3.89 AVERAGE

adventurous challenging slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: No

4,3
adventurous dark emotional medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes
adventurous emotional inspiring reflective fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

As I was reading this, I thought I would end up giving it a 3 or a 3.5-star rating, but that ending... whoa.

Published in 1968, this book follows a young man known as Sparrowhawk who lives in his small village and has untapped potential for magic. He’s taken in by a wizard named Ogion and is given his true name, Ged. We follow Ged from arrogant youth, learning from the error of his ways, to wise adult, who grows to understand the nature of magic and the world’s balance.

At first, the writing didn’t really vibe with me. It’s a small book covering a long span of time, so the pacing was too fast for my taste. I’m more into small details and long conversations while this book gives more generalized summaries when not super-important to the plot. The writing does get really cool during the big events, like with Ged summoning the spirit and him fighting the dragon. The ending hooked me right in. My visual brain kicked into overdrive and I ate it up right until the last page. I won’t spoil it, I highly recommend you check it out for yourself.

Considering it was 1968 when this was published, I was surprised when about halfway into the book, it was revealed that Ged was a person of color! A lot of characters, in fact, were people of color. (Though, I haven’t read the other books yet, I’ve come to learn that nearly everyone, save for Tenar, are people of color.) As someone who vaguely remembers that sad pile of a mini-series adaptation and the Studio Ghibli film, I was so overjoyed (and sad, because whitewashing is still a problem even over fifty years later). It would be absolutely amazing if they could make a true adaptation of Earthsea now. It really is my jam—character-driven story, great character development, a fantastic ending. Forget Winx and Last Airbender, I wanna see Ged played by an actor of color! 

I will definitely be reading the next books in this series (maybe if I knock on their doors hard enough, a studio exec will let me adapt this) XD 
adventurous emotional medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes
reflective slow-paced
adventurous fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes
adventurous emotional mysterious reflective medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes
adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious reflective relaxing fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes
medium-paced