Równoumagicznienie

This felt different from the first two . Pratchett shifts focus from the chaos of Rincewind to a more grounded story about gender roles. Eskarina Smith is born a wizard (the eighth child of an eighth son, but… a girl), which seemingly breaks the universe’s rules, as women are supposed to be witches, not wizards. I liked Granny Weatherwax immediately. She’s the grounded, “headology” counterpart to the stuffy, ritualistic wizards of Unseen University. It is less slapstick and more of a satirical social commentary.

It explores the glass ceiling in a literal magical sense. The wizards aren’t evil, just stuck in their ways, believing that magic behaves differently for men and women purely because “that’s how it is.”

The story features some memorable moments, like the dying wizard passing his staff to the newborn Esk, not realizing she is a girl, which sets off the entire conflict. Later, Granny Weatherwax enters the Unseen University and challenges the Archchancellor, not with fireballs, but with sheer stubbornness and “headology” (psychology). The climax involves the two young prodigies, Simon and Esk, fighting and cooperating to seal the Dungeon Dimensions, realizing that their different approaches to magic - intuitive versus ritualistic - need to be combined.

The core theme revolves around gender equality and tradition, questioning why we separate skills or roles by gender (Witchcraft vs. Wizardry) when the underlying power is the same. It deeply satirizes institutional sexism, showing how institutions protect their exclusivity through arbitrary rules rather than actual merit or capability.