Reviews and Comments

This is the best book I read this year so far, and that's a surprise to me. Normally I tend to read fantasy and science fiction, so historical or romantic fiction is usually not my forte. I guess I was a little prejudiced and had too much pride to pick it up before, thinking it was maybe more of a book for girls. I'm glad I picked it up. I absolutely loved the prose, to me it showcases English as a beautiful language. The themes of the book are quite interesting to me. A society with a rigid class system, strongly defined gender roles, and social norms come across truly alien. The level of self reflection and personal journey of the protagonist navigating all this was capivating. It's probably not for everyone, but I highly recommend.

I thoroughly enjoyed equal rites. It's a little less bombastic as the first 2 discworld books, and perhaps a little less hilarious. It's still very funny though, and has great characters. The ending felt a little rushed though, I think it could have stretched a bit longer, taking a bit longer to develop some of the ideas and storylines.

About the first half of this book has some of the most brilliant comedic writing I've ever read. Absolutely hilariously witty and smart. I think at some point Pratchett realized there was a story to finish, because the pace picked up and the ingeniousness subsided somewhat. What a joy to read.

It took me quite some time to get into it. Perhaps I wasn't in the right headspace. Am glad I stuck with it. This story is told from the point of view of a different protagonist, and it has maybe a bit of a slow start, but in the end it really added to the worldbuilding of earthsea. I very much enjoyed it.

I'm giving this a solid 4 stars. There was a lot I liked about this book. I cannot help but compare it to the Inheritance Cycle (IC), which I read before this. Primarily the magic system, which is similar to a degree that I'm inclined to think IC plagiarized it. The difference is that I was pretty annoyed with the magic in IC, and in this book it just feels natural. Like IC, this book also is a coming of age story, but the protagonist Greg a really profound evolution of character, which is absent in IC. I don't think it's ever happened to me that reading a book has made me think so much less of another. I recommend this as a nice quick read, and I'm looking forward to reading more in the series.

I'm not sure what I was expecting, but I wasn't expecting this. It's an easy read and I flew through it. It's basically a collection of short stories, with recurring protagonists, gods and friends. The language is easy and has a modern feel, but it does a good job. It gives a sense of storytelling that does justice to the oral tradition these stories came from. The stories themselves are very fairy tail like, which I found interesting. The stories are short though, and they left me wanting for more.