I shall wear midnight – Discworld book n. 38

I don’t understand why they say “for younger readers” ,I just finished it, and it doesn’t look any different from the other books to me, and I love it as one of the many of my favourites :-D

Tiffany is growing up, she’s 16 now, and she’s officially a witch. She has her hat and everything. Well, she doesn’t wear black of course, she’s still the young Tiffany we know, but nevertheless a witch. She has a lot to deal with: everyday caring of the village people, Roland marrying someone else, and a mysterious and ancient enemy of the witches is back and wants her to burn!

Will she be able to defeat him or will she run to Granny asking for help? Don’t answer, of course you know, that’s a retorical question.

We see the Nac Mac Feegle of course, and we follow Tiffany during her visit to Ankh-Morpork and her hard time at home when everybody seems to turn on her…

Oh I love this book, and its ending. Don’t go looking before time!! You’ll ruin it. Be patient and wait for it, if you’ve read the other Tiffany books you know it’s worth it, Remember how beautiful “A hat full of sky” ending was? In its different way, this is too.

I really love Pratchett’s writing, each and every word is in the right place. It’s amazing after so many books!!

A bit of SPOILERS now.

Roland new wife-to-be is the watercolours-girl J and she turns out to be not that bad at all, a noble who made friends with the ghosts in her old house J But Tiffany was never really in love with Roland, she was just a child, now she’s growing up and other things awaits her, like a young man with a love for words…

In Ankh-Morpork we visit the famous shop Boffo, and we meet no others than Eskarina!!! Can you remember her? I’m not sure I understand why she’s old, she was just a child, but maybe it’s just a trousers-of-time complicated problem.

In the city we meet Carrot and Angua, too. Back in the country we are sooner or later joined by Granny and Nanny. A bit sorry I didn’t get to see Magrat, as per say, because we know she was there too, with her husband the King. I wanted to meet her, I miss Magrat.

Ending SPOILERS here. don't read it if you haven't finished the book.

The ending is very simple, but nontheless beautiful. After a year, at the country fair, she walks around without the hat, to be just Tiffany Aching for a day, and meets Preston again. When he says in his joyful way "what is the sound of love?" because they share a love for words and think that words have a definite sound about them, we read that the town has gone silent, she looks in his eyes and everything turns silent, the birds stop singing and everything. It ends with her saying : Listen. It's beautiful isn't it? I mean, it could seem a mushy thing for a man to write or a female character to say, but not if you remember that Tiffany is only 17 now and this is her first real romance. For a 17 year old girl with her first boyfriend it's just what it should be: the world vanishing when she looks in his eyes, no sound at all. That's what Listen means, isn't it? That there is nothing else in the world but the two of them :-)