“The Wee Free Men” is Pratchett writing for younger readers without ever talking down to them: funny, a little frightening and unexpectedly tender. Tiffany is a sharp, stubborn heroine, and beneath the jokes the book has serious things to say about kindness, standing up to bullies and grief. Readers who have lost someone close may find it hits hard. As the first of the Tiffany books, it is a natural place to start.

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About the book

The Wee Free Men is a 2003 comic fantasy novel by British writer Terry Pratchett, which takes place in his Discworld setting. It is labelled a "Story of Discworld" to indicate its status as children's or young adult fiction, unlike most of the books in the Discworld series. A sequel, A Hat Full of Sky, appeared in 2004 ; a third book called Wintersmith appeared in 2006; and the fourth, I Shall Wear Midnight, was released in September 2010. The final book in the series, The Shepherd's Crown, was released in 2015.

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Reading order · Discworld

Full order & progress →

Where the score comes from

The sources average 8.5 across 557 ratings — not yet many, so the reader vote carries 79% of the weight and the rest pulls toward the Fantasy average of 8.0. That is how 8.4 comes out.