Equal Rites by Terry Pratchett

Can a man be a witch? Can a woman be a wizard? Where are the boundary lines drawn? What defines what? What is simply tradition and what is a hard in stone rule? Most would tell you that only women can be witches, only men can be wizards, and that these are hard and fast rules. Until a dying wizard accidentally passes his powers (and staff) onto the baby that he thinks is the eight son of an eight son. Only the baby is a girl.

"Equal Rites" is about that baby girl, Esk, and her attempt to fumble her way through her magical legacy. Fortunately she's not entirely on her own, Granny Weatherwax, a local witch, takes on the task of watching over Esk and trying to direct her magic. She trains Esk up as a witch, a lot of it is just headology anyway, but the magic has other ideas.

Eventually it becomes obvious that the magic Esk inherited is not simply content to let her be a witch. No one knows what to do with a woman wizard, but everyone figures that the only one's who will be able to figure it out are the wizards of the Unseen University.

Getting to the University is going to be quite the journey though, and once Esk gets there she faces a bunch of men who are VERY set in there ways.

Cry Wolf by Patricia Briggs

"Cry Wolf" is the first book in the Alpha and Omega series by Patricia Briggs. It's a companion series to the Mercy Thompson books, set in the same world with some of the same characters, but taking things in a new direction! If you've read and fallen in love with the Mercy books, you'll love this series as well!

In "Cry Wolf" we meet Anna, and we get a chance to get to know Charles. Charles, as you may remember, is the Marrok's (the werewolf leader's) son and chief enforcer. In the Mercy books we've heard of him, but never really gotten to know him. Now, he's one of the main characters!

Charles goes into the Chicago pack and is forced to take out the leader, as well as several others, because they are completely out of control. They've been torturing members of the pack. Especially Anna. In the process the wolf in Charles and the wolf in Anna choose each other as mates. Normally the human's choose mates and hope their wolves agree, but this time it's happened backwards. This creates all sorts of interesting situations, especially because of how Anna was tortured, and because she is an Omega.

While trying to sort out their new relationship, Charles and Anna are sent out to track down a rogue werewolf. It turns out that not only is there a rogue on the loose, it's being controlled by a witch, a witch that has ties to a member of the Marrok's pack. It's going to take all the skill of Charles, Anna, and Bran to take down this witch!

"To Die in Italbar" by Roger Zelazny

"To Die in Italbar" (at least the copy I picked up from the library) actually contains two books by Roger Zelazny. "To Die in Italbar" and "A Dark Traveling." I'm not really sure why they were paired together because to me they seemed very different, but I enjoyed both of them! Just for different reasons.

"To Die in Italbar" tells the story of a man named Mr. H who is rather different. He goes through cycles where he is highly contagious to those around him, and cycles where he can heal the people around him. He doesn't really know why, and he doesn't really care.

Until Mr H. snaps that is. Well, he didn't really care at that point why he had these abilities, all he cared about was hurting those around him. He was bitter and angry, and it was time to start a plaque that would rock the galaxy. Now there are multiple people trying to track down Mr. H, all for different reasons.

"A Dark Traveling" seems to have been written for a slightly younger audience. It reads much quicker and with less thought, but it's still very entertaining! It's the story of a young man, mostly normal, unless you think his sister being a witch, his uncle being a werewolf, and the fact that he seems to have werewolf tendencies to be abnormal that is. James's family are like guardians. The help to monitor these "bands" that are basically parallel realities.

James's father has been attacked and sent to a "dark band," one of the realities that is usually avoided because of the danger they represent. Now it's up to James, his witchy sister, and their exchange student from a different band to find out what's going on and put it all right! Along the way they all learn more about what there abilities are, and some secrets about the family are revealed.

Both books put forth some really interesting ways of looking at reality and are well worth the read!

"Pongwiffy" by Kaye Umansky

Buy it now!

Pongwiffy

How can you NOT read a book that has written across the top of the cover "Who looks like a witch and smells like a ditch?" The answer is the title - "Pongwiffy!" (note, I couldn't find the cover that matched what I read when I did an image search) Pongwiffy is indeed a witch, and she does have a decided pong about her that makes most people want to run after the slightly wif. But don't worry, you'll fall in love with her anyway.

"Pongwiffy" is a fun children's book about a witch, her hamster familiar, and the hilarious situations they get into! There are several distinct stories broken up through out this book, so if your the type that likes to read to your children at bed time, this book is perfect for you!

I will say, though, I'm not really sure what values your children will learn from this book. It's great for some laughs though! And who doesn't need some laughter in their childhood?

Wicked by Gregory Maquire

My recap of June will have to wait until tomorrow. I'm doing a lot better tonight - but still fighting off the effects of a migraine - so tonight I'm just going to post a review :) (I pre-write them).

Buy it Now!

Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West (Harper Fiction)

I came away from reading "Wicked" by Gregory Maquire with mixed feelings. I've always loved the story of the Wizard of Oz, and from that perspective it was a TON of fun to read some new "back story" to what was happening when Dorothy came to Oz! I really enjoyed the character development and how he explored the character of the Wicked Witch of the West.

I was a little disappointed by some of the things that Maquire chose to include. I think some of the sexual scenes he threw in were unnecessary and that his book would be appropriate for a much wider audience if he hadn't included them. Some of them did fit, but some of it just seemed like extra fluff to help the book sell.

One thing I found fascinating about this book was all the psychological elements he put into the story. There is a lot of discussion about the nature of good and evil, and what leads a person to either. The characters are complicated and interesting. The journey he takes the Witch on, as she becomes the "monster" we know her as, is full of interesting turns and twists!

Over all, I did like the book, but I wouldn't recommend it to a young reader. I'm wondering what the next book, "Son of a Witch" holds, and I would love to see the musical some day! I've heard some of the music and loved it.