If you loved how Granny Weatherwax keeps skewering wizardly tradition while Esk literally forces the Unseen University to rethink who can be a wizard, you’ll enjoy the way Thursday Next punctures pompous cultural gatekeepers and bureaucratic absurdity. Like the Unseen University’s stuffy wizards, Fforde’s literate police and Goliath Corporation are hilariously ossified—only to be outwitted by a practical, no-nonsense hero. It’s the same sly, witty send-up of entrenched systems that made Esk’s showdown in Ankh-Morpork so satisfying.

Granny Weatherwax’s steely competence and Esk’s stubborn courage are mirrored in Elisabeth Scrivener, a trainee who treats dangerous grimoires like Granny treats wayward magic: with firm hands and sharper wits. If the Unseen University’s Library (and its orangutan Librarian) delighted you, the living, temperamental tomes and runaway grimoires here will scratch the same itch—only this time it’s a young woman, like Esk, forcing a tradition-bound system to respect her power.

Esk learns the edges of power under Granny Weatherwax’s exacting eye; Sabriel is likewise shaped by demanding guides—her absent father’s instruction, the tart-tongued cat-spirit Mogget, and hard lessons in the Old Kingdom. If you enjoyed how Granny’s tough mentorship helps Esk claim her wizardry, you’ll love watching Sabriel grow into the Abhorsen’s mantle, making difficult, deeply moral choices about when and how to use dangerous magic.

Esk crashing the boys’ club of the Unseen University is half the fun of Equal Rites; here, El battles an elitist, perilous academy that’s just as rule-bound and ridiculous in its own way. If Esk’s trip to Ankh-Morpork and her confrontations with the Archchancellor and faculty made you grin, El’s snarky dismantling of the Scholomance’s pecking orders—and her refusal to be what the system expects—will feel like a sharper, darker echo.

Esk’s journey from goat-herding girl to wizard-in-her-own-right pairs beautifully with Sophie Hatter’s transformation after a stray curse sends her out into a wider, weirder world. If you enjoyed Esk’s first steps into Ankh-Morpork, her chaotic encounters with the wizarding establishment, and Granny’s wry common sense, you’ll love Sophie trading barbs with Howl, bargaining with Calcifer, and discovering that her supposed limitations are the making of her power.