Equal Rites Review

The third book of the Discworld series takes the focus off Rincewind and to a new character, a new location too.

In Equal Rites, a wizard, near to death passes on his staff to an 8th son of an 8th son - which on Discworld, due to the magical power of 8 means he is destined to become a wizard.

Unfortunately in this case, the Wizard (Drum Billet) failed to check the sex of the newborn before passing on the staff. Eskarina recieves the staff, and despite the best efforts of mentor Esmerelda Weatherwax or Granny Weatherwax as she likes to be called - she begins to have trouble controlling her powers.

Eskarina journeys with Granny Weatherwax to Unseen University to learn the ways of Wizarding, but the Wizards have no concept of the idea of a female Wizard and instead, Eskarina is forced to enter the University as a servant.

She meets a young Wizard called Simon, and together they end up battling 'things' from the Dungeon Dimensions and also inventing a new conceptual form of magic for battling Dungeon Dimension creatures - a sort of wierd 'un-magic'.

In some respects this is a more serious book than the first two. More time is spent on character development and the structure is more cohesive, rather than string of loosely connected radically different scenes put together.

The ending isn't Pratchett's strongest, but the plight of Eskarina, trying to make her way into a career that is very male dominated is well written and enjoyable to read. It probably refelcts the time of writing a little, the late eighties.

It also introduces one of the Discworlds most interesting Characters - Granny Esmerelda Weatherwax, who becomes a character who returns again and again, stronger every time.

Equal Rites works well as a stand-alone story and no previous knowledge of the Discworld is required to enjoy it.