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3.89 AVERAGE
3.89 AVERAGE
It's been over 10 years since I first read this series, and while I loved it back then, my appreciation for it has only grown during this reread.
š We follow Ged, the greatest wizard in Earthsea. However in his youth he was the reckless Sparrowhawk. Born on the island of Gont, Ged's reckless nature and thirst for knowledge lead him to tamper with long-held secrets, unleashing a terrible shadow upon the world.
This story follows Ged's journey as he struggles to master his powers and confront the dark entity he has released.
āØ Review āØ
I have a deep appreciation for this world; Earthsea is a cornerstone of the fantasy genre. Re-reading this series made me realise just how much of an influence Ursula K. Le Guin has had on the fantasy genre, from Harry Potter and Eragon to The Name of the Wind. Her impact is evident! Le Guin has made an incredible mark on the genre, and in my opinion she is one of the foundational greats! Yet, Earthsea still stands on its own.
A lot of Le Guin's charm lies in her prose. Her writing is stunning, and she manages to create a beautifully atmospheric world with so few words.
The story is fairly simple in some ways, exploring themes of self-discovery, the nature of power, the relationship between light and dark, and the consequences of one's actions. Nevertheless, it's beautifully executed and Le Guin's voice feels distinct and unique. Even with the immense influence she has had across the genre!
š We follow Ged, the greatest wizard in Earthsea. However in his youth he was the reckless Sparrowhawk. Born on the island of Gont, Ged's reckless nature and thirst for knowledge lead him to tamper with long-held secrets, unleashing a terrible shadow upon the world.
This story follows Ged's journey as he struggles to master his powers and confront the dark entity he has released.
āØ Review āØ
I have a deep appreciation for this world; Earthsea is a cornerstone of the fantasy genre. Re-reading this series made me realise just how much of an influence Ursula K. Le Guin has had on the fantasy genre, from Harry Potter and Eragon to The Name of the Wind. Her impact is evident! Le Guin has made an incredible mark on the genre, and in my opinion she is one of the foundational greats! Yet, Earthsea still stands on its own.
A lot of Le Guin's charm lies in her prose. Her writing is stunning, and she manages to create a beautifully atmospheric world with so few words.
The story is fairly simple in some ways, exploring themes of self-discovery, the nature of power, the relationship between light and dark, and the consequences of one's actions. Nevertheless, it's beautifully executed and Le Guin's voice feels distinct and unique. Even with the immense influence she has had across the genre!
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Very refreshing fantasy novel. I particularly loved the descriptive, elemental prose (true to its world āEarthseaā). Itās written in saga/epic-style and feels lyrical at times.
adventurous
inspiring
mysterious
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
i actually loved it. the pace, the weird languageā¦ itās easy to get into and makes me want to stay in the world a bitā¦
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
adventurous
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Book Information:
I read a physical copy of A Wizard of Earthsea. Itās a classic 205-page fantasy, coming-of-age/bildungsroman novel about the main character Ged as he grows from a young boy with a talent for and interest in magic to a man that must learn how to deal with the consequences of a pride-fueled mistake he made in his youth.
Potential book trigger warnings: animal injury and death; blood; dead parent; death/murder; gore (light to medium); physical assault; spirit possession; violence
Potential review trigger warnings: N/A
Other book content of note: animal companion/familiar; dragons; magic (name magic, shadow magic); magic school; magic with a price; map illustrations; rivals
Other review content of note: spoilers (hidden as necessary)
(Let me know if I should add anything)
Style & Content:
Personally, I did not find the book particularly easy to read. Some of the grammar and punctuation choices made it difficult for me to read, which took me out of the story and stopped me from connecting to the characters more than I already was struggling to. Iām not sure if this is due to the time it was written (which was not that long ago) or just choices made by LeGuin in her writing of this book, but either way it negatively affected my reading experience. One thing that bothered me specifically was that the story is told in past tense, but occasionally switches to present tense when discussing aspects of the world. I have figured out that this is because the narrator seems to be telling the tale as if they live in that world currently and are recounting it as a tale from the past. That said, as I did not figure that out until I was most of the way through the book, the occasional and seemingly meaningless switch in tense bothered me significantly as I was reading.
One other aspect of the writing that I noticed that could be bothersome to readers (including myself) is that some book-specific terms were never defined. For example, throughout the book āwerelightsā are mentioned. However, it never explains what a werelight is, which made me unsure of what to visualize anytime they were present in a scene. This may not bother some readers, but I prefer books to define or at least better describe concepts that they are inventing (or renaming) so I can feel confident in my understanding of the scenes and their contents.
Unrelated to the writing, this book has a good amount of worldbuilding throughout it. This is fun and I generally enjoy that in my books. In this book, the fact that it wasnāt always plot-relevant was a bit bothersome (especially in the beginning) since I was already dealing with not vibing with the writing and wasnāt sure how much I shouldāve been paying attention to some of the mentioned aspects of the world.
The book is very character-focused/driven as it follows Ged as he grows, learns, makes mistakes, and figures out how to deal with those mistakes. There is no plot to the story outside of Gedās journey (though that journey is not void of its own plot), which could not be to the taste of some readers.
I think the goal of this book was to present an interesting story of a boy growing up and having to figure out how to make up for the mistakes he made in his youth out of arrogance and pride. I think it succeeds in this goal and tells an interesting tale of magic and its consequences while doing so.
Satisfaction:
Overall, Iād say I enjoyed this book. It was an interesting tale and I enjoyed many different aspects of it. Something I very much enjoyed was the magic; I liked how it was described in enough detail to understand things such as how it was being cast without needing to go into all of the details and I liked that the magic in this world came with a price. Another aspect of the book I liked was the friendship between Ged and Vetch. Itās very sweet and I enjoyed it greatly.
When it comes to aspects of the book I had a harder time with, there are a few things that come to mind. First are the maps. Initially I enjoyed the maps as I think itās fun when a fantasy world gives the readers a way to visualize it. However, a few times throughout the novel, there are maps that take up pages of the book and I wish they were changed or removed. Those maps are positioned as if to help the reader understand better what was going on in the nearby scenes. However, as they were no more detailed than the map at the beginning of the book, I did not find them helpful and wished they couldāve instead been more detailed maps of particular islands instead of just zoomed in portions of the larger map.
The aspect of the book that I disliked most was the main character. -Spoilers: Gedās Character Arc-
That all said, Ged does not stay arrogant and prideful the entire book. His pride causes him to make a grave mistake, trying to utilize magic he is not experienced enough to control, completely humbling him. After this turning point, I enjoyed Gedās character more. As he fought to overcome his struggles and figure out what his life was going to be after his mistake, he felt more human and reading his journey became much more enjoyable for me. -End of Spoilers- If I were to reread the book now, I think I would enjoy it and him more as I am now aware of the journey he goes on and his character arc throughout it. The first time I read it though, I had been tempted to put down and stop reading the book due to my dislike of Ged at the beginning of the story.
Audience:
I think anyone who enjoys the fantasy genre has a chance at enjoying this book, especially if they like character-focused stories. Looking online, it appears that the intended audience is adolescents. Other than potentially some problems dealing with some of the grammatical/punctuation choices (unless for some reason Iām an outlier in being bothered by that), I think that kids of that age range could definitely enjoy this book. Itās also something that adults could find enjoyable as well.
Author:
Ursula K. Le Guin was a very influential author with very well-loved books, including her Earthsea fantasy series (of which A Wizard of Earthsea is the first). I do not know anything more about her or her work.
Rating:
3.5-3.75/5 stars (rounded to a 4 for the goodreads rating system)
I read a physical copy of A Wizard of Earthsea. Itās a classic 205-page fantasy, coming-of-age/bildungsroman novel about the main character Ged as he grows from a young boy with a talent for and interest in magic to a man that must learn how to deal with the consequences of a pride-fueled mistake he made in his youth.
Potential book trigger warnings: animal injury and death; blood; dead parent; death/murder; gore (light to medium); physical assault; spirit possession; violence
Potential review trigger warnings: N/A
Other book content of note: animal companion/familiar; dragons; magic (name magic, shadow magic); magic school; magic with a price; map illustrations; rivals
Other review content of note: spoilers (hidden as necessary)
(Let me know if I should add anything)
Style & Content:
Personally, I did not find the book particularly easy to read. Some of the grammar and punctuation choices made it difficult for me to read, which took me out of the story and stopped me from connecting to the characters more than I already was struggling to. Iām not sure if this is due to the time it was written (which was not that long ago) or just choices made by LeGuin in her writing of this book, but either way it negatively affected my reading experience. One thing that bothered me specifically was that the story is told in past tense, but occasionally switches to present tense when discussing aspects of the world. I have figured out that this is because the narrator seems to be telling the tale as if they live in that world currently and are recounting it as a tale from the past. That said, as I did not figure that out until I was most of the way through the book, the occasional and seemingly meaningless switch in tense bothered me significantly as I was reading.
One other aspect of the writing that I noticed that could be bothersome to readers (including myself) is that some book-specific terms were never defined. For example, throughout the book āwerelightsā are mentioned. However, it never explains what a werelight is, which made me unsure of what to visualize anytime they were present in a scene. This may not bother some readers, but I prefer books to define or at least better describe concepts that they are inventing (or renaming) so I can feel confident in my understanding of the scenes and their contents.
Unrelated to the writing, this book has a good amount of worldbuilding throughout it. This is fun and I generally enjoy that in my books. In this book, the fact that it wasnāt always plot-relevant was a bit bothersome (especially in the beginning) since I was already dealing with not vibing with the writing and wasnāt sure how much I shouldāve been paying attention to some of the mentioned aspects of the world.
The book is very character-focused/driven as it follows Ged as he grows, learns, makes mistakes, and figures out how to deal with those mistakes. There is no plot to the story outside of Gedās journey (though that journey is not void of its own plot), which could not be to the taste of some readers.
I think the goal of this book was to present an interesting story of a boy growing up and having to figure out how to make up for the mistakes he made in his youth out of arrogance and pride. I think it succeeds in this goal and tells an interesting tale of magic and its consequences while doing so.
Satisfaction:
Overall, Iād say I enjoyed this book. It was an interesting tale and I enjoyed many different aspects of it. Something I very much enjoyed was the magic; I liked how it was described in enough detail to understand things such as how it was being cast without needing to go into all of the details and I liked that the magic in this world came with a price. Another aspect of the book I liked was the friendship between Ged and Vetch. Itās very sweet and I enjoyed it greatly.
When it comes to aspects of the book I had a harder time with, there are a few things that come to mind. First are the maps. Initially I enjoyed the maps as I think itās fun when a fantasy world gives the readers a way to visualize it. However, a few times throughout the novel, there are maps that take up pages of the book and I wish they were changed or removed. Those maps are positioned as if to help the reader understand better what was going on in the nearby scenes. However, as they were no more detailed than the map at the beginning of the book, I did not find them helpful and wished they couldāve instead been more detailed maps of particular islands instead of just zoomed in portions of the larger map.
The aspect of the book that I disliked most was the main character. -Spoilers: Gedās Character Arc-
Spoiler
At the beginning of the book, Ged is very confident in his abilities, which makes him very full of himself. This is not helped by the fact that for a while, he is proven right as he does appear to be above average at magic and he is not shown to be even theoretically wrong about his own abilities. The only time at the beginning of the book that he is shown to be flawed in any way beyond pride is on page 73 when heās mentioned to have a āblack temperā that comes out āat the least hint of slight or insultā. That said, though that is told to us, we are never shown it.That all said, Ged does not stay arrogant and prideful the entire book. His pride causes him to make a grave mistake, trying to utilize magic he is not experienced enough to control, completely humbling him. After this turning point, I enjoyed Gedās character more. As he fought to overcome his struggles and figure out what his life was going to be after his mistake, he felt more human and reading his journey became much more enjoyable for me.
Audience:
I think anyone who enjoys the fantasy genre has a chance at enjoying this book, especially if they like character-focused stories. Looking online, it appears that the intended audience is adolescents. Other than potentially some problems dealing with some of the grammatical/punctuation choices (unless for some reason Iām an outlier in being bothered by that), I think that kids of that age range could definitely enjoy this book. Itās also something that adults could find enjoyable as well.
Author:
Ursula K. Le Guin was a very influential author with very well-loved books, including her Earthsea fantasy series (of which A Wizard of Earthsea is the first). I do not know anything more about her or her work.
Rating:
3.5-3.75/5 stars (rounded to a 4 for the goodreads rating system)
adventurous
reflective
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
adventurous
mysterious
reflective
relaxing
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Absolutely magical. Thatās a cliche, but I donāt know how else to describe it. The prose is beautiful, the setting is charming and hazy, and the dialogue is nice and old-school. I felt like I was being told a bedtime story or a fairy tale, but by a storyteller who knows Iām no longer a child. I enjoyed that the antagonist was unorthodox as well. I canāt wait to read more.