She manages this by not using magic, the only way because using magic would only make the Things stronger. Eventually they burst through and drag Simon off to the Dungeon Dimensions. Simon's skills unintentionally open portals to the Dungeon Dimensions, through which the Things attempt to enter. except Esk who is developing her own magical talent. There she meets a young self-taught wizard named Simon, He gives lectures on the nature of magic to the senior faculty staff in his first year! Such power inevitably causes ripples in the space-time continuum the Things from the Dungeon Dimensions, being Thaumivores, creatures that feed on magic, cluster in his shadows, their characteristic chitering noises unnoticed by all. Unseen University only accepts males as wizard students, believing that females should stick to being witches so she is not accepted and initially takes a job as a servant. She travels to Unseen University to become a wizard. She is trained to become a witch by Granny Weatherwax ( her first student) until it becomes clear that she had Wizards' magic, not Witches' magic. As a child, she shows great magical potential, turning her brothers into animals and defeating a pack of wild wolves. Drum Billet, a wizard from Unseen University thinks that she is the eighth son of an eighth son and therefore a wizard so he travels to the Ramtops to leave his staff to her.

To add to this, Eskarina is the eighth child of an eighth child. Traditionally smiths have a connection to magic handling iron and fire as they do. She is the daughter of Gordo Smith, the local blacksmith. ‘ Pratchett uses his other world to hold up a distorting mirror to our own’ The TimesĮqual Rites is the first book in the Witches series, but you can read the Discworld novels in any order.Eskarina Smith, who first appeared in the novel Equal Rites, was born in the smithy of the village of Bad Ass in the Ramtops. ‘ If you’ve never read a Discworld novel, what’s the matter with you?’ Guardian

With Granny’s help, Esk sneaks her way into the magical Unseen University and befriends apprentice wizard Simon.īut power is unpredictable, and these bright young students soon find themselves in a whole new dimension of trouble. Thankfully Granny Weatherwax, the Discworld’s most famous witch, has plenty of experience ignoring the status quo.

So when the wizard Drum Billet accidentally passes on his staff of power to an eighth daughter of an eighth son, a girl called Eskarina (Esk, for short), the misogynistic world of wizardry want nothing to do with her. ‘They say that a little knowledge is a dangerous thing, but it is not one half so bad as a lot of ignorance.’Įverybody knows there’s no such thing as a female wizard. Transworld is delighted to announce that it will be releasing new editions of Terry Pratchett’s bestselling Discworld novels, starting with the six books in the Witches series together with the standalone title Small Gods.

Discworld equal rites