Editing Equal Rites

{{Short description|1987 Discworld novel by Terry Pratchett}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2021}}
{{Infobox book
| name         = Equal Rites
| image        = EqR.cover.jpg
| caption= First edition
| author       = [[Terry Pratchett]]
| illustrator  = 
| cover_artist = [[Josh Kirby]]
| language     = English
| series       = {{ubl|''[[Discworld]]''|3rd novel &ndash; 1st Witches story}}
| subject      = {{ubl|[[Fantasy]] [[cliché]]s, [[Feminism]]|'''Characters:'''|[[Eskarina Smith]], [[Granny Weatherwax]]|'''Locations:'''|[[Ankh-Morpork]], [[Lancre]]}}
| genre        = [[Fantasy]]
| publisher    = [[Victor Gollancz Ltd]] in association with [[Colin Smythe]]
| pub_date     = {{start date|1987|01|15|df=y}}
| pages        = 
| awards       = 
| isbn         = 0-575-03950-7
| preceded_by  = [[The Light Fantastic]]
| followed_by  = [[Mort]]
}}
'''''Equal Rites''''' is a [[comic fantasy]] novel by [[Terry Pratchett]]. Published in 1987, it is the third novel in the ''[[Discworld]]'' series and the first in which the main character is not [[Rincewind]]. The title is a play on words related to the phrase "[[wikt:equal rights|Equal Rights]]".

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.

Pratchett based the character Esk on his daughter [[Rhianna Pratchett]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Burrows |first1=Marc |title=The Magic of Terry Pratchett |date=30 July 2020 |publisher=White Owl |isbn=978-1-5267-6553-6 |page=116 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bvjtDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA116 |language=en}}</ref>

==Plot summary==

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 [[wizards (Discworld)|wizard]]; on the [[Discworld (world)|Discworld]], the number [[8 (number)|eight]] has many of the magical properties that are sometimes ascribed to [[7 (number)|seven]] in other mythologies. Billet wants to pass his wizard's staff on to his successor.

However, the newborn child is actually a girl, Esk (full name Eskarina Smith). Since Billet notices his mistake too late, the staff passes on to her. As Esk grows up, it becomes apparent that she has uncontrollable powers, and the local witch Granny Weatherwax decides to travel with her to [[Unseen University]] in [[Ankh-Morpork]] to help her gain the knowledge required to properly manage her powers.

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.

Simon's magic causes a hole to be opened into the Dungeon Dimensions while he is in Esk's presence. The staff, acting to protect Esk, strikes Simon on the head, closing the hole but trapping his mind in the Dungeon Dimensions. Esk throws the staff away, believing that it attacked Simon. While attempting to rescue him, Esk ends up in the Dungeon Dimensions. The extreme cold there causes the staff, now washed out to sea, to create a huge ice sheet, causing a storm that floods the university as well as the surrounding city.

Esk and Simon discover the weakness of the creatures from the Dungeon Dimensions—if you ''can'' use magic, but ''don't'', they become scared and weakened. With the help of Granny Weatherwax and Archchancellor Cutangle, who have retrieved the staff, they both manage to transport themselves back into the Discworld. Esk and Simon go on to develop a new kind of magic, based on the notion that the greatest power is the ability not to use all the others.

==Characters==

*Granny Weatherwax
*Eskarina Smith
*Simon
*Drum Billet, dying wizard, bloody-minded apple tree and reincarnated ant
*Archchancellor Cutangle

==Reception==
[[David Langford|Dave Langford]] reviewed ''Equal Rites'' for ''[[White Dwarf (magazine)|White Dwarf]]'' #87, and called it "screwy and dotty" and concluded that the book was "Good fun."<ref name="WD87">{{cite journal  | last =Langford | first =Dave | author-link =David Langford | title =Critical Mass  | journal =[[White Dwarf (magazine)|White Dwarf]]  | issue = 87  | pages =6   | publisher =[[Games Workshop]]  | date = March 1987  }}</ref>

J. Michael Caparula reviewed ''Equal Rites'' in ''[[The Space Gamer|Space Gamer/Fantasy Gamer]]'' No. 85.<ref name="SG">{{cite journal|last=Caparula|first=J. Michael |date=January–February 1989|title=Space/Fantasy Reader|journal=[[The Space Gamer|Space Gamer/Fantasy Gamer]]|publisher=[[3W (company)|World Wide Wargames]]|issue=85|pages=58–59}}</ref> Caparula commented that "While not a terribly original concept, it comes alive here amidst the fanciful farce and is treated with a sense of wonder. A think-while-you-laugh treat."<ref name="SG"/>

==Reviews==
*Review by Pauline Morgan (1987) in ''[[Fantasy Review]]'', January-February 1987<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?1996 | title=Title: Equal Rites }}</ref>
*Review by Barbara Davies (1987) in ''[[Vector (magazine)|Vector]]'' 137
*Review by Faren Miller (1987) in ''[[Locus (magazine)|Locus]]'', #315 April 1987
*Review by David Langford (1987) in ''[[Foundation (journal)|Foundation]]'', #40 Summer 1987
*Review by Ken Brown (1987) in ''[[Interzone (magazine)|Interzone]]'', #20 Summer 1987
*Review by Andy Sawyer (1988) in ''Paperback Inferno'', #70
*Review by Greg Cox (1989) in ''[[The New York Review of Science Fiction]]'', June 1989
*Review by Bruce Gillespie (1991) in ''SF Commentary'', #69/70
*Review [French] by Marc Lemosquet (1995) in ''Yellow Submarine'', #113

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{wikiquote|Discworld#Equal Rites (1987)|Equal Rites}}
* {{isfdb title|1996}}
* [http://www.lspace.org/books/apf/equal-rites.html Annotations for ''Equal Rites'']
* [http://www.lspace.org/books/pqf/equal-rites.html Quotes from ''Equal Rites'']
* [http://www.ansible.co.uk/misc/tpspeech.html "Why Gandalf Never Married"]: 1985 talk by  Pratchett discussing issues of gender and magic later elaborated in ''Equal Rites''
* [http://www.terrypratchettbooks.com/book/equal-rites ''Equal Rites'' on Terry Pratchett's website]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20061003015141/http://www.colinsmythe.co.uk/terrypages/tpindex.htm Colin Smythe Ltd Info. Archived.]

{{s-start}}
{{s-other|[[Discworld reading order|Reading order guide]]}}
{{succession box | before = [[The Light Fantastic]] | title = 3rd [[Discworld#Novels|Discworld Novel]]  | years=  | after = [[Mort]]}}
{{succession box | before = ''None'' | title = 1st [[Discworld reading order#Witches|Witches Story]]  | years=Published in 1987  | after = [[Wyrd Sisters]]}}
{{s-end}}

{{Discworld books}}
{{Terry Pratchett}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:1987 British novels]]
[[Category:Discworld books]]
[[Category:1987 fantasy novels]]
[[Category:Victor Gollancz Ltd books]]
[[Category:British comedy novels]]