Ben Lockwood reviewed A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin (The Earthsea Cycle, #1)
A timeless classic
5 stars
A must-read in the collection of fantasy classics
English language
Published Nov. 13, 2012
A Wizard of Earthsea (Earthsea Cycle, #1)
3 stars
(6 reviews)
A Wizard of Earthsea is a fantasy novel written by American author Ursula K. Le Guin and first published by the small press Parnassus in 1968. It is regarded as a classic of children's literature and of fantasy, within which it is widely influential. The story is set in the fictional archipelago of Earthsea and centers on a young mage named Ged, born in a village on the island of Gont. He displays great power while still a boy and joins a school of wizardry, where his prickly nature drives him into conflict with a fellow student. During a magical duel, Ged's spell goes awry and releases a shadow creature that attacks him. The novel follows Ged's journey as he seeks to be free of the creature. The book has often been described as a Bildungsroman, or coming-of-age story, as it explores Ged's process of learning to cope with power …
A Wizard of Earthsea is a fantasy novel written by American author Ursula K. Le Guin and first published by the small press Parnassus in 1968. It is regarded as a classic of children's literature and of fantasy, within which it is widely influential. The story is set in the fictional archipelago of Earthsea and centers on a young mage named Ged, born in a village on the island of Gont. He displays great power while still a boy and joins a school of wizardry, where his prickly nature drives him into conflict with a fellow student. During a magical duel, Ged's spell goes awry and releases a shadow creature that attacks him. The novel follows Ged's journey as he seeks to be free of the creature. The book has often been described as a Bildungsroman, or coming-of-age story, as it explores Ged's process of learning to cope with power and come to terms with death. The novel also carries Taoist themes about a fundamental balance in the universe of Earthsea, which wizards are supposed to maintain, closely tied to the idea that language and names have power to affect the material world and alter this balance. The structure of the story is similar to that of a traditional epic, although critics have also described it as subverting this genre in many ways, such as by making the protagonist dark-skinned in contrast to more typical white-skinned heroes. A Wizard of Earthsea received highly positive reviews, initially as a work for children and later among a general audience. It won the Boston Globe–Horn Book Award in 1969 and was one of the final recipients of the Lewis Carroll Shelf Award in 1979. Margaret Atwood called it one of the "wellsprings" of fantasy literature. Le Guin wrote five subsequent books that are collectively referred to as the Earthsea Cycle, together with A Wizard of Earthsea: The Tombs of Atuan (1971), The Farthest Shore (1972), Tehanu (1990), The Other Wind (2001), and Tales from Earthsea (2001). George Slusser described the series as a "work of high style and imagination", while Amanda Craig said that A Wizard of Earthsea was "the most thrilling, wise, and beautiful children's novel ever".
Lucas reviewed A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin (Earthsea Cycle, #1)
I suppose
3 stars
Prose is slim and considered, the imagery vivid without being exhausting, but I did not feel engaged with Ged, personally, philosophically, etc.
I appreciate how concise and capable a novel this is; that it is in its way rubbing against the grain of what, in 1969 especially, are the expectations of a fantasy novel and setting.
But I read it today, in a different cultural milieu. While Left Hand of Darkness and The Dispossessed still felt compelling and relevant, Wizard of Earthsea is something I can only imagine once having a greater potency.
Neekerbreeker reviewed A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin (The Earthsea Cycle, #1)
Review of 'A Wizard of Earthsea (The Earthsea Cycle, Book 1)' on 'Goodreads'
5 stars
My all-time favorite fantasy/sci-fi book! The language is like poetry but easily readable. It kept me enthralled the first time I read it as a young teenager, and it still does. This is a must-read <3
Tomasino reviewed A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin (The Earthsea Cycle, #1)
Review of 'A Wizard of Earthsea (Earthsea Cycle, #1)' on 'Goodreads'
2 stars
It didn't get any better. Some writing just isn't for me, and this falls easily into that category. Here's a few things that got under my skin and pretty much ruined the experience:
1) I don't like it when books tell me about the character's future before I've met them for the first time. Telling me that your main character is some epic hero in the future who has done this and that and is amazing and well known serves no purpose. All it does is take away the tiniest bit of possibility that something bad may happen. This was also a huge issue in The Name of the Wind and the Mordant's Need books. If your character is going to be the coolest person in the world one day, fine! Just let me discover that as the story progresses.
2) Show me the action, don't just tell me about …
It didn't get any better. Some writing just isn't for me, and this falls easily into that category. Here's a few things that got under my skin and pretty much ruined the experience:
1) I don't like it when books tell me about the character's future before I've met them for the first time. Telling me that your main character is some epic hero in the future who has done this and that and is amazing and well known serves no purpose. All it does is take away the tiniest bit of possibility that something bad may happen. This was also a huge issue in The Name of the Wind and the Mordant's Need books. If your character is going to be the coolest person in the world one day, fine! Just let me discover that as the story progresses.
2) Show me the action, don't just tell me about it. There are very few moments in this story when the action focused in enough to warrant actual dialogue. The author was too busy saying things like, "And then Ged went to such-and-such and did lots of cool things before heading north to some other place." If he did such cool things, how about you take a step back and show me. What was that journey like? Was he suffering? How about the people he met, were they friends? What were their conversations like. No no, don't tell me, let me read their dialogue!
3) Stop making up rules on the spot. "No one can look into the eyes of a dragon." Really? Since when? I know the main character did a lot of reading about dragons, but, well, that's all you told me. Not once did we get a sense of that learning, of his studies and conversations. All that was said was, "he studied everything he could find." I'm sorry, but that's not enough. If you're going to introduce new rules for your magic system, or bring up some major point in the world's history, I need you to set it up along the way so I don't feel like you're just making things up on the spot. Sure, the author probably spent a lot of time figuring out all this stuff ahead of time, but the way you present it is equally important. This was one of my biggest complaints with Brandon Sanderson's first novel, Elantris. I'm happy to say he learned from that and his later books are much better about world creation.
4) Characters need real depth. Our main character had a tiny spark of internal conflict in the beginning when his pride and envy got the better of him, but after that one episode, he was back to boring again. "Ged feared no man, but he feared where one might lead him." Lines like this make me roll my eyes and want to close the book for good.
Ok, enough complaining. I suspect this series, much like the Shannara series, suffers from "crappy first book" syndrome. I'm sure if I could get past it and into the later stories things would get much better. Unfortunately, there's too much out there to read to waste my time finding out.
On to the next series, please!
