A Wizard of Earthsea, 1 (Earthsea Cycle, #1)

by Ursula K. Le Guin

[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