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venidasdemarzo's review against another edition
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
- Loveable characters? Yes
3.0
I wish the climax of this book was Perdita blowing up the opera house, everybody there deserved it except the sidequest tenor and the Witches
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Body shaming, Fatphobia, and Alcohol
Moderate: Ableism, Bullying, Death, Mental illness, Violence, Blood, Stalking, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, and Classism
Minor: Animal cruelty, Bullying, Racism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Slavery, Suicide, and Car accident
erebus53's review
adventurous
funny
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Terry Pratchett has a stab at satirising opera in his own version of the story of the Phantom.
I do find it funny that he has a Frank Spence like character (given that he is played by Michael Crawford who has also sung the part of the Phantom of the Opera).
This is technically a Witches story though there is some crossover with the Watch, and a cameo from the Librarian.
All the characters behave as they ought.
I think it's a bit naff that we lean so hard into the fatphobia in this offering, but the plot is a solid whodunnit.
I do find it funny that he has a Frank Spence like character (given that he is played by Michael Crawford who has also sung the part of the Phantom of the Opera).
This is technically a Witches story though there is some crossover with the Watch, and a cameo from the Librarian.
All the characters behave as they ought.
I think it's a bit naff that we lean so hard into the fatphobia in this offering, but the plot is a solid whodunnit.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Fatphobia, Violence, Blood, and Murder
questingnotcoasting's review
adventurous
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
The Witches are my favourite Discworld series but I thought this was the weakest one so far. However I listened to the audiobook, narrated by Indira Varma with Bill Nighy and Peter Serafinowicz and I definitely enjoyed the story more because of that. The plot was pretty entertaining but I missed some references because I'm not really familiar with the story of The Phantom Of The Opera. Also I didn't feel like Agnes was dealt with particularly sympathetically as a fat character which did affect my enjoyment a bit.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body shaming and Fatphobia
Moderate: Ableism and Death
takeachance's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
fast-paced
- Loveable characters? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism and Fatphobia
Moderate: Death and Murder
bookgraham's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
mysterious
relaxing
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Body shaming, Bullying, Death, Fatphobia, and Murder
Moderate: Eating disorder and Classism
bluejayreads's review against another edition
3.75
Granny Weatherwax is a pretty neat character idea, but she’s also my biggest frustration with the Witches subseries. She’s mean, passive-aggressive, won’t admit she’s wrong, and determined to make people do what she thinks is best for them regardless of their opinions on the matter. Luckily for my enjoyment of this book, Granny is slowly starting to get a little bit better, and Agnes, the third protagonist along with Granny Weatherwax and Nanny Ogg, is even more fed up with Granny than I am.
Granny Weatherwax and Nanny Ogg have decided that Agnes should become their third witch now that Magret has escaped from under Granny’s thumb. Agnes, though, hates the very idea, and instead takes her spectacular vocal talent to Ankh-Morpork to become an opera singer. Granny and Nanny come up with an excuse to follow her there and interfere. Also the plot of Phantom of the Opera is going on, complete witha mysterious black-suited mask-wearing opera house “ghost,” murders, and a gorgeous lead singer named Christine (although this Christine can’t actually sing).
Agnes is prodigiously fat, and though this doesn’t bother her in the slightest, there is a lot of fatphobia from others and some of the humor is based around fatphobic jokes. Although there is quite a bit of actual humor, as well. It’s definitely not as funny as some of the other Discworld books, but I think it’s the funniest of the Witches books so far.
There’s not really anything here that I would call a main plot. There’s the whole Phantom of the Opera thing, which mainly becomes a whodunit mystery trying to figure out who is the opera house ghost so they can stop him from murdering people, Agnes trying to find where she fits into the world of opera, Granny doing her best to meddle in everything (with Nanny cheerfully along for the ride), and a very bizarre subplot about an Ankh-Morpork-born opera singer pretending to be a foreigner and really hating how everyone goes out of their way to feed him foreign food that he doesn’t like but requesting the Ankh-Morpork food he does like would blow his cover. No, I’m not sure what the point is supposed to be either.
Though I can’t say I’m a particular fan of how things worked out for Agnes in the end, overall this was a solid book. It kept me interesting, it made me laugh, I liked Agnes a lot, and Granny Weatherwax’s more enraging aspects were toned down. It’s not my favorite Discworld book, but it’s definitely not my least favorite, and it may be my favorite of the Witches books so far.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Fatphobia, and Murder
Moderate: Ableism and Body shaming
Minor: Blood
chemicalcain's review against another edition
2.0
Lots of ableism and fatphobia in this one. By that I mean fatness is one of the primary jokes. One of my least favorite Pratchett books so far.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Body shaming, Death, Fatphobia, and Violence
vanadiumbean's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
I love Discworld and I love the Witches series. This has the humor vital to any Discworld book, and Nanny and Granny are up to their usual hijinks. The mystery is also compelling; I was trying my best to work it out right up to when things got revealed. I also really enjoyed the character of Agnes, as best I could around some of the kind of nasty fatphobia surrounding her in this book. That, in addition to the ableism around another character and the use of the g slur made it hard for me to enjoy this book to its fullest potential.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism and Fatphobia
Moderate: Ableism, Death, Fatphobia, Murder, and Alcohol
Minor: Body shaming, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Blood, and Classism
The racial slur is specifically the G slur against Romani people. It is not used against individuals, instead in one of the operas they put on multiple characters are dressed up and playing characters that are meant to be "g*****". The ableism is regarding a character named Walter who is described as slow/confused and his movement and speech are described in detail as being strange and it's kind of dehumanizing. In addition to THAT (major spoiler for the climax of the book/the mystery)