Equal Rites, by Terry Pratchett, 3 stars

[NancyJ]

I just discovered the Disc World Series this year. I’ve come to it late in life, but I’m reading a few anyway. The humor is often silly, but there are some great one liners and some wise observations about human nature too.

This is a magical story about a girl who was destined to become a wizard at a time when only men could be wizards. Well maybe “destined” wasn’t the right word, The rule was that the 8th son of the 8th son would be a given a magical staff to become a wizard. The wizard bestowing the staff might have made a tiny mistake by giving it to the 8th daughter of the 8th son. But then he passed on, so oops. Fortunately, the midwife was also a witch and she did what she could to teach her. Wizard magic is different than witch magic, but she did her best,

Eventually she makes it to the Wizard university where, (surprise!), they wouldn’t admit a girl. It’s just not logical to think a girl could be a wizard. They aren’t even allowed in the cafeteria for heavens sake. The witch comes up with a clever alternate plan. Eventually there was a big fight of good against evil. These always seem overly long to me, but it’s probably obligatory to have one in every book in this series.* I enjoyed the ending, and I think I’ll want to revisit these characters again some day. Maybe in October for Fall Flurries.

[Jgrace]

The humor is always silly, but Pratchett's later books have even more wise observations. He also very good at taking sideways jabs at 'flat' world social ills. I love what he does with the gender issues of dwarves who must always present as male.