Executive Summary: Not as funny or as quotable as The Light Fantastic, but very enjoyable for other reasons. Terry worked for many years as a journalist and press officer, writing in his spare time and publishing a number of novels, including his first Discworld novel, The Color of Magic, in 1983. In 1987, he turned to writing full time. Granny had counted the temples with a thoughtful look in her eyes; gods were always demanding that their followers acted other than according to their true natures, and the human fallout this caused made plenty of work for witches." pg 76, ebook

One element that never wavers in this story is the character development, the big strength of this book. The characters are funny, charming, likeable, inquisitive, and flawed; they are not just fantasy parodies, they are real people. Some of the best moments in this story are when the characters experience the realisation of their flaws for the first time and are forced to deal with them, and they always do, usually in spectacular fashion. Characters interaction is another big strength, the dialogue is sharp and witty, the banter really flows, and you get the sense that you are watching real people having real interactions with one another. Character building is a hallmark of Pratchetts writing, and its great to see just how strong it was so early in his writing career. Pratchett was a feminist and there is no better way than the contrast between the first novels around the incompetent, and to a certain extent evil, Rincewind, and the selfless and clever witches to show and demonstrate mens´ hairy deficits and how he is rolling. Whenever the power hungry, manipulative, conservative, lazy, aggressive,… males, wizards, emperors, soldiers, merchants,... do something, chaos, destruction, and madness are a logical result while on the other hand, anything blessed with witches help, runs smoothly and peaceful. The third book begins the "real" development of the whole Discworld mythos, and rather than focusing on setting, it goes whole-hog (or Witch) into character and a rather deep social issue.Qué ganas tenía de releer esta saga. Es una de mis favoritas de Pratchett (por el momento). Esta novela la encontré de casualidad en una tienda de segunda mano en Oviedo. En ese momento estaba leyendo la saga de la muerte. Otra saga que también recomiendo bastante y también pendiente de releer ( tengo más lista pendiente de relecturas que de nuevas lecturas pero en fin). The wizard Drum Billet knows that he will soon die and travels to a place where an eighth son of an eighth son is about to be born. This signifies that the child is destined to become a wizard (on the Discworld, the number eight has many of the magical properties that are ascribed to seven in the real world), Billet wants to pass his wizard's staff on to his successor. As a result, this book is merely great rather than utterly brilliant. Even rough-hewn early Pratchett is better than 75% of all books out there. Up in the Ramptops, the Eighth Son of an Eighth Son is about to be born, and a Wizard is ready to hand over his staff. But it seems they've all forgotten that babies can be girls as well... They say a little knowledge is a dangerous thing, but it is not one half so bad as a lot of ignorance.’

Granny doesn't have her friend Nanny Ogg as conversational foil and counterpoint in this book, and it's surprising how much that limits her character. What's more, while you can see elements of the character Granny eventually becomes, there's a surprising streak of country bumpkin in here here. In later books she loses most of that (which is for the best) and while she may not be worldly, she is still self-posessed and wise.

This book is our first encounter with Granny Weatherwax, whom I knew from the Tiffany Aching books (my intro to Discworld). I was surprised to realize that this was only the third installment in the series as a whole (having previously been defeated by book 1, which really didn't grab me). By the end of the series, Granny has progressed, but she started out strong! There are over 40 books in the Discworld series, of which four are written for children. The first of these, The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents, won the Carnegie Medal. The Unseen University, wizarding school that is not actually located on the Discworld but has a few access points there, one of which is in Ankh Morpork.

urn:oclc:317688954 Scandate 20110919105620 Scanner scribe14.shenzhen.archive.org Scanningcenter shenzhen Source I love the wit in Sir Terry Pratchett’s writing. You never know what to expect in his descriptions. They can be interesting like this: Equal Rites is a story that I think will resonate with everybody, whether or not you are a fan of Discworld, whether or not you are a fan of the fantasy genre. The story of a young girl asking why women can't be wizards explores some themes that I think transcend genres, and while Pratchett didn't take full advantage of this opportunity to create a masterpiece, he did deliver a strong message to the rest of the world that fantasy is a relevant genre that can be used explore topical issues in ways that other genres cannot. At the Plus, Granny Weatherwax is a great character. I've read that she changes quite a bit in the Wyrd Sisters and beyond, but I'm glad I can see how she started out before I jump into that.

You could fill a whole book with witty musings from Granny W, and there were plenty in this book, but I shall just limit myself to "be shure to wear loose clowthing also that no vysitors exspected", oh and "Nevertheless I think that on the whole I would prefer you to move your hands ". And while it wasn't quite as funny to me as The Light Fantastic, there were more than a few laugh out loud moments and quotes that I highlighted for later. Pratchett's writing is a lot better in this book than the first two, a clear demonstration of how a writers craft matures the more they write. His writing style this early in the series is still very hit and miss with some amazing sections of dialogue offset by some average world building, in particular the scenes where he tries to explain the how magic of Discworld works. Tedious. The pacing in this story is pretty good for the most part, with a smooth start and a fast finish broken up by some slow staccato sections in the middle. These sections seem to correspond with the magic description sections which makes sense to me as these sections are quite confusing and often require a couple of re-reads to understand the point Pratchett is trying to make. On the whole the writing is a vast improvement on the first two books and while there may be a few issues with the writing it us great to have an A to B narrative that had been previously missing.

Granny Weatherwax's character was quite heartwarming. She reminded me of a lot of middle-aged women who originally believed in the stereotypes and expectations of society but went on to change their minds as they encountered spirited youngsters. She went from “this is how it has always been, so we’re going to follow tradition” to “why does it have to be this way?” 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. Okay. Almost every word in the English language has a whole slew of historic associations. People on the Disc can't possibly speak 'English' but I have to write in English. Some carefully-positioned 'translations' like 'It's all Klatchian to me' can work, but if I went the whole hog and 'discworlded' every name and term, then the books would be even more impenetrable and would probably only be read by people who like learning Klingon. I do my best -- French fries can't exist on Discworld, for example -- but I think 'gypsies' is allowable." At the beginning of the book, she hid the fact that Esk has the powers of a wizard and trained her to be a witch because in her opinion that is the natural thing for a girl. By the end of the book, she was arguing with a wizard for Esk’s sake and questioned where it was written that women cannot be wizards. In 2008, Harper Children's published Terry's standalone non-Discworld YA novel, Nation. Terry published Snuff in October 2011.

Open Library

But a female wizard is something completely unheard of on the Discworld. Esk is unsuccessful in her first, direct, attempt to gain entry to the University, but Granny Weatherwax finds another way in; as a servant. While there, Esk witnesses the progress of an apprentice wizard named Simon, whom she had met earlier, on her way to Ankh-Morpork. Simon is a natural talent who invents a whole new way of looking at the universe that reduces it to component numbers. His magic, however, is so powerful that it causes a hole to be opened into the Dungeon Dimensions. Add to that the fact that the narrator of this audiobook, Celia Imrie, is a genius in giving each character here an individual voice, but being most perfect for Granny herself. I highly recommend this book. Although this is the third book in the series, you can read it without reading the first two since they feature different characters. The first mention of this particular running gag in the Discworld canon (to be featured most prominently in Guards! Guards!). This is not the earliest appearance in Terry's overall work, though: he also uses it on p. 46 of The Dark Side of the Sun. Douglas Adams uses a variation on this idea with his improbability drive in The Hitch hiker's Guide to the Galaxy. I liked how the issue of gender roles is portrayed in this book. Starting from the title which is a play on “Equal Rights”, to the characters to society's expectations, Sir Terry Pratchett has captured the real-world issues of gender discrimination in his magical world of Discworld.