This was the latest book in the Tiffany Aching, Young readers discworld series. Although i don't class as a young reader i do really enjoy all the discowrld series books and this one was no exception.

This is the darkest of the Tiffany Aching books so far and although many Prachett books involve death the character and the act of no longer being alive this book deals with loss, pain and hurt as well. The book also deals withsocial injustice, prejudice, dysfunctional families and domestic violence & abuse.  quite early on in the story and brings you into the darker themes quite quickly. There are afew surprises too along the way which i don't want to spoil for anyone and also a few insights into other Discworld well known characters.

While this is the fourth book in the series it is possible to understand what has gone before by the backstory woven through the book. Although darker than many of the other discworld books and certainly more so than the previous Tiffany Aching series the darker elements are not so glaringly open to put off a younger reader.

My only dissapointment was the lack of proper build up of the stories main villain, The Cunning man and the brevity of the main battle scene. Both of these could have been easily expanded a fair bit and still not spoiled the flow of the narrative. All in all i would recommend this to other readers whether fans of Pratchett or not.

I am now reading Sharpe's Tiger by Bernard Cornwell. A review of this will be posted once i have finished it.