“The Shepherd’s Crown” by Sir Terry Pratchett is the most eagerly-awaited book I never wanted to read.
Pratchett died last March of the “Embuggerance,” his term for the early onset Alzheimer’s he had been battling since 2007. After 42 novels and multiple short stories and companion books, “The Shepherd’s Crown,” on sale in the U.S. Tuesday, is the last new book from the magical land of Discworld and its massive cast of characters that we shall ever see.
My review below contains spoilers about events that happen in the very beginning of the book that some readers still may prefer not to know ahead of time, so here’s a short, spoiler-free version: It will never be considered his greatest work, but Pratchett ended his run with a book that not only revisits many old friends and ends on a wonderfully satisfying note, but manages to express the themes of empathy, rationality, responsibility and death that Pratchett hit upon again and again in the last 32 years.
If you’re invested enough to want to avoid spoilers, you’re going to buy the book anyway, of course. But from here on out I’ll be discussing plot points, so beware.
Very nearly the first thing this dying author did in his last book was to show us how death should be handled.
Witches know when their death is coming, that’s part of the deal, so Granny Weatherwax had plenty of time to get her things in order before Death came like an old business partner to take her hand. By the time young witch Tiffany Aching found her Granny was gone and Tiffany found she was suddenly the chosen successor to the most powerful witch Discworld had seen in years. Not everybody is happy about that.
Some of the other witches think, loudly, that it should be someone else. The people in Granny’s territory want attention. The people in Tiffany’s old steading are feeling left out, despite Tiffany’s exhausting, nearly-constant shuttling from place to place. And, worst of all, the race of malevolent elves held back from this world by a powerful force have discovered that the force isn’t in the way anymore…
Pratchett’s Tiffany Aching books, meant for young readers, have never possessed the rampaging wit and surgical satire of his adult Discworld books, aiming rather at gentle humor and life lessons (and making fun of life lessons). And “The Shepherd’s Crown,” written toward the end of his illness and published without the tweaking he surely would have given it — as explained in the afterword by his assistant, Rob — reads in many ways like a good first draft. There are several areas that deserve more development, such as Geoffrey the boy who wants to be a witch, just what’s up with Granny’s cat You, and a final battle that was perhaps more anticlimactic than it would have been.
But he hits every emotional beat perfectly and all the things Pratchett feels most strongly about, all the themes he’s returned to again and again throughout his writing come through bright and clear.
Do what’s in front of you. Pay attention to what’s actually happening. Death is nothing to fear. Your dreams should never be limited by gender or age. Life live to the fullest. Caring for other people is what builds a society.and makes us human.
Ultimately, “The Shepherd’s Crown” is a satisfying end to the Discworld universe, and a last chance to say goodbye.
“The Shepherd’s Crown,” by Sir Terry Pratchett. HarperCollins, 288 pages. Hardcover: $10.65, E-book: $11.99, Audiobook: $14.55