Equal Rites

Discworld, #3

7h 27m

Published by Penguin Audio.

(12 reviews)

'They say that a little knowledge is a dangerous thing, but it is not one half so bad as a lot of ignorance.'

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....

Equal Rites is the first book in the Witches series, but you can listen to the Discworld novels in …

'They say that a little knowledge is a dangerous thing, but it is not one half so bad as a lot of ignorance.'

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....

Equal Rites is the first book in the Witches series, but you can listen to the Discworld novels in any order.

32 editions

Catship reviewed Equal Rites by Terry Pratchett (Discworld, #3)

Good good good

No rating

This is very relatable, and Granny Weatherwax is simply a really good role model

Matthew reviewed Equal Rites by Terry Pratchett (Discworld (3))

Fantastic - Sir Terry really finding his style. Finally we meet Granny Weatherwax!

5 stars

Fantastic. Loved this one.

I think it's the third one in the Discworld series, chronologically, but it's the first one where I feel Sir Terry's true style became apparent.

In this novel, we meet for the first time Granny Weatherwax - probably my favourite Discworld character. Yes, there are many fantastic characters, but Granny Weatherwax always occupies a soft spot for me.

We learn about Borrowing, and how Granny can't Borrow bees; we encounter Headology - how people will believe certain things and words can prod them in the right direction.

Fantastic. Loved this one.

I think it's the third one in the Discworld series, chronologically, but it's the first one where I feel Sir Terry's true style became apparent.

We learn about Borrowing, and how Granny can't Borrow bees; we encounter Headology - how people will believe certain things and words can prod them in the right direction.

The story itself is great - about a young girl, supposed to have been the eighth son of an eighth son - and therefore a wizard - she was in fact born a girl. So she inherits wizard magic in her genes, yet her genes do not match her physical appearance nor the way society treats her as a female. There's a strong element of equal rights between the genders (obviously, given the title), but I found it fascinating how Sir Terry seemed to touch on something deeper - that the bits we are born with between our legs do not define who are or what we are capable of.

I blasted through this in (for me) a very short space of time, every day I looked forward to reading it.

Feels like it aged very well, too.

#GNUTerryPratchett

jonn reviewed Equal Rites: A Discworld Novel by Terry Pratchett

An artifact more badass than a lightsaber

5 stars

The first flight on the rod scene, to me, is more epic than Luke getting the lightsaber.

Amazing rhyme of the two storylines of the main characters, a counter-position between the cozy and contained village life and dramatic path to the city, as well as events that followed, genius driven by dark conspiracy, ah. So much of this is absolutely badass.

Half a point nudged off for Pratchett's favorite idea of putting enough machinae around to pull dei out of those by their ears.