Lords and Ladies (1992)
Lords and Ladies is a 1992 fiction book written by Terry Pratchett.
Midsummer in the tiny kingdom of Lancre, and the barriers between worlds are wearing thin. The elves want back in. Not the sweet winged sort, but the old kind: beautiful, cruel, and delighted by fear. Standing against them are three witches, chiefly Granny Weatherwax, who knows exactly what the Lords and Ladies are and refuses to be charmed for a second. Pratchett borrows the frame of A Midsummer Night's Dream and fills it with morris dancers, young lovers, and real teeth. Comic on the surface, genuinely unsettling underneath, it is one of his sharpest looks at glamour and the price of it.
Quick answers
What is Lords and Ladies about?
Midsummer in the tiny kingdom of Lancre, and the barriers between worlds are wearing thin. The elves want back in. Not the sweet winged sort, but the old kind: beautiful, cruel, and delighted by fear. Standing against them are three witches, chiefly Granny Weatherwax, who knows exactly what the Lords and Ladies are and refuses to be charmed for a second. Pratchett borrows the frame of A Midsummer Night's Dream and fills it with morris dancers, young lovers, and real teeth. Comic on the surface, genuinely unsettling underneath, it is one of his sharpest looks at glamour and the price of it.
When was Lords and Ladies published?
Lords and Ladies was published in 1992.
Who made Lords and Ladies?
Lords and Ladies was written by Terry Pratchett.
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A few thoughts on Lords and Ladies
Terry Pratchett's elves are predators wearing beauty, which makes The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt a natural next step; its Wild Hunt treats the fae as a cold hunting aristocracy rather than fairy-tale friends. Pan's Labyrinth offers the same lovely, dangerous folklore, where a child bargains with things that should never be trusted. Both share this book's conviction that old magic has teeth.
Beautiful, cruel fae who don't play by human rules
The elves in Lords and Ladies are gorgeous and utterly without mercy, delighted by fear rather than moved by it, and Granny Weatherwax's whole strategy is refusing to be charmed by any of it. These share that same vision of otherworldly beauty as a trap: gorgeous courts, tempting bargains, and old powers that only look kind until you owe them something.