Fantasy Books

GRANNY Weatherwax's back - and this witch is still bad news. Well, that's what the villains think, anyway.

This time, the heavies are the fairies. No, the other ones, the ones humankind has endowed with wings - except that in Lords and Ladies Terry Pratchett (Corgi, $95) has left out the wings, but added some really nasty traits: these elves may still be beautiful but they are somewhat lacking in the personal hygiene department, and their fashion sense leans heavily on metal. And tattoos.

This time they want more than your teeth - and they are not going to leave money under the pillow, either. The elves, who are confined in another dimension, have decided they want the whole human being and are plotting to break out and conquer the Discworld.

It's up to Granny Weatherwax, fellow witches Nanny Ogg and Magrat Garlick, wizards, dwarfs, trolls, and an orangutan to stop the fairies. Which, courtesy of Pratchett, they do with tongue-in-cheek humour.

Pratchett's humour is uncomplicated, verging on the hearty; he loves letting the air out of serious literature ( Wyrd Sisters, which introduced the three witches, drew heavily on Macbeth). If you look for lyricism in your literature, go straight to J. R. R. Tolkien; if you like examinations of real life in a fantasy setting, read Stephen Donaldson (The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, A Dark and Hungry God Rises).

But if you just want a few laughs, Pratchett is like an ice-cold drink on a hot day - and there is a summer's worth of such days ahead of us.

TERRY Brooks' The Talismans of Shannara (Legend, $72) ties together the threads of the first three books of The Heritage of Shannara series.