Equal Rites: Of Witches and Wizards

I’ll admit, I was a little worried about this one. Would Discworld be as enjoyable without Rincewind and Twoflower at the helm? Or would this bizarre world prove worth exploring beyond its most incompetent wizard and its first tourist?

For the most part, it was the latter. Though it was still a little disappointing.

When a wizard dies, he passes his staff and his magic to another. Unfortunately, one wizard passed his on rather carelessly, resulting in the Discworld’s first female wizard: Esk! But the world finds the idea of a female wizard a laughable concept hardly worth taking seriously. Will Esk be able to prove them wrong?

My feelings on this story are mixed. It’s a good narrative, but I didn’t find it nearly as engaging or entertaining as the prior Discworld stories. It’s still got wit and charm, but only a few of the jokes landed for me this time around.

As for the characters, they’re a mixed bag. Some of them, like Granny Witherwax, are really fun and enjoyable! Others, like… just about everyone else are fairly flat and uninteresting. The Staff makes for a fairly boring replacement for the Luggage; they both fulfill the same role in the story, more or less, only the Luggage was far more entertaining.

In regards to Esk, I don’t really like her all that much as a protagonist. She comes across as monotone and overpowered. When she struggles, I never really felt like there was any real danger of failure.

In all ways except one: her gender. See, as the title might allude, this book is all about sexism. The whole story is about Esk trying to tear down gender biases. It goes to great lengths to show just how petulant, childish, and stupid such beliefs really are in practice. It executes the theme really well, and it makes for some of the more engaging scenes in the book.

The ending is pretty good, too. A bit fast in its pacing, but it wraps the narrative up in a neat little bow. Surprisingly enough, it didn’t seem all that open-ended. It feels very much like Esk’s story is over and we won’t be seeing her again.

Unless she does. I dunno, there are tons of these books, she very well might.

Equal Rites is a solid story as its own thing. However, as a Discworld book, it’s my least favorite that I’ve covered so far. I’d still read it again if I were in the mood, but I won’t be as excited to revisit it as I would be for Colour of Magic or Light Fantastic. Still, it’s good.

If I remember right, the next one is about Death. Which I am one hundred percent down for. Discworld’s Death is my favorite.

Take that out of context.