Equal Rites

Before his death, the wizard Drum Billet intends to pass his staff and power to the eighth son of an eighth son, but the child is Eskarina, an eighth daughter. Discworld's wizard establishment refuses to accept that a girl can be a wizard, leaving Esk outside its rules. Granny Weatherwax helps her challenge that boundary and find a way into Unseen University, where she befriends the apprentice Simon. Their abilities soon lead them beyond an argument over magical tradition and into a more dangerous confrontation with power itself.