A Book Review: Equal Rites by Terry Pratchett (Discworld #3)

Equal Rites is the 3^rd installment in Terry Pratchett's Discworld series. While its two predecessors, The Color of Magic, and The LightFantastic, were straight parodies of the Sword and Sorcery genre, Equal Rites marked a beginning for the Discworld books to start exploring topical issues, issues that are relevant to our world.

Synopsis:

Drum Billet, a wizard, was about to kick the bucket. He must pass on his staff of power to the eighth son of the eighth son. Such is the wizardary way in Discworld. In a small town called Bad Ass, Drum finally found a baby who could inherit the staff. He quickly handed the staff to the baby's parents just before Death (literally) tapped on his shoulder. Whew, transaction complete!

Or is it?

Well, there is just is a small problem; in his haste, Drum Billet forgot to check the newborn's sex. Years later, a little girl would come knocking at Granny Weatherwax's door and ask, "can I be a wizard?"

My thoughts on this book:

Equal Rites is the 3^rd installment in Discworld, but I think this is the point where the series really came to life. The first two books in Discworld, The Color of Magic and The Light Fantastic, were straight parodies of the fantasy troupes. Those two books were funny and charming in their own ways, but they were also disjointed and lacking directions. But with Equal Rite, Sir Terry sent a powerful message to the world, that fantasy can be much, much more. This book has a direction, at its core is the theme about equality. The story of a little girl tugging at a wizard's robe and asking why women can't be wizards, I think this is something that can resonate with everybody.

The writings in Equal Rites saw improvements over the previous books. In particular, the narratives are more coherent than the first two books in Discworld. There are still a few places where the narratives did not clarify how it moved from point A to point B, but on the whole, Equal Rites doesn't have the randomness that was felt in the previous books. The dialogues were witty, and the banters added charisma to the book. Meanwhle, the characters in this book are funny and likable. I especially like Granny Weatherwax, who was harsh but wise. She is a very impressive character.

A slight let down in this book, for me, is its finale. Throughout the book, it was building up to a big show down. But the ending didn't really live up to the expectations and it felt like an anti-climax. As a result, while Equal Rites is a wonderous book with great characters and a powerful theme, but I wouldn't say it is in the same league as Small Gods, The City Watch series, and Going Postal. This does mean, however, if by this point you are a new comer to the Disc, then you have plenty to look forward to in the future books.