Rating: 
Summary: Wonderful
Review: What can you expect of one book by Terry Pratchett? Just the best social critic/parody brought to you courtesy of Discworld's characters. In this book we're introduced to Esk, seventh son of a seventh son, gifted with one of the best gifts for a mage: a powerful magic rod; the problem is that Esk is not a he, is a wonderful she and you know how sexist mages can be. So it's turn for Granny Weatherwax -one of my favorite characters, by the way- to get hands on and try to teach some headology and witchcraft to the young gal after which she moves some strings to get her into the School of Magic and adventures past -you don't want me to tell more, it's pretty interesting what happens next ;)-. The great style of Terry Prattchet and the almost living characters of this world made an excellent book of this one, one of my favorites choices. Two thumbs up
Rating: 
Summary: A story about magic
Review: Pratchett seems to love the character dynamic between the Curmudgeon and the Innocent, when both are working together towards the same goals. He used this to great effect with Rincewind and Twoflower in the first two books of his Discworld series, and it pops up again here.Granny Weatherwax (the curmudgeon) is a witch. She is charged with steering 8-year old Esk towards wizardry. Only Esk is a girl, and as we all know, girls can't be wizards. She was supposed to be the eighth son of an eighth son, but somebody messed up the paperwork. It is this conflict that is central to the book. Pratchett does a nice job lampooning the (perceived) differences between men and women (i.e., practical vs. intuitive knowledge; book study vs. study of nature, etc.) that exist in our world, transporting them to his own imagined landscape. That's to be expected from a book punnishly titled "Equal Rites". On top of that, we get a cunning parody of institutes of higher learning. Unseen University (where boys go to become wizards) and its hierarchy of learned scholars knocks the stuffing out of scholastic life. All the Pratchett devices are back for another run through the ringer. Along with the above mentioned character types, we also have some silly humour (a group of marzipan ducks magically anthropomorphize, only to melt when they take to the river; "that's natural selection for you," comments the cheeky narrator). And another inanimate object without a face inexplicably manages to make facial expressions. Twoflower's Luggage has an heir apparent in Esk's magic staff. Some comments I've read state that Pratchett relies too heavily on these devices in later books. Well, it's only three books into the series, and I still find them fresh and interesting. Time will tell, though. While not as laugh-out-loud funny as its predecessors, "Equal Rites" moves along its narrative with much more force. Which still makes it an entertaining read. Still, here's hoping that Pratchett managed to combine the two in equal proportions as the series went along.
Rating:
Summary: Esk-quisite! Simply Wizard!
Review: Pratchett's EQUAL RITES is hilarious from beginning to end. An illiterate 9-year-old witch's assistant, Eskarina (or just Esk) Smith, is by an odd mischance left with a wizard's staff and decides she wants to become a wizard. That upsets the wizards of the Unseen University in Ankh-Morpork because it's somehow against the "lore," though no one could quite find the exact reason why. She is aided by Granny Weatherwax, her witch mentor, who is one of the most fully realized comic characters this side of Dickens. For instance, she finds lodgings "on the top floor next to the well-guarded premises of a respectable dealer in stolen property because, as Granny had heard, good fences make good neighbors." Pratchett abounds in wonderfully graphic puns and felicitous expressions: "The air was full of the busy silence of the night, which is created by hundreds of small furry things treading very carefully in the hope of finding dinner while avoiding being the main course." I won't say what happens, because that would be telling. This is the first of Pratchett's novels set in Ankh-Morpork. Pratchett is never more comfortable than describing this congenial hellhole. (For example: "There was also the distinctive river smell of the Ankh, which suggested that several armies had used it first as a urinal and then as a sepulcher.") Some day when you are really down and need a wondrous lift, pick up this story of how Granny Weatherwax helped Esk become a bona fide wizard.
Rating:
Summary: I'm very keen of theese withches.
Review: The witches are back! This time to raise a kid who turns out to have very special magic abilities. If it only was for the withches everything would have progressed smootlhy. But they was not alone. This story features my own discworld favorites. Nanny Ogg is my Idol. But I'm happy my wife isn't as she :) I deerly recommend this book to you all!
Rating:
Summary: Typical Brilliance from Pratchett
Review: Equal Rites is the third phenomenal novel in the Discworld series from Terry Pratchett. It is an intriguing twist between fantasy and adventure, and with hundreds of stifling moments, Terry Pratchett will bring your mind into the mysterious Discworld. Terry Pratchett has a astounding imagination, not many people could dream up a giant disc-shaped world, poised on the back of four elephants, which are standing on the 'Great Au Tuin', who just happens to be a gigantic turtle! There are many stimulating characters situated in the Discworld, but my favourite would have to be Granny Weatherwax. Granny Weatherwax is a very prim and proper lady, who has never had any kind of relationships with men, she sees them as extra baggage, an interferance with her work. She works as a witch and you will be stuck to the page reading about her gripping experiments. From 'borrowing' which is taking the mind of an animal and using it for travel or exploration to herbalry, which is making medicines and potions. I would recommend this book to any first time Pratchett readers, as an introduction to the strange world and zany characters. I would also reccomend this book to regular Pratchett readers and maybe science fiction readers like myself, for a refreshing change. Overall it's a fabulous book with plenty of humour and a great test for the imagination.
Rating:
Summary: Welcome to your new addiction.
Review: Be warned, new reader: Discworld is not one book, it's 25 at last count, and every one of them is well worth the reading. In other words, don't blame me if you find yourself scrounging for out-of-print books in dimly lit fantasy-book shops. This book is the third in the series, but the first to leave the bustling city of Ankh-Morpork and explore the rest of the disc. It starts in the high mountaintops of Lancre when a dying wizard passes on his staff of power to a newborn baby. On closer examination, said baby is female, which causes a dangerous paradox. You see, witch magic is for women, all herbs and healing and psychology. Wizard magic, playing power games with the universe, is decidedly masculine -- but now this baby is both a wizard AND a witch. Despite a somewhat anticlimactic finish, this is a good jumping-on point to get a feel for Pratchett's signature style. That style is at once fantasy and a parody of the fantasy genre, with elements of social satire and cosmic sci-fi thrown in. The description you'll often here is Douglas Adams does fantasy, which is just about right. I'd be inclined to put Pratchett a notch higher for his characterization and ability to keep a plot moving while making jokes (and that he hasn't written a travesty like Mostly Harmless). Definitely pick up this book, and join the league of the obsessed.
Rating:
Summary: Another amusing book by Terry Pratchett
Review: This another book by T. Pratchett in the Discworld Series. In fact, the third one in order. The first thing that you will have to get used to is that the main character is not Rincewind. It is a small girl called Esk. She is the eighth daughter of the eighth son. There is a tradition that when the eighth son of the eighth son is born, he will become a mage. An old mage didn't notice that she was a girl and gave her his wand. Now, when she is nine years old, she decides to join the Unseen University, where no girl ever studied... The book is written in the same style like the previous ones. This means that it is readable and highly entertaining and funny. It contains some new ideas and characters, that will appear again in T. Pratchett's later books (e.g. Wyred Sisters). It's not that funny like "The Light Fantastic", but if liked "The Colour of Magic" and "The Light Fantastic", you'll love this book too. I recommend it to all Pratchett fans and to those who would to start reading high quality fantasy books.
Rating:
Summary: Magic and Women Just Don't Mix... or Do They?
Review: In this, the thrid book of Terry Pratchett's Discworld series, a young girl is given a wizard's powers. Well everyone knows that a girl can't be a wizard! Girls are witches, and that's that. Esk is the eighth son of an eighth son... or at least she was supposed to be. The wizard that bestowed his staff and powers upon her died the second she was born and didn't know that the eighth son *wasn't* a son at all. As Esk grows she is taken as an apprentice witch by Granny Weatherwax, a wonderful, humorous old woman that doesn't take any nonsense, especially from that wizard's staff that has a mind of its own. But soon Granny discovers that the wizardly powers just won't stay out of it and that Esk must be taken to Unseen University for training. The only problem is that the Unseen University doesn't allow women, after all, wizardy is a man's world. Join Esk and Granny on their way to Ankh-Morpork and see what happens in this wonderful book.
Rating:
Summary: Fun, Fantasy & Equality
Review: OK, I'm not used to reviewing novels, so you'll pardon me if my literary style is not up to scratch. This book was given to me by a friend who decided I had to read it. This is the third book in Pratchett's "Discworld" series. I haven't read any of the others and it was not necessary to do so in order to thoroughly enjoy this book. 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.
Rating:
Summary: Humorous Poke At Sexual Politics, Academia & Wizardry
Review: As its title implies, Pratchett takes a good humored and often critical look at sexual politics in his third Discworld novel, while at the same time wryly turning his pen to probe the often static and tradition-bound world of academics through a parody of wizardry and sorcerous notions in general. While not as tightly plotted as many of his later works, this is a far more satisfying and humorous work than some of his more recent novels, such as "Jingo" or "Hogfather." Full of one liners and skewed and often insightful views of fantasy as well as, by reflection, contemporary social institutions, this is a delightful read that should leave you laughing for more.
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