Another entry in to the Tiffany Aching/Witches subseries of Discworld.
Theres some heavier themes here than the other Tiffany books. The every-day of witchcraft needs a strong stomach for witnessing the ugliest parts of humanity, and Tiffany has been a witch for a few years now and seen enough to test her. Yet she tries her best to do her job for each person, whether naive well-wisher or barely concealed monstrosity.
The early theme in the book is one of justice in an unjust world. She ministers to monsters because it's better than the general population being carried away in a fervour for more violent forms of justice. 'Rough music' is that momentum of anger brewed from an injustice, that begins as a murmur of discontent, rises and spreads quickly and ends in cacophonous violence, and often blood. There's an example of this type of infuriating injustice just occured in Tiffany's domain, and she does her best to ensure it doesn't reach it's potential.
But that's just the pre-amble for a book which deals more extensively with the notion of hate, or at least the type of hate that has a similar form as this rough music. Hate as the poison that spreads through rumour, jealousy and some part of self-loathing. This type of hate is personified here as 'The Cunning Man', a long dead professional hater of witches, who lingers unseen behind the real world, waiting for some careless bad intention to pounce in to the minds of all those with a disposition towards petty bigotry. Of course there is humour, a good helping of old Discworld names, adventure and even a little romance, but it's the humanist insight that has always been the reason I loved the witches series in particular, and Pratchett delivers here.
Finished reading - 15/07/26