A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin

Ged, the greatest sorcerer in all Earthsea, was called Sparrowhawk in his reckless youth. Hungry for power and knowledge, Sparrowhawk tampered with long-held secrets and loosed a terrible shadow upon the world. This is the tale of his testing, how he mastered the mighty words of power, tamed an ancient dragon, and crossed death's threshold to restore the balance.

There was nothing new in this book for me. Themes I've encountered before and the same old uber-powerful hero. On top of it all, everything felt rushed. A bit of a disappointment, this one.

A very nice, very familiar book about a boy wizard's coming of age.

This is categorized as YA, but I think most teens would be bored by the slow pace and lack of action. It's a shame because it is a cool book with more philosophical depth than the average sword/sorcery fantasy novel is going to touch.

It was written in 1968 and as such, I can give it a lot of leeway. That's 15 years before David Eddings started his Belgariad, 20 years before Jordan started The Wheel of Time, and over 30 years before J. K. Rowling started the magical adventures of Harry Potter. I'm sure the book and its sequels would feel much more unique if not more successful followers.

It was also made into a moderately awful SyFy TV adaptation.

A beautiful coming of age story.

Ged is a fascinating character and I think his story is developed very well. From curious child to gifted student to arrogant teen to humble adult, Ged feels relatable in a way that few characters I've read ever achieve.

Le Guin's writing is incredible, and I'm excited to read future entries in this series.

This is one of the kind of books that people shudder when they think of fantasy. To be fair, it is one of the precursors of this kind of stories.

It is a children's book and offers nothing worthwhile reading, just some standard young magic boy tropes.

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