But power is unpredictable, and these bright young students soon find themselves in a whole new dimension of trouble. Let the battle of the sexes begin . . . There is quite a lot of magic too (I particularly loved the duel between the Archchancellor and Granny), along with wonderful descriptions of the Discworld, Ankh Morpork, and the Unseen University including the library. Everything is just so quirky *thinks of the ad for the Guild of Thieves* and, as far as I know, unique. Pratchett was a feminist and there is no better way than the contrast between the first novels around the incompetent, and to a certain extent evil, Rincewind, and the selfless and clever witches to show and demonstrate mens´ hairy deficits and how he is rolling. Whenever the power hungry, manipulative, conservative, lazy, aggressive,… males, wizards, emperors, soldiers, merchants,... do something, chaos, destruction, and madness are a logical result while on the other hand, anything blessed with witches help, runs smoothly and peaceful.

A central theme of this book (also found in many of the other Discworld witch novels) is the contrast between, on one side the (female) witches or wiccans, who are in touch with nature, herbs and headology, and on the other side the (male) wizards who are very ceremonial and use elaborate, mathematics-like tools and rituals. This conflict closely mirrors the age old feud between occult practitioners in Roundworld as well as the rivalry in earlier times between the wise old women of the village and the medical men (and in modern times between herbalists/naturopaths and doctors). Pratchett's characters are very stereotypical of the various types of witches found at wiccan festivals. I have now read the first 3 books in the series and this is the first about witches. I have to say that I felt this was a bit serious. I know there were jokes in it, but Granny Weatherwax is a bit serious and it really makes for a serious tone. It gets sillier toward the end of the book when they get to Unseen University. Don't get me wrong, I appreciate the humor in this book, but it was serious. Dave Langford reviewed Equal Rites for White Dwarf #87, and called it "screwy and dotty" and concluded that the book was "Good fun." [2] Pratchett skewers the chauvanistic University and the misogynistic attitudes of the wizards. He effectively points out how pointless it is to mindlessly cling to things just because “it's always been that way.” Just like in the Tiffany Aching books, he gives his characters relationship options, but he doesn't centre the action on that—he makes it obvious that male/female teams can make the most effective discoveries and decisions.Everybody knows there’s no such thing as a female wizard. So when the wizard Drum Billet accidentally passes on his staff of power to an eighth daughter of an eighth son, a girl called Eskarina (Esk, for short), the misogynistic world of wizardry want nothing to do with her. The novel introduces the character of Granny Weatherwax, who reappears in several later Discworld novels. The protagonist Eskarina Smith does not return until I Shall Wear Midnight, which was published 23 years later. Her experiences while trying to get to the Unseen University make Esk doubt whether it is possible for a girl to step into the wizardry world, which is a man’s land. Since the Discworld society expects boys to seek fortune and girls to seek boys with fortune, she wonders that perhaps girls don’t have fortunes to seek. She almost decides to give up even before reaching the university, which is sadly common for many girls in the real world too. Fortunately, Granny’s guidance and her inner spirit make her fight on. Overall this book had to do something right, because I pretty much tore through it in a weekend, which despite it's short length is still rather fast for me.

But a female wizard is something completely unheard of on the Discworld. Esk is unsuccessful in her first, direct, attempt to gain entry to the University, but Granny Weatherwax finds another way in; as a servant. While there, Esk witnesses the progress of an apprentice wizard named Simon, whom she had met earlier, on her way to Ankh-Morpork. Simon is a natural talent who invents a whole new way of looking at the universe that reduces it to component numbers. His magic, however, is so powerful that it causes a hole to be opened into the Dungeon Dimensions. Yo tengo que admitir que los magos no son tan de mi agrado como lo son las brujas salvo el bibliotecario, esta es la excepción a la regla (quienes lo conocen sabrán por qué. Es un personaje bastante peculiar…). Eso no significa que vuelva a darle una segunda oportunidad a los magos. It's a wonderful read with a journey across a good stretch of the Disc and many minor characters who colour the place and let you know what you're getting yourself in to. The bad points can be forgiven in retrospect: it was his third and the books that follow just get better and better. Re-reading is 1000% better than simply reading Discworld books. This motive is repeated throughout the whole series, be it in the witch novels, Tiffany Aching, or the other sub series, it´s the most realistic part of this fantasy world, the reflection of the real world aberrations ruling for millennia since matriarchy was abolished by all the monuments of patriarch idiocy called human history. Esk, of course, had not been trained, and it is well known that a vital ingredient of success is not knowing that what you're attempting can't be done." pg 61, ebook.Reading this after I've just finished the Tiffany Aching Discworld books makes me draw a lot of parallels. The Tiffany books is probably where Terry was going with this, but couldn't quite manage it. This is only the third Discworld novel, and that is apparent, and it's quite a short read. There are quite too many our-world mentions and weak gags and occasionally the plot stutters, but altogether it is impossibly wonderful.

She told me that if magic gives people what they want, then not using magic can give them what they need. The wizard Drum Billet knows that he will soon die and travels to a place where an eighth son of an eighth son is about to be born. This signifies that the child is destined to become a wizard (on the Discworld, the number eight has many of the magical properties that are ascribed to seven in the real world), Billet wants to pass his wizard's staff on to his successor.Okay. Almost every word in the English language has a whole slew of historic associations. People on the Disc can't possibly speak 'English' but I have to write in English. Some carefully-positioned 'translations' like 'It's all Klatchian to me' can work, but if I went the whole hog and 'discworlded' every name and term, then the books would be even more impenetrable and would probably only be read by people who like learning Klingon. I do my best -- French fries can't exist on Discworld, for example -- but I think 'gypsies' is allowable." Plus, Granny Weatherwax is a great character. I've read that she changes quite a bit in the Wyrd Sisters and beyond, but I'm glad I can see how she started out before I jump into that. I'm loving the Discworld and I can't wait to meet more of the characters. I don't have Mort at this time, so unless I get it from the library, I will wait a bit until I can acquire Mort. I found a whole slew of these books 2nd hand and now have about 25, but Mort and Sorcery were not among them. I want to find them used because the new ones are a different size and they don't match up. My Equal Rites is longer and doesn't match. Bummer. I love the wit in Sir Terry Pratchett’s writing. You never know what to expect in his descriptions. They can be interesting like this: In its day, in 1948, this was the height of desirability -- so much so that for its first few years it was only available for export. Even in the Nineties, a fair number of Moggies are still going, "strong" and, particularly the split-screen ones, are very definitely collectors' items.