A Wizard of Earthsea (Earthsea Cycle, #1)

by Ursula K. Le Guin

Ged was the greatest sorcerer in all Earthsea, but once he was called Sparrowhawk, a reckless youth, hungry for power and knowledge, who 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.

• ISBN10: 0575007176
• ISBN13: 9780575007178
• Publish Date: 14 October 1971
• Publish Status: Out of Print
• Out of Print: 11 December 1995
• Publish Country: GB
• Imprint: Gollancz
• Edition: New edition
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 192
• Language: English

Reviews

[kerrydarkeyes]

There’s a beautiful simplicity to this story — I thought I would struggle, since it’s older fantasy, but I was invested in Ged’s journey.

Minus one star for an excessive amount of geography and a female sorcerer who was your stereotypical Evil Woman.

[jamiereadthis]

This felt like something between prologue and parable, and yet I’m still into it. More Earthsea, here I come.

[HekArtemis]

2.5 stars. I do like the story. I don't really like how it was written. It's the type of writing that tells you about what is happening, but doesn't really draw you into the story. I like to be drawn into the story, like I am part of the story, the world, and when I look up from the book I have to remind myself that I am on Earth now. Earthsea just didn't do that for me, it didn't draw me in. I need a book to draw me in.

[inlibrisveritas]

’ve been meaning to read a book by Ursula K. Le Guin since I first discovered her when I was about 12. I checked out a book of hers but never got around to reading it, now here I am 15 years later finally getting around to it. Better late than never!

A Wizard of Earthsea follows Ged, a young wizard who is learning the art of magic as well as the limits of the power within himself. In some ways, it’s a very typical coming of age story as Ged learns to balance his usage of magic and overcome his own arrogance. The ways in which it is not typical lies in the world itself. Earthsea is a world that is set up as a series of archipelagos. There are no large land masses where many cultures live, but instead a lot of smaller islands that can be incredibly isolated from one another. I personally enjoyed the world building, of what there is, more than the story itself. That’s not to say the story wasn’t good but it did seem to be lacking something magnetic. I formed very little personal connection with the story itself or it’s characters and felt more like a distant observer who is only getting the basic overview of events. Ursula’s writing is simple yet somewhat elegant, and I am curious to see how her writing develops over the course of the series.

Ged is a strong-willed and often times brash individual towards the beginning of the book, and I liked seeing his growth overall as he wrestles with the problems he has created. His journey to freedom from his self-imposed problem is the heart of the story and I realized that it’s actually fairly rare to have a book focus solely on the consequences of one small decision made by the main character in adolescence. However, I don’t really feel like I know Ged. The book is fairly short, but the depth of character development just isn’t there. For the first half of the book, I was severely annoyed with him as he fed into his own ego and didn’t truly care about his journey, and it wasn’t until midway through the second half that I really started to like him. The only character I really liked from the first moment was Vetch, who doesn’t get nearly enough page time. I was also thrown off by the lack of strong female characters, given that Ursula is often recommended for that exact thing. In fact, nearly all of the women in this book are either kind of ignorant or conniving. I’ve heard that she makes up for this glaring issue in other books, so there is still hope.

I rather enjoyed the audiobook of this one. I’ve listened to Rob Ingles narrate the Lord of the Rings trilogy and loved his treatment of that work, and I’m happy to say he really breathes life into this one as well. His voice work is fantastic and I love his pacing, and honestly, he made the whole thing a little more interesting.

I’m really glad that I’m reading this series with a group because while the book isn’t terrible, it doesn’t really have much that makes me want to move forward. I am curious about where the second book will go now that his major character growth is out of the way, but I’m somewhat disappointed in the rather unforgettable nature of this one.

Great quick light classic fantasy book. I found this laying around the house as a part of my "read everything I own challenge" and I'm glad I did. Can't wait to read the next two/few.

[teachergorman]

This novel is such a classic that it doesn’t need my additional plaudits, but I think one thing should be said. While this book is written in a style that demands that the reader recognize its importance - a kind of mythic style reminiscent of Beowulf or Le Mort d’Arthur, I came to it after reading LeGuin’s Powers series. This book is fully deserving of its 5 stars, but I think I enjoyed the Powers series more because they were more subtle. It’s reassuring to see that an author of LeGuin’s talent can still grow and shift in her style.

[sa090]

All I knew about this series was based on my viewing of the Ghibli film "Tales of Earthsea" which was a pleasant memory for me so when I heard that the film doesn't do the book any justice and whatever else people said I wanted to see things for myself. Long story short I didn't enjoy this book, it definitely had its good and interesting moments but the cons far outweighed the pros for me. I'm definitely going to watch the film again just so I can judge now that I have some knowledge of the book series.

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That whole "boy goes to magic school" we see in other more famous books probably had some of its basis from this one since it came out in the 1960s. Now I heard that in the west, some kids read this in school but I'm not western and I don't even come from an English speaking country so excuse the lateness in reading this supposed masterpiece. One of the main things I liked about it is the magic, the different types of magic and the sky being the limit with it as long as you learn the true name of something was really fascinating. Like the way she set it up opens a huge realm of possibility given that these wizards actually take a year in their studies to learn about true names so I really hoped to see some awesome magic being applied here and there. Did that happen? Kind of.

Here's the main problem with this book, or more specifically my problem with it; Ursula K. Le Guinn seemingly doesn't believe in the "Show don't tell" way of writing. If I grab every piece of dialogue in the entire book, I honestly don't think I'll exceed 20 pages. This feels like a history book where Ged's adventure, if you can actually call it one is being revealed to me through a third party, it doesn't feel like I'm living it there with him but I'm just sitting there hearing about it from someone who witnessed it which makes this insanely boring. The best parts of the book for me (excluding the magic bits) are when there is an actual conversation taking place and not the author just telling me that this conversation happened.

By the last couple of chapters of the book she seems to have included the conversations a little more into the story but by then I just wanted to get this book over with and move on to a much more satisfying adventure. I mean I don't understand what's the problem in mixing it up a little, there are times when she takes over and starts describing what's happening is the right way to go but there are times when I'm just wishing that she'll give some voice to Ged so I can actually think I'm hearing his own thoughts instead of being "told" that these are his thoughts in that particular instance. It just makes him this dull character who despite being the only one in the vacancy for the majority of the book feel like this foreign distant character that I have no attachment to whatsoever.

This really annoyed me because if I don't care about your only main character then I don't really care about anything else in the book and it doesn't help me when every event is being connected to that one character I couldn't care less about. Another thing that really really annoyed me goes back to the "Tell don't show" aspect of this book, because it's magic I expected to see more of it and how it's being used but instead of seeing that or learning more about how everything is done (like a spell, an incarnation, a potion or whatever else) I again get her telling me about what happened like a historical event, she created this awesome magic system so why don't I get to learn more about it in a way that actually makes me feel like I learned something?

Another gripe I have with this book is the world building, yes I got a map with the book that shows me the whole world of Earthsea but Ursula K. Le Guin seemingly expected me to memorize it before starting this book and yours truly didn't expect that to be a requirement. In the span of 180 something pages, Ged moved from island to island to island in such a fast sequence that it's difficult to keep track of where exactly is he now? Add the fact that her writing makes it insanely difficult for me to connect with her character and it becomes even more of a jumbled mess. It's not like he's moving from Europe to China for example so I can at least have that but it's a whole new world where I'm seemingly expected to hold that map right beside me and trace the path with a pen.

The magic I keep praising which also kept me interested in that aspect and the very end of the book with the increased dialogue are probably the only reasons of why this book didn't get a 1/5 to match my absolute boredom with the rest of it. Would I read the rest of this cycle? Hmmm, ask me again in a few months and we'll see.

Final rating: 2/5

[ibeforem]

It’s been a while since I read true fantasy! This book is one of my husband’s favorites, so I figured I should give it a read at some point. I did enjoy it. There’s a lot of great, extensive world-building, with a variety of characters. At its heart it’s a coming-of-age story, as Sparrowhawk grows from an impetuous, cocky teen to a man with the weight of the world on his shoulders. I also enjoyed the way the magic worked — simple and tied to the land. And it’s clear that there’s more to Sparrowhawk’s story. If you enjoy fantasy, this is a classic worth reading.

[Ben Pick]

Thrilling start to a riveting series. Ursula Le Guin masterfully crafts the seafaring tale of a boy learning to wield magic. Every object in the world has a true name and every spell has unexpected consequences.

[empressbrooke]

I waver between giving this 2 and 3 stars; it's very dry and not written in the most readable style, but I almost feel like giving it two stars denies its historic importance to the fantasy genre.

Despite clocking in under 200 pages, it's not really a quick read. Like I've noted before in some of Ray Bradbury's books, the language is poetic but doesn't flow like you expect it to, so you have to read slowly and absorb each word. I spent more time with it than I wanted to, and by the time I was done, I couldn't say that I really enjoyed Ged's journey. The end is both expected and anticlimactic, and never once did I feel like there was really anything at stake.

I'm not yet sure if I'll continue with the series. I'll probably read some reviews first and find out of it improves (and I completely welcome fans' thoughts about whether I'd enjoy later ones if I was only so-so on this one).