Revisiting the Disc – A Review of “Equal Rites” by Terry Pratchett

Equal Rites is the third book in Terry Pratchett’s incredibly long running Discworld series and unlike the other Discworld books that I have recently re-read (Going Postal, The Colour of Magic, Mort and Guards, Guards! – reviewed here) it’s not one of the books I had many memories about. And I think I can see why, because in many ways Equal Rites is an awkward transition novel from the High Fantasy parody of the original first two novels into the more mainstream comic low fantasy novels (with a strong moral weight) that became the standard Discworld formula.

So what is the story of Equal Rites? In short, just before his death a wizard hands his staff to his heir – an eighth son of an eighth son –  only to find out that the baby he gave the staff to was actually a girl, which is impossible as everyone knows women can’t be wizards. The girl (Esk) then grows up, shows she has magical powers and is taken by Granny Weatherwax, the local witch, for training. However Esk’s magic proves to be wizard magic - a different beast from witch magic - and so her and Granny end up on a journey to Ankh-Morpork to enroll Esk in the Unseen University i.e. wizard school. On the way they have a number of adventures, and despite initially being barred from joining the school, Esk is eventually allowed in after she stops quantum horror invading the world.

This is a book I’m conflicted about. Some of it is really funny – the wizards duel in particular which is straight out of Disney’s Sword in the Stone – Granny Weatherwax is fun in all her scenes and some of the world building is very clever such as the idea of witches magic being 0.1% magic and 99.9%  common sense (which doesn’t seem powerful until you remember that common sense isn’t actually that common). On the other hand, I did find that this was not as sharp a novel as the latter Discworld books, much of the story is quite episodic and I think the travelling adventures are far less interesting then the early scenes in the Ramtops or when they are at Unseen University. Also, if I’m honest I did find the attempt at quantum magic during the book’s finale to be a bit naff. (Terry Pratchett regularly tried to add elements of science fantasy to his very early Discworld novel and like the dimension hopping in The Colour of Magic I felt that the quantum magic gimmick was very out of place)

Ultimately Equal Rites is still a very fun read and if you like Terry Pratchett then you absolutely should do so. But if you’ve never read him, I don’t think this is a strong enough novel to recommend wholeheartedly. Instead you’d be better off by picking up book four in the series Mort as if Equal Rites is Pratchett learning how to write the modern Discworld novel, Mort is where he perfected the model.

 Today's Soundtrack - "A Wizard's Staff Has a Knob at the End" by Dave Greenslade