Equal Rites (Discworld) [マスマーケット]

This is a shame, because unlike the first two books in the series, Equal Rites holds up fairly well on a second reading. The plot moves a little slowly in places, but the characterizations are rich and the story enjoyable. Gently (and sometimes not-so-gently) lampooning the trappings of Fantasy novels, Pratchett gives us a humorous and touching adventure that I found quite satisfying.

Though all of the books in the series can pretty much stand on their own with regards to both plot and character, there is something to be said for reading them in order. The reader gets to follow along with the author as an entire fictitious world materializes in his mind. I can't help but feel that the best time to meet a character is the first time he's presented to the reader, as is Granny Weatherwax in this book. Encountering her again in Wyrd Sisters and Witches Abroad is only that much more enjoyable.

I heartily recommend Equal Rites as an introduction to the Discworld. Then, I suggest you waste no time in finding Mort for an encore.

In a different reality from ours, where the world is a flat disc supported on the back of a giant tortoise, lives a little girl named Esk who is mistakenly appointed a wizard in a world where females can't be wizards (it's against the lore). Granny tries to raise Esk in the way of witches instead, but finds she can't fight the fait accompli. Like it or not, Esk is meant to be a wizard.

The message of equal opportunity does not hit the reader over the head, although the message was probably more blatant a decade ago. Esk needs to go to wizard university in order to control her powers, but the university is just for males. Granny, the prim traditionalist, is against Esk doing all these "unnatural" things, but turns out in the end to be the biggest "feminist" of them all.

Along the way, there are fun, good humour, smiles, ethereal monsters, flying books and orang-utan librarians.

I enjoyed this novel, but it didn't seem to have the magical aura of most Pratchett books. Young Esk was too willful and erratic, and I never understood why she kept wandering away from Granny Weatherwax on the journey to Ankh-Morpork since Granny was trying to fulfill her dream of becoming a wizard. I also thought the character of Simon, a stuttering but brilliant young wizard, should have been developed more fully; he formed an important part of the story, but I never knew him well enough to strongly like him or dislike him. Esk's frustration and anger at being rejected as a girl are understandable, but some of her reactions seemed a little too childish to me. Toward the end, I sometimes got the impression that I was reading a piece of juvenile fiction--there's nothing wrong with that, and Pratchett has written some excellent novels for a younger audience, but it left me feeling a little empty and let-down. Even Granny Weatherwax, one of my favorite Discworld characters, seemed only a shadow of the Granny I have come to know in later novels. This novel also has some sexual innuendo material in the background, which is something I found a little disconcerting and atypical of Pratchett. It does add to some of the humor, though, especially in the scenes featuring Granny and ArchChancellor Cutangle. Weirdest of all was a direct reference to Steven Spielberg--when I read Pratchett, I am in his world, and I felt as if he kicked me out of his universe momentarily for no good reason.

The humor is the real strength of this novel. Pratchett's ever-present comical metaphors are particularly strong in places, and he is able to exploit cliches in ways no other author can. The descriptions of Granny having to get long running starts in order to get her broom off the ground and of the head wizards getting all excited about increasing their knowledge by increasing their ignorance of brand new concepts are especially hilarious. Comedy saves this particular novel. I would have liked to see much more character development; as it is, Esk and Simon are pretty forgettable characters, and the charm of Granny Weatherwax is really not realized here. I did enjoy getting a closer view inside Unseen University, but the wizards in the book seemed shallow and sort of stereotypical. I saw a lot, but I didn't learn a lot. In the end, though, this is a Discworld novel, so it is definitely better than most anything else you can find on the shelves, but I think it is one of Pratchett's weakest efforts.