They say a little knowledge is a dangerous thing, but it is not one half so bad as a lot of ignorance.
Book 3 in the Discworld series, Book 1 in the Witches subseries.
Wizards are men and witches are women. Everyone knows that. But one day in a Discworld village with the unlike name of Bad Ass, an old wizard passes on his staff, and thereby his magical powers, to the eight child of an eight child. The only problem is that the newborn baby is Eskarina “Esk” Smith, a girl, not a boy.
Years later, as Eskarina grows up and her magic begins to show, her fate rests in the hands of the village witch, Granny Weatherwax, and the world of wizardry is about to see the folly of the “everyone knows” mentality, and the power of a Bad Ass witch and a young girl who refuses to let herself be defined by gender stereotypes.
As relevant today as it was when it was first published in 1987, Equal Rites is a story about the power of suggestion, the folly of assumptions and the plain stupidity in blind prejudice. It is a story of how sheer willpower and refusal to bow down to archaic customs of exclusion can change the world and allow magic, and common sense, to flourish.
Fun, modern and feminist, Equal Rites may at first seem like nothing more than a quick read about wizards and witches, but you don’t have to look very hard to see the depths it offers to readers who are willing to pause and think about human nature, the power of thinking and the many ways ignorance, compliance and stupidity trap people in patterns and habits leading to oppression and persecution.
Fantasy – Humour – Satire
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