Another good pratchett, but kinda drifts off at the end ... ( )

Equal Rites - Pratchett
Audio performance by Indira Varma
3 stars

A new 2022 recording of an early (1987) Discworld book. It’s a very good production of a story that features the beloved Granny Weatherwax and the young, female Esk who appears to have inherited a wizard’s magic.
I’ve been reading and listening to the Discworld series somewhat backwards. I have more fun with the later books, but this one had its moments as Esk and Granny stormed the ramparts of the Unseen University. Pratchett begins to develop the feminist themes of later books, especially the Tiffany Aching books that he wrote towards the end of his life. I’m glad these books are having audio makeovers. The older books deserve it. ( )

I also read this one on holiday.. so sorry this is another 'Alice tries to review from a three week old memory of a book' review. So, this is the third published book in Discworld and the start of a different story. No more Rincewind and Twoflower, this time we focus more on witches and wizards. So far this is my favourite!

The eights son or an eight son is born and as tradition dictates a dying wizard passes on his staff and magic. Only they discover that the eight son is in fact a daughter, but it's too late to do anything about it. Therefore Esk becomes the worlds first female wizard. The town witch, Granny Weatherwax, doesn't quite now what to do with her but eventually comes to terms with the fact that Esk has wizard's magic and not witches. The only place to learn proper wizards magic is at the Unseen University so they begin a journey to try to persuade them to let in the first ever girl.

I found this a much more fun read than the previous two, and I loved Granny Weatherwax! I loved her attitude, out dated opinions, her stubborn assertion that she always right and always knows everything even thought that isn't always the case, and her slight hypocrisy. Again there were times that I had no clue what was going on and had to carefully reread passages but I think I'm starting to get used to that now! I really enjoyed reading more about the inner workings of the Unseen University, and more of the Head Librarian! ("Ook!"). The typical humour is still to be found, I laughed to myself several times out loud and there where a lot of very quotable lines that I should really start highlighting on my Kindle!

I'm all for equal rights and I love that Pratchett decided to try to tackle some of that in this book, but I can't help wishing that Esk had been older than eight years! She's just too young to really be able to understand what is going on around her, and while it is perhaps her ignorance or naivety that go her as far as she got (and made her able to put up with some of Granny's behaviours I suppose!), but I think more could have been done with an older character. She also acts much older than her eight years at times and seems able to understand things beyond her years.

I'm thinking that I might continue reading the Witches storyline of Discworld rather than keep going in publication order because I'm finding that aspect of the world the most interesting so far. Of course I've got a big pile of other books I want to read first so it might be a while before I dip in again! ( )

So fun, can’t wait to keep exploring this world. ( )

It's been almost two decades since I last read this, I think it was my first Pratchett book ever and I don't think I appreciated it as much as I do now. I'm so glad I did a re-read, and the audio is awesome! ( )