Wintersmith is one of many books written by Terry Pratchett and the third in his trilogy with Tiffany Aching and the Nac Mac Feagles as main characters.
Tiffany Aching is staying with the infamous Miss Treason to continue training to become a witch when she watches the dance that welcomes winter. However, she notices there is a missing person and joins the dance. This leads the Wintersmith, an elemental that controls winter, to grow feelings for Tiffany and craft an eternal winter for her. Will Tiffany be able to stop the winter and save the farm she calls home? Meanwhile, the Nac Mac Feagles train Roland to rescue the true Summer Lady from the Underworld. Will Roland succeed in this heroic quest?
Despite appearing in Wee Free Men and A Hat Full of Sky, this is the first book in the Tiffany Aching trilogy where Roland, the baron’s son, can finally be considered a main character. This is due to Roland being tasked with rescuing the real Summer Lady from the Underworld in order to save his true love.
The main theme of Wintersmith is love. Tiffany is fascinated and flattered by the Wintersmith and the everything he crafts for her but has deeper, more emotional feelings for Roland. Furthermore, the Wintersmith creates an eternal winter for Tiffany with snowflakes and icebergs shaped like the teenager because he loves her, creating the overall threat Tiffany must melt.
Being set in the fictional universe of Discworld, it is impossible to tell if Wintersmith is set in the past, present or future. However, the lack of technology suggests it may have been inspired by our past.
Terry Pratchett has used an extended flashback for Wintersmith: chapter 13 takes place just after chapter 1, while the rest of the book recounts what led to the events of the first chapter. This effectively gets the reader wondering what is going on and who the Wintersmith is.
Are you at least as old as 13-year-old Tiffany Aching? Are you aching for a new fantasy novel about love? Wintersmith could be the next book for you!