5/5 Stars!
First of all, for a Children's book, you cannot tell. The author does not dumb down anything for kids to understand. After reading this and some of his other books that are meant for "taller people" as he puts it, I can truly say that if you liked any of Terry Pratchett's other Discworld books, you will love this ten times more. His humor is much more blatant and enriched in his books geared towards younger people. Don't get me wrong, though, the only thing remotely "Children's" about this book was the fact that our heroine is only nine years old. There is some seriously dark themes going on in this book but also a beautiful whimsy that I adored.
Tiffany Aching is my hero. At only nine years old she is definitely more mature than I will ever be. She kicks butt with a frying pan and takes no nonsense from anybody, not even adults or mythological and terrifying creatures. She is forced to comes to terms with finding out she is a witch, discovering a whole new world of the Nac Mac Feegles and then forced to save her sticky, little brother Wentworth from the evil Queen. She goes to great lengths to save him, even though she doesn't particularly like him. All he ever screams is that he 'WANNA WANTS A SWEETIE!!'
As amazing as Tiffany is, though, she is not even the best part of this story. The Nac Mac Feegle a.k.a. the Wee Free Men are! They are little blue, tattoo-covered fairies if fairies loved to get into bar fights. Their favorite hobbies include stealing, cursing, drinking and fighting. Yes, this is a Children's book. Beautiful, isn't it? Anyway, they have these Scottish accents that are utterly hilarious. Their lines of dialogue are the most wonderfully written lines of dialogue that I have ever read. I could listen to them talk all day and never get tired of it.
The head Feegle is Rob Anybody. Yes, that is his name, not an instruction. All of them have amazing names like that. Some of the Feegles that were mentioned include Daft Wullie, who is, um, a little daft, Big Yan and the always adorable No'-As-Big-As-Medium-Jock-But-Bigger-Than-Wee-Jock-Jock. Try saying that five times fast.
If you are a fan of the Discworld series, you will be delighted to know that all of Tiffany's adventures are a part of that world. You know, the one on the back of four elephants standing on the back of a giant turtle.
If I ever have kids, I do not care how they turn out, so long as I can make them read this book. It is that good.