Point of View

An anonymous, impersonal, but thoroughly bemused and opinionated narrator tells the story of Equal Rites in the third person omniscient, mixing in frequent and extended runs of lively first person dialog. The narrator seems to be aware that the twentieth-century (the novel is published in 1987) earthbound reader has much to learn about flat, magical Discworld, and thus provides useful bits of history, metaphysics, religion, magic, politics, economics, and weather. He explains things that differ from life on Earth and comments on the medieval elements of life on Discworld using the cultural references of twentieth-century life. Many are drawn from nuclear physics, e.g., talking about magic in terms of "Critical Mass" and the explosion that inevitably follows. offers Most of the characters share the narrator's biting sense of humor and irony, providing for continuity throughout the story.

Tongue in cheek, Pratchett declares on the dedication page...