man. He does not have the complexity of, say, the Shadow who pursues Ged in A Wizard of Earthsea, but he is one reason why this comic novel never descends to the frivolous. One effect of his malignity, for example, is to provoke a father to violence which kills the unborn child of his daughter. Those who are already devotees of Discworld surely do not bother with reviews; and newcomers might do best to begin, as far as Tiffany Aching is concerned, with the first of the quartet, The Wee Free Men, and see if addiction sets in.

Share this entry
  • Share on Facebook
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on WhatsApp
  • Share on Pinterest
  • Share on LinkedIn
  • Share on Reddit
  • Share by Mail
http://booksforkeeps.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/bfklogo.png 0 0 Angie Hill http://booksforkeeps.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/bfklogo.png Angie Hill2010-11-01 00:00:252022-03-01 12:37:52I Shall Wear Midnight

Search for a specific review

Author Search

Search







Generic filters




Filter by Member Types


Book Author

Download BfK Issue Bfk 271 March 2025
Skip to an Issue:

About Us

Launched in 1980, we’ve reviewed hundreds of new children’s books each year and published articles on every aspect of writing for children.

Read More

Follow Us

Latest News

Next stop Shakespeare’s Globe – finalists of Poetry By Heart competition 2025 announced

May 8, 2025

School Library Association announces Information Book Award longlist and new nationwide Book Club

May 7, 2025

National Share-a-Story Month 2025: Saving the World, One Book at a Time

May 2, 2025

Contact Us

Books for Keeps,
30 Winton Avenue,
London,
N11 2AT

Telephone: 0780 789 3369

ISSN: 0143-909X (this is our International Standard Serial Number).

© Copyright 2025 - Books For Keeps | Proudly Built by Lemongrass Media - Web Design Buckinghamshire
What’s the Point of Being Green? Frightfully Friendly Ghosties: Ghostly Holler-Day
Scroll to top