Review: The Shepherd's Crown

The Shepherd's Crown by Terry Pratchett
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The afterward of this book says that Pratchett was not through with editing it when he died. I am sad to say that it shows.

I thought the climatic battle was rushed and that the stakes were not quite as high as other witches books have shown. I thought the trains and the King of the Elves were going to play an important part in the final showdown, but I felt they were there merely for show, somehow not really mattering. I felt cheated. I thought Geoffrey's calm-weaving would make an appearance as well, but his thunder got stolen by the old men of Lancre and their sheds? It didn't quite come together in the end.

The death of Nightshade was also a disappointment as was the handling of Tiffany killing three elves. These scenes were so well set up to teach lessons about witchcraft, about what other Pratchett novels have called the "soul and center" of witchcraft. The death of someone who was becoming good and Tiffany faltering in the moral standards that are so important for people who hold such a power.

I thought Letitia and especially Amber would come back, but Amber wasn't even mentioned and Letitia was almost a letdown.

And yet I loved the book. It was such a brave book, from someone who was facing the twilight of his life so bravely. Pratchett killed Granny Weatherwax to kickstart the plot, and it was masterful, setting the stage for a whole new era of witches. It was bold and it was sweet. And I was touched that this character of great struggles was given such a good death, because after what she and her maker have given us, there was no one who deserved it more.

Pratchett also introduced the idea of a male witch and made it make perfect sense. He left Tiffany as the leader of a new future. He bade his readers look to the horizon, to imagine what the next generation would look like, to think up the stories that would be told about them.

Somehow he left us in charge.

I came to Pratchett later than most. I haven't read Color of Magic or even Equal Rites. I came to Pratchett in many ways through the Tiffany Aching books and I loved them fiercely. A lot of what he wrote in them I have taken to heart in my own writing, wishing only to be able to write about responsibility and power and selfishness and difference between being good and being nice with the same ferocity he did.

I'm going to miss him, I'm going to miss Tiffany and I can't lie, I wish this wasn't over yet. Thank you Mr. Pratchett, wherever you are.

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