SPOILERS Equal Rites Discussion *Spoilers*
- Thread starter Tonyblack
- Start date
you could easily put Granny in that sentence instead of AM wizards 
i think that whole area of the world is kinda like that.
Though granny does sort of acknowledge that men can be "close" to being a witch. she even remarks on this about someone, but i can't remember who. "as close to being a witch as you can get while still being male" or something like that.
i think that whole area of the world is kinda like that.Though granny does sort of acknowledge that men can be "close" to being a witch. she even remarks on this about someone, but i can't remember who. "as close to being a witch as you can get while still being male" or something like that.
raptornx01 said:
you could easily put Granny in that sentence instead of AM wizards i think that whole area of the world is kinda like that.
Though granny does sort of acknowledge that men can be "close" to being a witch. she even remarks on this about someone, but i can't remember who. "as close to being a witch as you can get while still being male" or something like that.
i think that whole area of the world is kinda like that.Though granny does sort of acknowledge that men can be "close" to being a witch. she even remarks on this about someone, but i can't remember who. "as close to being a witch as you can get while still being male" or something like that.
Re: Equal Rites - revised and badly copy-edited?
Back on Nov 10, 2009:
I knew somebody else had to have noticed that time reference.
I've been rereading Equal Rites along with the crowd at Mark Reads, and we haven't quite reached the section where Granny thinks of having spent three years training Esk. There is a problem there. Esk is eight years old when she begins training with Granny. Esk is still eight years old - "almost nine" - when she goes to UU, arriving when Simon does. Simon gives a lecture that she hears when he has only been there two weeks and shortly after that the climactic action of the story happens. She can't have spent three years with Granny!
Earlier in the book, when Esk is in the apple tree and Gulta and Cern are hassling her, and the staff turns Gulta into a pig, Gulta is referred to as the smith's fifth son. There are supposed to be seven boys in all, and Cern must be younger, so he might be the sixth. Where's the seventh?
I think Equal Rites began as a non-Discworld story with the seventh son of a seventh son trope and with Esk going to UU when she was eleven, a typical age for the hero of a UK children's book to go away to school, whether it's magic or not. A search-and-replace command would change the age from eleven to eight, but would miss the mention of three years. Similarly a reference to a seventh son could easily be changed to eighth, but a search would miss a reference to a fifth son.
A copy-editor should have caught those traces.
Back on Nov 10, 2009:
I knew somebody else had to have noticed that time reference.
I've been rereading Equal Rites along with the crowd at Mark Reads, and we haven't quite reached the section where Granny thinks of having spent three years training Esk. There is a problem there. Esk is eight years old when she begins training with Granny. Esk is still eight years old - "almost nine" - when she goes to UU, arriving when Simon does. Simon gives a lecture that she hears when he has only been there two weeks and shortly after that the climactic action of the story happens. She can't have spent three years with Granny!
Earlier in the book, when Esk is in the apple tree and Gulta and Cern are hassling her, and the staff turns Gulta into a pig, Gulta is referred to as the smith's fifth son. There are supposed to be seven boys in all, and Cern must be younger, so he might be the sixth. Where's the seventh?
I think Equal Rites began as a non-Discworld story with the seventh son of a seventh son trope and with Esk going to UU when she was eleven, a typical age for the hero of a UK children's book to go away to school, whether it's magic or not. A search-and-replace command would change the age from eleven to eight, but would miss the mention of three years. Similarly a reference to a seventh son could easily be changed to eighth, but a search would miss a reference to a fifth son.
A copy-editor should have caught those traces.
Hm, supposed there is a seventh son around who just isn't mentioned?
Or there has been a seventh son who died a short time after Esk has been born?
(If I remember right at her birth day it is mentioned that there are seven sons and Esk is the 8th child).
Not mentioned, too? :think: :think:
Okay, being fan I am able to interpret it in every way that it will fit. 
And yes, these presumbly are some plotholes I until now haven't noticed.
But I have to confess although I like this book I seldom reread it, even if I reread the witch series I usually leave it out and begin with Wyrd Sisters.
Or there has been a seventh son who died a short time after Esk has been born?
(If I remember right at her birth day it is mentioned that there are seven sons and Esk is the 8th child).
Not mentioned, too? :think: :think:
Okay, being fan I am able to interpret it in every way that it will fit.
And yes, these presumbly are some plotholes I until now haven't noticed.
But I have to confess although I like this book I seldom reread it, even if I reread the witch series I usually leave it out and begin with Wyrd Sisters.
Copyediting flaws and all, Equal Rites is still a fun book. I find that it helps to think of Granny as the protagonist, not Esk. It opens with Granny, she gets forced into taking care of the problems that happen because of the wizard, and when it's all over, it closes with Granny. It's the first, but not the only, time that the obvious protagonist turns out not to be the real main character.
So, I just finished Equal Rites for the first time. Now I'm here to share some thoughts, for the first time in these forums.
Important to note that I decided to read these things in order, so I'm only 3 books in. Why? Dunno. OCD, I guess. I'm quite aware it's of little importance, but oh well.
And I gotta say, Equal Rites it's kind of a dud. I like the characters all right, but it has none of the satire and humor of the first few. When it does, it's very far and in-between. The concept is fantastic, specially in a post-Harry Potter world. The execution is very... weird. The structure, specially. Doesn't it seem like a waste for her to spend so little time on the Unseen Academy, like 1/4th of the book, even more so when the journey is so uninteresting? And that climax kinda came out of nowhere, and was... well... anticlimatic.
Much alike the finale of The Light Fantastic in a lot of ways, most of them not good. I loved the cliff-hanger of The Colour of Magic. That cross dimensional confrontation of these last two? Not so much. And we barely get to know Simon. Of course, it shines when Granny Weatherwax is present. And as far as I understand, she gets even better in subsequent books. Cool.
Now... to Mort.
Thanks. Very happy to be here in the forum. And sorry if criticizing the book just in the wake of Terry's passing seems like in bad taste. But I think that continuing to keep the DW in conversation is the best way to preserve the memory of that remarkable and brilliant man.
Cheers.
Important to note that I decided to read these things in order, so I'm only 3 books in. Why? Dunno. OCD, I guess. I'm quite aware it's of little importance, but oh well.
And I gotta say, Equal Rites it's kind of a dud. I like the characters all right, but it has none of the satire and humor of the first few. When it does, it's very far and in-between. The concept is fantastic, specially in a post-Harry Potter world. The execution is very... weird. The structure, specially. Doesn't it seem like a waste for her to spend so little time on the Unseen Academy, like 1/4th of the book, even more so when the journey is so uninteresting? And that climax kinda came out of nowhere, and was... well... anticlimatic.
Much alike the finale of The Light Fantastic in a lot of ways, most of them not good. I loved the cliff-hanger of The Colour of Magic. That cross dimensional confrontation of these last two? Not so much. And we barely get to know Simon. Of course, it shines when Granny Weatherwax is present. And as far as I understand, she gets even better in subsequent books. Cool.
Now... to Mort.
Thanks. Very happy to be here in the forum. And sorry if criticizing the book just in the wake of Terry's passing seems like in bad taste. But I think that continuing to keep the DW in conversation is the best way to preserve the memory of that remarkable and brilliant man.
Cheers.
I just re-read "Equal Rites" and you're right, Dug. It is Granny's first appearance and Terry seems to have gotten most of Granny's personality down pat. But still, there are bits here and there that don't quite fit later books. For instance:
A horseshoe? Fine, we see that later in LL. But lucky charms? It doesn't sound like the Granny of LL or even WS, who would turn her nose up at so-called "lucky charms".
Stone goblins??? All right, clearly Pterry didn't and couldn't have foreseen Stoolie the gnoll in J, or the fun he would have with goblins in Snuff and RS. Still, it's a bit jarring.
All in all, though, it's a fun book (the problems with Esk's age notwithstanding).
A horseshoe? Fine, we see that later in LL. But lucky charms? It doesn't sound like the Granny of LL or even WS, who would turn her nose up at so-called "lucky charms".
Stone goblins???
All right, clearly Pterry didn't and couldn't have foreseen Stoolie the gnoll in J, or the fun he would have with goblins in Snuff and RS. Still, it's a bit jarring.All in all, though, it's a fun book (the problems with Esk's age notwithstanding).
