Wyrd Sisters by Terry Pratchett

Welcome to the kingdom of Lancre, a mountainous realm more vertical than horizontal, a naturally magical domain that is the home of witches and the birthplace of wizards.  We've been here before but only briefly, in Equal Rites, when we visited the village of Bad Ass and met Granny Weatherwax, its resident witch.

Things get fleshed-out in the Wyrd Sisters: the village is now part of a kingdom, and the kingdom has a name and a history.  Alas, it has no legitimate king, for King Verence has been murdered by his cousin Duke Felmet (at the instigation of  Felmet's foreign wife), who then usurps the throne.  Understandably, Verence (or more correctly, Verence's ghost - who has been unfleshed-out) is upset by this, but so is something else - something big and powerful.  There is going to be trouble unless high-order action is taken.  And that duty falls to Granny Weatherwax and her two fellow witches, Nanny Ogg and Magrat Garlick.

Wyrd Sisters is the sixth Discworld novel, and the second to feature Granny Weatherwax.  Pratchett borrows riffs from Shakespeare's Macbeth and Hamlet in constructing his tale of witches, ghosts, usurpation and plays.  He deftly turns many of these tropes on their heads or bends them at right-angles, with surprising and often hilarious effect. Thematically, the book explores the power of words to shape perceived reality, and the corrupting influence of power - especially power held without public purpose.

Pratchett's ability to create memorable literary characters rivals that of Dickens.  In Wyrd Sisters, he further develops the character of Granny - this time as the first among the witches of Lancre.  But he also introduces the ebullient Nanny Ogg, a witch no less capable than Granny, but in her own special, out-going way.  Magrat, an archetypical new age wiccan, provides a counterpoint to her more traditional colleagues.

The supporting cast is no less memorable.  There is the mad duke and his sociopath duchess; Vitoller, a rumbling thespian, and his band of strolling players, including Hwel the playwright; and the canny fool.  Keep an eye out for Hwel and his bouts of inspiration:  side-splittingly funny.

Comparing Pratchett with Pratchett, I would grade Wyrd Sisters with an A.  He has written better, but only just.  And an A for Terry Pratchett is an A+ for a lot of other writers.  Worth the time, and then some.