A dying wizard tries to give his powers to the eighth son of an eighth son, but the child turns out to be a girl. She’s turned over to Granny, a local witch, who teaches her witchcraft and tries to keep her from being a wizard. The girl, Eskarina, had the wizard’s staff which protected her.

When she’s older, she sets out to find the Unseen University where wizards are trained. On the way, she meets Simon, another wizard in training. She’s refused and has to take a job as a maid, but when Simon gets too far into a spell and is attacked by the creatures from the other side, Esk goes after him and brings him back. This earns her the right to become a wizard, the first every female.

There was a lot of other stuff, particularly about Granny and Esk traveling to the University, but that’s the basic plot. The characters of Granny and Esk were pretty good. The whole scene with Simon and the creatures was just weird and annoying. There were some pretty funny parts throughout.