The three witches from Lords and Ladies (that I read last year), try to act as fairy godmother for a young girl in a lovely town far from their usual haunts. Well, Magrat is supposed to be the godmother, since the wand was left to her, but Granny Weatherwax and Nanny Ogg basically commandeered the mission. And they aren't meant to help the young woman attend a ball and meet the prince, but help her avoid it.
That only really takes up the back half of the book. The first half is a retelling of the witches' trip to reach the kingdom of Genua. Which mostly revolves around Granny complaining about these foreigners and their ways, Magrat trying to figure out how to do something with the wand other than turn things into pumpkins, and Nanny trying to communicate with all the foreign phrases she knows, without realizing they're from different languages (or knowing what they mean.) Watching her butcher languages like some sort of oral slaughterhouse is pretty amusing.
Once they reach Genua, it turns into a matter of control. The person opposing them, the one determined that the beautiful young woman attend the ball and marry the prince, treats everyone as pieces in a story she's weaving. Which is really just a bunch of familiar, older stories lumped together, but everyone has to start somewhere with their writing. There is a voodoo lady of sorts, or just a witch by a different name, that's making slow plans to oppose her, but she just wants things so that she has control.
The three witches are the ones actually concerned with the fate of the young lady, but they're struggling because there's some disagreement about how best to help her. Magrat really wants to use the magic to make things better, while Granny considers that dangerous territory, and foolish besides. She is right, that Magrat's not thinking through the implications, but I don't think Granny helps by constantly undercutting Magrat's every suggestion or attempt to assert herself. Nanny Ogg's a little better, or just gentler about it, but right at the end, when Magrat suggests going to visit a faraway temple said to be a seat of enlightenment or something, Nanny snipes at her, 'And what would you learn there you don't already know?'
And that irked me, because Magrat just meekly says "probably nothing" and goes along with them. But it's such a narrow view of things. Maybe Pratchett is going for the "Wherever you go there you are," approach. That a change in scenery isn't going to make you wiser, but I think that's nonsense. Going new places and learning new things can broaden your perspective, which can prompt a change. Maybe it won't work out that way, but you don't know unless you go.
Maybe we aren't supposed to agree with Ogg, but given the book repeatedly emphasizes that Magrat means well but doesn't know what she's talking about, and the other two witches know what's what, I don't think so.
Also, I deeply disagree that to truly beat someone, you have to leave them alive to know they've been beaten. That leaves the door open for them to come back and beat you. If you kill them, they may not know they're beaten, but you know, and they're dead, so that seems good enough for me.
'It was one of the weak spots of Granny Weatherwax's otherwise well-developed character that she'd never bothered to get the hang of steering things. It was alien to her nature. She took the view it was her job to move and the rest of the world to arrange itself so she arrived at her destination. This meant that she occasionally had to climb down trees she'd never climbed up.'
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