Third in the Discworld Series
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Terry Pratchett has become one of the most popular authors alive today and his popularity is richly deserved. But not even with his fertile mind could he ever have envisaged the heights to which his Discworld series would rise. This book first published in 1987 is the third of the Discworld novels and the author is really getting into his stride in the series that broke all records and continues to do so with new books being regularly published.
Pratchett's wit and imagination are second to none. Who else would have or could have thought of the Discworld, a world of mystery and magic sitting on the back of four elephants, who in turn are standing on the back of the great turtle A'tuin the whole lot journeying through an eternal void. Are you with the plot so far?
Wizard's have the uncanny knack of being able to predict their own death, or so thinks Drum Billet. Having seen his own demise rapidly approaching he sets out to pass his power and his staff on to his predicted successor, who as tradition would have it, has to be the eighth son of an eighth son. The only problem with this is that the eighth son just happens to be a daughter and whoever heard of a woman becoming a wizard. But it's too late Drum Billet has gone to wherever dead wizards go and Eskarina has inherited a wizard's staff and is even now under the doubtful tutelage of Granny Weatherwax, who reckons this being a wizard is as easy as falling off a broomstick for a witch of her calibre . . .
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Every Witch Way But Loose
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Terry Pratchett's first novel, "The Carpet People", appeared in 1971. "Equal Rites" is the third novel in Terry Pratchett's hugely popular Discworld series and was first published in 1987. He won the 2001 Carnegie Medal for "The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents" and was awarded the OBE in 1998.
The book starts with an ending - Drum Billets', specifically. Drum was a wizard and, as a result, knows exactly when he is going to die. (It's one of the perks of the job : wizards are also delivered into the next life by Death himself, rather than one of his more minor demons). Shortly before he is due to die, Drum visits Bad Ass to 'pass on' his wizarding skill to the eighth son of an eighth son - the wife of the local smith has just given birth when he arrives. (Bad Ass, for the record, is a village on the Ramtop Mountains in the small kingdom of Lancre). Unfortunately, he fails to check the gender of the new arrival and has exited-stage-left before finding out he has, in fact, just passed on his skills and his near indestructible staff to the first daughter of an eighth son instead.
The midwife, Granny Weatherwax, is also the village's resident witch - a fine and noble profession on the Discworld. (Unlike wizards, witches don't have leaders, and Granny Weatherwax is widely considered to be the greatest leader the Discworld's witches don't have). She also believes that there can't be a female wizard any more than there could be a male witch - partly due, she says, to the differences between how male and female brains work. Witches' magic is based on headology, while wizards' magic is based on jommetry. (That sort of spelling doesn't appear to be Granny's strong point). Furthermore, if Esk (as the smith has named his daughter) wanted to become a wizard, she'd have to study at Ankh-Morpork's Unseen University - which, like a very old-fashioned golf club, has never admitted a female. Hoping the wizard's magic won't find Esk, but realising it might, Granny Weatherwax decides to watch over her and possibly train her as a witch instead.
This is the first of the Discworld series to feature Granny Weatherwax. As a result, it's a pretty good starting point if you've never read any of the other Discworld books and want to see what you're missing. Pratchett's books are always very funny, and this one gets funnier as it goes along. Definitely recommended.
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