Second paragraph of third section:
The storm was really giving it everything it had. This was its big chance. It had spent years hanging around the provinces, putting in some useful work as a squall, building up experience, making contacts, occasionally leaping out on unsuspecting shepherds or blasting quite small oak trees. Now an opening in the weather had given it an opportunity to strut its hour, and it was building up its role in the hope of being spotted by one of the big climates.
Years since I had read this, and it was a happy return. This is the book that brought back Granny Weatherwax from Equal Rites, establishing the Witches as a new centre of activity within the Dicsworld mythology. I had forgotten how theatrical it is – the plot borrows heavily and consciously from Macbeth and Hamlet, and of course has a troop of travelling actors as an integral part of the plot. But Pratchett himself was very consciously theatrical in his public presentations, from what I remember. He clearly knew a fair bit about stagecraft. Some bits of the story are a little silly (time-slipping an entire kingdom by sixteen years?) but this has aged better than most of that year’s Hugo shortlist. You can get it here.
This was the top Terry Pratchett novel that I had not yet written up here. Next is my favourite of his books, Small Gods.
The Colour of Magic | The Light Fantastic | Equal Rites | Mort | Sourcery | Wyrd Sisters | Pyramids | Guards! Guards! | Eric | Moving Pictures | Reaper Man | Witches Abroad | Small Gods | Lords and Ladies | Men at Arms | Soul Music | Interesting Times | Maskerade | Feet of Clay | Hogfather | Jingo | The Last Continent | Carpe Jugulum | The Fifth Elephant | The Truth | Thief of Time | The Last Hero | The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents | Night Watch | The Wee Free Men | Monstrous Regiment | A Hat Full of Sky | Going Postal | Thud! | Wintersmith | Making Money | Unseen Academicals | I Shall Wear Midnight | Snuff | Raising Steam | The Shepherd’s Crown