I'm even less interested and in fact am downright hostile towards it's more contemporary and, some would say ridiculous alternative in musical theatre, and Pratchett smartly entwines the two by focusing on creating a pastiche of Gaston Leroux's famous early twentieth-century French novel The Phantom of the Opera. Though I can often pretend to be interested in aspects of high art, classics, and popular culture in order to make myself seem more intelligent than I really am, I would never pretend to have any interest in opera. Let's wind down this ever-growing plot summary before it gets going to establish one important fact in relation to my overall enjoyment of this book my knowledge of opera, its traditions, favourites, and even cliches is incredibly limited. The only trouble is she's really not that interested, and she's in Ankh-Morpork to seek fame and fortune at the opera house. This, along with a side-mission to address the (perhaps meta) issue of an unscrupulous book publisher taking advantage of Nanny Ogg's previously-unknown talent for writing somewhat saucy recipes, leads Nanny and Granny to Ankh-Morpork, where they go to persuade the reluctant Agnes Nitt, potential witch and suitable candidate, to fulfill the missing role in the time-old tradition of maiden, mother and. Nanny Ogg and Granny Weatherwax note quite rightly that a coven of witches needs three members to balance itself correctly, especially as Granny (by now easily established by Pratchett as clearly the wisest, most powerful, and most potentially dangerous of all magic users on the Disc) shows signs of cracking a little within this new alignment. The set-up for Maskerade follows on from the last witches book Lords and Ladies, where Magrat was married to the court-jester-cum-King Verence II and thus became Queen of Lancre and has not the time to app ear in this book. The next, and biggest effort of Maskerade was to introduce a fresh lead character a new, different witch designed with the purpose of allowing the classic trio to step out of the singular spotlight formerly glaring down upon them while at the same time somewhat presenting them as the well-established authority to be somewhat resented, at least from one point of view.
Yes, Granny had visited with the girl wizard Esk in Equal Rites, but her character there was undeniably under-developed and raw compared to the definitive witch she became, and the appeal of all three of Granny's coven loudly trampling in to Ankh-Morpork was undeniable for the ever-growing legion of Pratchett fans especially when they absolutely needed to take a break from the rather limited caricature of old regional Britain that comprised their home.
Firstly, for the first time as a group, the witches were headed to Ankh-Morpork, Pratchett's favourite, most popular and most populated Discworld stomping ground. This was clearly something Pratchett was aware of, as Maskerade brought in some notable changes from the previous four witches books. After confidently tackling mad wannabe monarchs, an evil fairy godmother, the cold brutality of elves, and steering the course of the crown, Granny Weatherwax, Nanny Ogg and Magrat Garlick were somewhat at risk of running out of steam. The biggest reason for this feeling is quite probably just because we're only two books away from the point where I first started, all those years ago, but there's another reason if you count Equal Rites then this is the fifth book starring the ever-popular witches of Lancre one of the core, strongest franchise-within-a-franchise of this fantastic universe. This is, of course, ridiculous, as, since Raising Steam became the fortieth Discworld book late last year (and now the only one I am yet to read), meaning my Herculean attempts to chronologically review them haven't yet reached the half-way mark. Eighteen books in to this mammoth fantasy series, I get the strange, nostalgic, but now incorrect sensation of moving forward into the later stages of Terry Pratchett's career.
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