94.
Title: [Equal Rites]
Author: Terry Pratchett
Genre: Satiric Fantasy
Medium: Kindle
Acquisition: Purchased
Date Completed: November 16, 2016
Rating: ****

The Eighth Son of an Eighth Son is destined to become a wizard, and a dying wizard may choose, as he nears death, to pass on his magical lineage to another when such a one is born. Equal Rites opens with a wizard traveling with just such a behest in mind, approaching a blacksmith as the blacksmith's wife is busy bringing their eighth child into the world. Thinking that it wouldn't be such a bad thing to have a wizard in the family, the blacksmith doesn't hesitate to drag the midwife out with her bundle the moment the child is born, and neither man listens as she protests the rites of magical staff passage to the infant, followed by the wizard's immediate and expected demise.  And thus the first female wizard is made, Granny Weatherwax is quick to retort, huffing at the mess these men have made.

At a time and place where witches are (women) useful members of society, curing ills, serving as midwives, and generally seeing to the natural order of things, and wizards are (men) magical intellectuals fretting about ceremonies and dinners and copious amounts of tobacco, a young girl starts to shake things up. Caring for her, Granny Weatherwax at first takes on the girl to train her as a witch, but as her powers grow Granny sees that Unseen University, the school of wizardry, is really the one place for her to learn to control her powers.

Equal Rites is the first book in the series to introduce Discworld Witches, Granny Weatherwax specifically, and the small communities of the Ramtops. It tackles gendered professionalism and education with wit and understanding, and establishes immediately and lastingly one of the biggest personalities of the series, who will continue to be a favorite throughout the sub-genre of Witch novels. With each novel the Discworld becomes more refined and just a tad sharper, and as the novels focus on characterization the charm of the canon is quickly developed.  A great read.

95.
Title: [Mort]
Author: Terry Pratchett
Genre: Satiric Fantasy
Medium: Kindle
Acquisition: Purchased
Date Completed: November 17, 2016
Rating: *****

On a cold night in a small town Death approaches the last remaining boy seeking an apprenticeship, just moments before the hiring day concludes.  Seeing the  ANTHROPOMORPHIC PERSONIFICATION as he truly is, the boy Mort nonetheless accepts the offered indenture, as his father less-clearly agrees to allow his son to accept an apprenticeship as a mortician. Flying away on Death's magnificent horse Binky, Mort sets off on an adventure that takes him from AnkhMorpork to Klatch to Death's own realm, learning the scythe, shoveling horse manure, and generally bickering with Death's adopted human daughter, Ysabel.  Hijinks, adventure, and general comedy ensue.

The character of Death, not unlike Granny Weatherwax of the last, is a great favorite of the series, here growing from his earlier abrupt appearances into a distant yet invested figure at once separate from humanity, and yet occasionally curious about the human condition. Taking on an apprentice sets him adrift, and as Mort struggles to find his dead-sea-legs, in the business, Death finds himself with time off for the first time, and tries to figure out what all the hullabaloo of life is really about.

This is the first of my re-reads as I work though Discworld in order of publication, and I was just as charmed the second time as the first. Death is likely my favorite character in the series, so it was a relief to come to the character I know, as opposed to the far more aggressive figure in the early Rincewind novels.