Wintersmith

By: Terry Pratchett

Narrated by: Stephen Briggs

Length: 8 hrs and 31 mins

Publisher's Summary

At nine, Tiffany Aching defeated the cruel Queen of Fairyland. At 11, she banished an ancient body-stealing evil. At 13, Tiffany faces a new challenge: a boy. And boys can be a bit of a problem when you're 13.

But the Wintersmith isn't exactly a boy. He is winter itself: snow, gales, icicles, all of it. When he has a crush on Tiffany, he may make her roses of ice, but his nature is blizzards and avalanches. And he wants Tiffany to stay in his gleaming, frozen world. Forever.

Tiffany will need all her cunning to make it to spring. She'll also need her friends, from junior witches to the legendary Granny Weatherwax. Tiffany will need the Wee Free Men, too! She'll have the help of the bravest, toughest, smelliest pixies ever to be banished from Fairyland - whether she wants it or not. It's going to be a cold, cold season, because if Tiffany doesn't survive until spring...spring won't come.

Share the fantasy: listen to more of Tiffany's adventures in The Wee Free Men (Unabridged) and A Hat Full of Sky (Unabridged).

©2006 Terry and Lyn Pratchett (P)2006 HarperCollins Publishers

Critic Reviews

"Yet another rollicking, clever, and quite charming adventure." (Booklist)
"Replete with dry and intelligent humor, this latest in the series is sure to delight" (School Library Journal)

What's with the annoying musical interludes?

This book is great. It might be my favorite of the Nac Mac Feegle Discworld books. I'm really enjoying reading about Tiffany Aching's journey through adolescence with the (sometimes unfortunate) companionship of the Wee Free Men. Stephen Briggs's reading is fantastic as always. He is excellent at differentiating character voices without making them too ridiculous. He is always able to pace his reading style to match the urgency of the story. This SHOULD be a 5-star review.

Except for the twinkly, horrible music that pops up periodically. It doesn't fit with the tone of the book. It really takes me out of the story whenever it comes on. It doesn't even seem to fall at appropriate intervals, like chapter breaks. It just comes in, seemingly at random. I wish I could easily advance through it, but unfortunately, it often seems to overlap the storytelling. I want it to be gone so that I could fully enjoy this audiobook.

THANK YOU TERRY

Its been a long wait for the next Terry Pratchett and I wasnt disappointed. I loved it! The plot and sub plots are engaging, the characters are are well developed and the humor will make you laugh out loud. I listen while I'm working and there were a couple of close calls there when I got tickled. I'm a knifemaker, it could have been bad but the doctor says I ought to regain full use in a few weeks.
If you have read and loved any of Terrry's Discworld novels you'll love this one. If you've done the other two Tiffany Aching novels then you have no choice, you HAVE to have this one. Old friends return in the Wintersmith. Granny Weatherwax is as tough, wise and manipulative as ever. Ms. Tick is slightly over her head and Nanny Ogg is a disgusting old baggage. Tiffany is hard to sum up. A little sugar and spice but alot more steel than your normal 13 year old girl. What really made the story for me are the Feegles. Think of Braveheart only six inches high and slightly tipsy, OK strike the slightly.
The book may be aimed at adoles.. adulesc..kids but there wasnt anything at all childish about it. If I had to give this book a rating I'd give it a PG13 for some of the subject matter but there isnt anything racy about it.
The only question I have was why did they release a book that dealt with cold and ice and snow in january? I mean, jeez. It like 9 degrees F. out there. I could have done with it last august. Oh well thats ok I guess wearing 3 sweaters wasnt too much trouble. Thanks again Terry. Now get back to work, I want more

A delightful Discworld story I had missed til now

I love Pratchett's Discworld books, and I particularly love the Tiffany Aching books, so it was a surprise to me that I apparently missed noticing Wintersmith for ten years. Well, at least it means a new-for-me Pratchett when I thought that opportunity was gone.

Tiffany Aching is an apprentice witch, currently living with a witch in the mountains, far from her beloved chalk hills. She's taken as part of her training to watch a dance she didn't know existed, the Dark Morris, which brings the beginning of winter as the Morris Dance we know brings the beginning of summer.

Since this is the Discworld, the dances really do bring the starts of those seasons.

Tiffany's feet, unfortunately, get the better of her. She steps into the dance, and dances with the Wintersmith, and gets some of the traits and powers of Lady Summer tangled up in herself. The Wintersmith thinks he has fallen in love with her.

This is, of course, is a problem for everyone, especially when the Wintersmith wants to marry her and cause Summer to never come again. The Wintersmith has no real idea what being a person is all about, or why Tiffany is upset about the lambs dying when a blizzard hits too late in what should be spring, or why she doesn't love the ice palace he's made to lure her.

The second half is a Discworld take on Orpheus and Eurydice, and both Tiffany and the local lord's son she rescued from the elf queen's court previously, take a few more steps toward adulthood.

It's a fine taste of Pratchett, and a nice surprise for me to find it, when I thought there wasn't anything more.

Recommended.

I bought this audiobook.

instrumental music, really?

Great story, great reading, but the music in between chapters took some of that away.

why the music though?

love this book, and love the reading of it... however like everyone else I found the music jarring. it was louder than the reading, drowned out the story, appeared out of nowhere and missed the tone completely.

I could have done without the music

the music really confused me and made me search my phone for what could possibly be playing over my audiobook. Eventually I caught on that it just randomly happens.

Great book. Great performance.

But please please please get rid of the super annoying chapter bumper music. Typically awesome Terry Pratchett. We really have lost one of the best writers ever.

Mr P does it again

Once again we have a delightful story about Tiffany which will delight both the young listener and the adults... Where as in the written form these books are really for 9+ the Audible version can be easily enjoyed by the younger siblings. And if you don't have kids well no matter they are just as much fun for you too... I would suggest you start with the Wee Free Men and Hat Full of Sky, so you hear Tiffany's tale in order...

Why is there music

This book is great and the voices are great. However, in contrast to all the other Terry Pratchett books there is this bad eightys style magic music which is distracting. Great book cut out the music.
One has to wonder why in the world you would want would to have bad windchime music in the middle of a fabulous book.

Just Plain Great Storytelling AND Delivery

I could probably have only the four (soon to be five!) Tiffany Aching books read by Stephen Briggs on my ipod and just cycle endlessly through them, never getting tired of them and always learning a little more about human nature, taking care of people, and being a decent soul. This one is perhaps the most insightful about human myth-making-----but no, I love them all and cannot choose a favorite!