Book info

• Title Equal Rites
• Author Terry Pratchett
• Year 1987
• Genre Fantasy

Everybody knows there's no such thing as a female wizard. So when the wizard Drum Billet accidentally passes on his staff of power to an eighth daughter of an eighth son, a girl called Eskarina (Esk, for short), the misogynistic world of wizardry wants nothing to do with her. Thankfully Granny Weatherwax, the Discworld's most famous witch, has plenty of experience ignoring the status quo. With Granny's help, Esk sneaks her way into the magical Unseen University and befriends apprentice wizard Simon. But power is unpredictable, and these bright young students soon find themselves in a whole new dimension of trouble. Let the battle of the sexes begin...

Thoughts

After a fabulous discussion on whether to continue reading the Terry Pratchett books or not, I decided to give the third book in the series a go, and then see how I felt after that. I still wasn’t completely sold on the concept but I must admit I enjoyed it a lot more than the previous one. The characters seemed a lot better explained and it was easy to understand their actions - although I did think some of it was hard to believe of a child under ten years old.

As the title indicates, the story is about the fight for women to have equal rights, or at least for women to become wizards anyway. In his traditional style, Pratchett shows great insights into the human condition, usually by an outsider entering into a new and unexpected world. Granny and Esk appearing at the university opens their eyes to the city, and the wizards eyes to the concept of, well, women.

I’m not really into “issues” and all that, so I ignored most of the bits that would get a rise out of people, and still managed to enjoy the read. Enough to see me download the fourth book, anyways.

Rating: 3 / 5