Reviews with content warning for Violence - MacBest

One of my absolute favorite books. It's basically Macbeth from the pov of the witches, but also if you flipped it on its head, twirled it around a little bit then showed it to the mirror and asked its opinion. A wonderful, satirical and cozy romp.

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puttingwingsonwords's review against another edition

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adventurous funny fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

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linddykal's review against another edition

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funny lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

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crufts's review against another edition

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adventurous funny lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

I "read" Wyrd Sisters twice: once in the original novel format and once in the BBC radio play. Both are fun.
Although this is Book 6 of the Discworld series, there's very little connection to the preceding novels and you can read it as a standalone.

The ambitious Lady Felmet has her eyes on the throne of Lancre. She spurs on her husband (Duke Felmet) to murder the ruling King Verence, and the malicious couple ascends to the throne.
Seeing signs and portents that the land itself disagrees with this development, three witches (crotchety Granny Weatherwax, witch-about-town Nanny Ogg, and young-and-nervous Magrat Garlick) decide to set things right again.

Wyrd Sisters is an undisguised parody of Shakespeare's works, especially Macbeth. As a result, there are a lot of funny references - but this also means the plot feels pre-ordained and unsurprising.

But did I read this book for the plot? HELL NO. I read it for the witches! As long as these three brilliant characters were around, it was fun. If this instead was a story about the witches going shopping for groceries, I would probably have enjoyed it all the same.

See my review of the next Witches book here: Witches Abroad.

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itry's review against another edition

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funny informative lighthearted reflective relaxing medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Content warnings that's not a covered tag, yummy and not so yummy food is mentioned frequently
And despite me having tagged a bunch of triggers (for honesty), its more of a case in like a kids tv show like yes technically these dark things are there but few are is triggered by or even notice it due to the general theme and lack of seriousness.
Kinda like cartoon logic, sure theyre doing life threatening things but they're immortal so it doesn't have the same stakes kind of vibe a la roger rabbit, rather than recent gritty dc movies or a horror movie lol
The only really triggering and unnecessary part for me as a survivor of a bunch of bs, is the body shaming of the women

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booksthatburn's review against another edition

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adventurous medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

WYRD SISTERS became enjoyable about halfway through, which was either when the Shakespeare references really got going or is just when I realized they were happening at all. I got enough of them for it to be funny, but it also means that a lot of the humor is referential, depending on the reader to be familiar with a bunch of other stuff (or in this case, with several specific plays) in order to get the jokes. Discworld humor tends to he referential but this felt like a particularly egregious version since so much of it has one source rather than generally pulling from many disparate inspirations.

There was a disconcerting amount of humor which revolved around men being in dresses in a theatrical setting. It was particularly frustrating when someone of it was from a Dwarf, who (at least later on in the series) have an approach to gender which I’ve been promised I’ll like, but clearly had some issues to work out in this one. The “joke” began and ended with “that man is in a dress”, which is 1) not actually a joke and 2) potentially transphobic.

The Fool is my favorite character, his backstory is very moving and his romance is genuinely sweet. Overall this one is fine but not amazing.

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