A Wizard of Earthsea

This book has a good reputation, but it disappointed me. To me it reads like an exercise in fantasy writing: an exercise thoroughly completed, but lacking some vital spark. It's not a bad book, but I didn't find it convincing, and I'm not motivated to read the sequels.

It strikes me that Terry Pratchett's early Discworld books might have turned out quite like this—if his
sense of humour had been surgically removed in infancy. It's all rather solemn.

On finishing it, I found that I didn't care deeply about Ged, and I didn't understand why Escarriol/Vetch befriended him; he didn't seem a very appealing character.

Sword and Laser picked this book this month, and it's the first time since I joined that the choice was a book I had already read and loved. Instead of reading it again, I opted for the audiobook, a very different experience from reading it, but a pleasant one nonetheless. The reader is brilliant and does his best to capture the oral storytelling tradition in which the story is meant to be told.

Earthsea is one of my favorite series of all time, and while the first installment is not my favorite, it nevertheless remains a brilliant introduction to the world. I've been hearing a lot of people compare this work to Harry Potter and the like, but for me the comparison doesn't stand. LeGuin's prose is elevated far above Rowling's and most every other book classified as “children's” or “YA.” A Wizard of Earthsea is the type of story people used to tell their children, an uncluttered parable about the follies of youth, the truth of Self, and the dangers of shadows and dragons. It's a story children should be told and adults should be reminded of.

I think I am enjoying her Hainish Cycle SciFi books more than this fantasy novel, but that is probably purely a matter of personal preference. What spoke to me beyond the story was the world she builds, made up of many islands and dominated by the sea that connects them.

If I didn't know better, it would be possible to think that Eressea (the strategy PBEM) was influenced by this book, and it's made me want to start another game in a setting like this, with more magic and better rules for ships.

Reviewing all my books for 2022 book bingo! Read this for the shapeshifter square.

A classic for good reason. I had been meaning to read Le Guin for some time and this was the perfect excuse to finally do so. It's hard to believe this book is so old because it really does read as contemporary fantasy to me. I only wish it had been longer, as I think there were parts of the plot that deserved more attention.

Rating:
4/5 stars

Re-reading because I don't actually think I understood this book when I was a teenager.

I'm waffling back and forth between 3.5 stars and 4 stars. The book was good overall. It seemed to draw inspiration from Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings and seemed to also be in the conventional style of the mythical Epic. I could imagine a bard somewhere telling this great story of this boy wizard who met a master, was trained, went to wizarding school, and continued on to greatness.

The book introduces the reader to the fantastical world of Earthsea, where dragons, wizards, witches, and a diverse group of people live together. While the wizards and dragons are immensely powerful, they worry about the equilibrium of the world and what it means to be a good adult.

This book is filled with adventures and hardships, which Le Guin covers superficially and everything sort of just resolves quickly and she moves on to other adventures, which is mostly the reason why this is not a 5-star book for me. The concepts and story is interesting enough, especially being that this was one of the first books to establish the boy-wizard going to wizard school. I enjoyed the philosophical reasonings of the older wizards as they attempted to teach young Ged. I would have liked more depth in character and in plot.


Regardless, this book has its place in the history of culture and the fantasy genre.

Quotes:

“From that time forth he believed that the wise man is one who never sets himself apart from other living things, whether they have speech or not, and in later years he strove long to learn what can be learned, in silence, from the eyes of animals, the flight of birds, the great slow gestures of trees.”

“But you must not change one thing, one pebble, one grain of sand, until you know what good and evil will follow on that act. The world is in balance, in Equilibrium. A wizard's power of Changing and Summoning can shake the balance of the world. It is dangerous, that power...It must follow knowledge, and serve need.”

I'm not into wizards and dragons at all. Life is too short to read bad books, and I've had some terrible experiences with fantasy fiction, so I'm unlikely to be found in that particular section of the bookshop. However Ursula K. Le Guin is an awesome, towering presence, so A Wizard of Earthsea has been on my list of books to read before I die. I'm glad I made the effort. This is quality stuff. Yeah, there are dragons and wizards, and the Bildungsroman first half drags a bit. But the pace gathers, and soon a work of great imagination is revealed, rising far above the soup of common pulp fantasy in which this world is awash. If anything says anything about A Wizard of Earthsea, it is my new desire to read the rest of the series.

I really enjoyed this book. The narrative has this very epic, very mythical feel to it. Almost as if you're sitting by the warmth of a fireside listening to a storyteller describing the experiences of Ged, a young man destined to become the Great Wizard of Earthsea. It's a great bedtime story, and, in fact, I've been reading this novel every night before bed. It is not a long book–my copy is just shy of two hundred pages. Because it is such a short book covering many adventures, it can be a bit lacking in character development and world building compared to more modern fantasy novels. However, that is one of the things I admired most about this book. It really shows the skills of the author–how she can strip down the story to just the basic elements, yet still have a solid narrative that is both interesting and entertaining. Furthermore, this book is timeless. I didn't feel like I was reading a novel written in the sixties, yet that was when this novel was published! That fact alone amazes me, so I guess my expectations for this book were not very high... I would have given this a 5 out of 5 stars; however, I hated the patriarchal society of Earthsea. I heard many people argue over the representation of women in this book, and while I agree that women were under represented–two of the four female characters were not even named!–the very male-oriented culture was more off-putting than anything else for me. Obviously, women could use magic just as well as the men in this fantasy world, yet the women were witches and enchantresses not of the same caliber as the Wizards of Earthsea. And, in fact, women were not even allowed to study at the wizardry school on Roke Island! I just don't understand why!? Why do witches not get the same respect and admiration as the wizards? Why were they all portrayed as selfish and shrewd? Why couldn't they just be allowed to study and become wise as their male counterparts? I honestly don't get it. I mean, it is one thing to under represent a population of people. But to make them inferior is another thing. Even Tolkien, who didn't have many female characters in his books, still managed to show women with power and respect and wisdom–just look at Lady Galadriel, Lady of Lothlorien and Eowyn, the Shield Maiden of Rohan. The fact that this book had none of that was just really upsetting to me...But despite all this, I am planning to read the next in the series [b:The Tombs of Atuan 13662 The Tombs of Atuan (Earthsea Cycle, #2) Ursula K. Le Guin https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1166571534s/13662.jpg 1322146].4 out of 5 stars from me...maybe even 3.5 out of 5 stars (because I am that upset).

A truly magnanimous tale of a wizard's humble beginnings and exploration of the world. Le Guin makes it clear that she knows how to craft the story of a hero's journey, and develop a massive fantastical world that has just enough explanation to tantalise the reader with it's history, lore and characters. Having only read Left Hand of Darkness before, I can see Le Guin's themes of balance, light and darkness, friendship and the natural world emerging - arguably done better here than in LHOD. All of this combined with her rich prose, fluid descriptions and imaginative takes on fantasy tropes make this a must-read novel for those interested in the genre and its beginnings.

I need to catch up on my books on Vox. I read this a while back but never got around to posting about it. Matter of fact I don't recall that much about it. It follows the tale of a kid who becomes a wizard and goes to wizard school and unleashes an evil spirit and then has to beat said evil spirit.

To be honest, I didn't enjoy it that much at all. I probably would have enjoyed it when I was in my teens, but it was just a bit too formulaic and shallow for me. Perhaps it gets better as the series progresses. I don't really care though; book 1 didn't grab me enough to want to carry on.

I love this book. One one level it's a simple - and simply written - story of a young magician battling against an evil force, but this is no wishy washy Harry Potter cartoon. Instead, we also get profound commentary on pride, ambition and self knowledge. The hero, Ged, is complicated, and flawed. His fight is not only external, but internal, and he is changed by his adventures.

Le Guin's world is beautifully drawn and cleverly imagined. There is an integrity to the magic here that is absent from many other fantasy novels. I find it incredibly frustrating reading about characters who use magic in certain circumstances but not others, with no real explanation as to why (Potter, Strange & Norrel), other than it suits the plot. There is none of that here. Magic is powerful, and consequential, and should not be deployed at a whim. This not only drives the plot but also provides a philosophical underpinning to the novel, akin to Spiderman's edict that with great power comes great responsibility.

This is another series that I plan to read this year. It's actually been on my bookshelf for years. I guess new books always sound good, so I put the classic fantasy on the bottom of my reading list. Big mistake! I loved this book. I loved reading about them at school. I loved the world. I was fascinated by all the islands with their wizard to help them. Ged and Vetch are now among my favorites.

I love books that seem to be a slow burn. Some don't like it, but I love books like this. I love to take my time and get every detail out of it. Highly recommend this one.

Executive Summary: A fun story that I probably would have liked even more as a teenager, but I can still appreciate as an adult.Full ReviewSo books published before say the 90's (or maybe 80's for certain authors) and I don't tend to see eye to eye. Whether it's one of those “well they are just a product of their times” type of books, or just something so different from what modern SFF writers do, I just don't like most of it.So I was a little bit concerned coming into this book. I needn't have been. Yes it's different than what I normally read. It's much shorter. There isn't a ton of depth or world building here. But it's a fun story that sets up some interesting ideas that I hope to find time to continue exploring.The prose are something I don't usually spend much time, but I'd be remiss not to mention it. They are absolutely beautiful. Some people have said it distracts from the story, but that wasn't the case for me.This books reminds me a lot of [b:The Name of the Wind 186074 The Name of the Wind (The Kingkiller Chronicle, #1) Patrick Rothfuss https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1270352123s/186074.jpg 2502879]. I'd be shocked if [a:Patrick Rothfuss 108424 Patrick Rothfuss https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/authors/1351307341p2/108424.jpg] doesn't cite this series/Ms. Le Guin as one of his influences.In fact now that I've read it, I see how this series has likely influenced many series that have come after it. I wish I had first read this as a teenager rather than as an adult. I think I would appreciate it more. However, as a fantasy fan I can certainly appreciate and enjoy what is here.The story moves along at a pretty good pace for most of the book, but does slow down a bit in the last third or so.My only other complaint is less a complaint more than a puzzlement. Ms. Le Guin decided to break from the norm and have most of her characters be people of color. Yet she has almost no women, and the ones that are there are thin stereotypes. It doesn't ruin the book by any means, but as a female author it is a bit surprising to me.Overall I found this enjoyable, and now I need to find time to read the rest of the series.3.5 Stars rounded up because I really enjoyed most of it.

Short first entry in the Earthsea series. Haven't read any others. Reads like a YA novel, though LeGuin talks about a lack of specific audience in the Afterword; it reads a lot like mythology, a very different feeling from most other fantasy. The story is pretty standard, and it helps to remember that a lot of what seems derivative is itself derived from LeGuin and other then-contemporary works.

I've never read an Earthsea book, and I knew nothing about the world except that it was fantasy. I didn't even know the name, “Ged.” I'd heard in many places how respected Le Guin is, but reading Earthsea was something I just would get around to one day.

Well, I got my library card and began using the Libby app. I've been reading ebooks on my tablet instead of my phone, and it's much more enjoyable. And that's how I put a hold on A Wizard of Earthsea. I knew of the book, and it was there, and when it became available, I read it.

Well, what a surprise and a delight. It's a fantastical book following a young man as he becomes a wizard. However, he's arrogant and proud, believing in his own greatness. This nearly ruins him, and then he must right his wrongs and discover how he can be that wizard.

The book is short, so I don't want to share too many details. Learning about the world of Earthsea should be done by the book itself. It's a quick, smooth read. The writing pulls you along as though you were listening to someone tell a great story at a party. You don't want them to stop. You need to know what happens.

Le Guin's style made me think not only of Lord of the Rings but also Narnia. It felt like a mix to me. It's a fantasical history of sorts, and it's so pleasant and enjoyable to experience. I can't wait to read the next one.

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Ged's amazing potential as a wizard is recognized and he is plucked from a remote village by a master wizard, destined to become one of the greatest wizards of all.

And then that terrible human frailty, pride, gets the upper hand, and Ged makes a mistake that seemingly ruins his life.

And Ged is off on a quest to restore the world.

Le Guin writes with the rhythm of a poet and with the wisdom of a philosopher in this beautiful classic fantasy novel.

This book took me on a nice little journey exploring a world both internally (through Ged's character) and externally. I liked the story, it was an interesting plot but the writing was a bit difficult for me to get into. I found myself skimming through certain paragraphs to get to the more ‘exciting' scenes which weren't too many.

I believe this book could be considered middle-grade and I would recommend it to those wishing to read a clean, high-fantasy story.