“Elves are wonderful. They provoke wonder.
Elves are marvellous. They cause marvels.
Elves are fantastic. They create fantasies.
Elves are glamorous. They project glamour.
Elves are enchanting. They weave enchantment.
Elves are terrific. They beget terror.
The thing about words is that meanings can twist just like a snake, and if you want to find snakes look for them behind words that have changed their meaning.
No one ever said elves are nice.
Elves are bad.”

In a somewhat rare experience for a Discworld novel, Lords and Ladies follows directly on the heels of [b:Witches Abroad|2442|Witches Abroad (Discworld, #12; Witches #3)|Terry Pratchett|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1403326937s/2442.jpg|929672], the three witches, Granny Weatherwax, Nanny Ogg and Magrat Garlick, return home after their adventures in Genua. Magrat is preparing for her wedding to the king while Granny and Nanny start investigating the mysterious crop circles that have started appearing all over the kingdom of Lancre. While not everyone recognizes the signs, Granny and Nanny Ogg recognize that someone wants very badly to make their return. The elves have been kept out of Discworld for quite some time thanks to the witches but they figure that this might be their moment. It'll be up to the witches and the other attendees of the royal wedding to deal with the fair folk or fall under their thrall once again.

I started reading Discworld as a teen and kind of skipped all over the place so I've been attempting to catch up on the parts that I've missed. For whatever reason, much of that has been the Witches series. And I have to say that I think Lords and Ladies is my favorite of the Witches books so far. Granny varies as a character between likeable and not but it was really interesting to see Pratchett delve a bit into her past and get to see the path that led her to her present state. I'm also always a sucker for "elves as bad guys" stories since I tend to dislike the pretty, sanitized version, and I very much enjoyed Pratchett's take on the fair folk. Overall, pretty high on my list of Discworld stories.