Folks, we need to talk about how I think I’m falling in love with Discworld. Equal Rites is only my second book in the series, but it made my heart happy while I was reading it, and considering I read it while preparing to go back to work after a two week vacation, that was a tall order.
In my review of Wyrd Sisters I mentioned that I wasn’t sure whether not picking this, the starter book for the Witches books, was going to be a problem. Having read it now, I think I was better off having read Wyrd Sisters first, since it gave me a bit of who Granny Weatherwax is, and this story gave me a more in depth experience with her, and her student Esk.
So what ‘s the story? It’s about a wizard on the brink of death who comes to the small town of Bad Ass to pass along his staff and power to the eighth son of an eighth son. The problem is, the son is a daughter, and no one has any idea what to make of that. Eskarina, possessed of significant innate magical power and the old wizard’s staff, ends up in the care of our lovely Granny Weatherwax, the witch of these environs. Granny, being Granny, distrusts wizard magic and decides to try to raise Esk as a witch. In Granny’s book, that means learning things, not just having magic, so Esk gets a thorough introduction to herbs and headology before she gets any training in magic. But Esk’s innate magic isn’t going to settle for that, and neither is her staff, so finally they set out for Ankh-Morpork and the Unseen University to try to enroll the first female wizard.
But that isn’t really what the story is about. Because this is Pratchett what we really have is spot-on satire of gender roles and institutionalized idiocy, all set in a venue we’re familiar with – school. His satire works because he has love, and not scorn, for his subject — to wit, human nature and all its foolishness and foibles. In Equal Rites no one can imagine a female wizard, or a male witch for that matter, because everyone’s ways of doing things are so different. Some of my favorite scenes are when view of the world collides with the ways of the Unseen University, culminating in a great twist on the magical battle from The Sword in the Stone.
While this is in many ways a stock fantasy (or any genre, really) coming of age story, it also has the Pratchett deliciousness of word play and humor. Pratchett has a talent for playing with the English language in subtle little ways so that the simplest sentence (“The conversation wandered away like a couple of puppies.”) had me giggling along as I read.
The only detractions I can really make are that occasionally the story races along and threatens to run away from you (seriously, how much time elapses in Ankh-Morpork, Pratchett?). I also thought the ending was a touch weak and just sort of plopped down there on the page. I literally turned the page expecting more, and alas there was none. I’m sure I’ll be finding my way to Witches Abroad before too long.
If you’re falling in love with the Discworld (as all right-thinking people should, if they aren’t already) by reading the very early ones, I can’t even imagine how great your love will be once you actually get to the really good ones (which in my opinion start with book 6 chronologically, Wyrd Sisters).
While I appreciate what Pratchett is doing, I think the first three books are very rough (for all that they hint at the greatness to come), Mort and Sourcery are perfectly OK, and then you start hitting varying levels of very excellent to pure unnalloyed genius for about 30 books, until you get to the latest ones (anything after I Shall Wear Midnight), where the quality deteriorates more and more with each book after Pratchett’s illness takes its toll.
If you are actually reading them in order, you are in for so much goodness! I have a few friends who just can’t with Pratchett at all, but I still remember the heady days when I was still discovering his books (I read them wildly out of order, depending on what I could find in the library or bookstores when I had spare cash) and kept being blown away by how creative and funny and sharp he is. I also started reading his books a few years before I moved to Scotland to go to Uni, and suspect if I were to re-read those early books, they would be even more brilliant, as I will get all of the jokes on so many more levels than I did back then. His linguistic puns are a marvel.
I have a must read books in order problem, so I’ll probably attempt to tackle them in order by sub category, at least initially, and then backtrack from there. Thankfully I have a friend who owns most of the books, and keeps just handing them to me in large piles in the order she thinks I should probably read them. But all I can say is that I’m excited!
And so you should be. My favourite “series within the series” are the Witches and the Guards of Ankh-Morpork ones, although as Soul Music was my first ever Discworld novel, and I love Hogfather, I also have a soft spot for Susan, Death’s granddaughter.
I’m reading the latest Discworld book right now, and it’s difficult. It’s still fun, but you can really tell the Alzheimer’s is taking its toll.
I do worry about that, off in the ether where I eventually get to a place where I’m caught up enough to notice. Is there a place you wish you would have stopped? A book you wish had been the end of the series/last chapter in the Discworld?
I actually have a long ways to go before I’ve read them all. Like Malin, I’ve just been reading them as I’ve come across them, and I’ve only read around 8 or so.
Oh man, you are in for such a treat. There are an astounding number of truly fantastic books coming your way as you make your way through Discworld. I’m contemplating doing a reread to catch up with the crew at Mark Reads, which will be fun, since it’s been 10+ years since I read the first books in the series.