Laith
I call a lot of things "classics" around here, particularly for anything by Le Guin, but Earthsea truly fits the bill. If you only accept perfection from your fantasy, look no further. I say that with the small caveat that this is an all-ages read, if you need a gritty, action-packed, thrill ride with a formula defined magic system this is not for you.
I read this because half-way through Akata Witch (which I just reviewed) I started to self-doubt, had I turned into a YA hater? Reading through Earthsea helped to confirm that I wasn't losing touch, and it reinforced for me the things that I like in YA. This story is lovely, a fanciful and touching voyage across the world of Earthsea. I found Earthsea itself every bit as enchanting and detail rich as Middle Earth but without all the exposition. As a piece of genre writing, this book is technical perfection, capturing the raw essence of fantasy without aping LOTR, in fact, while innovating with concepts like cosmic balance and the magic of True Names. Beyond genre, the themes of adolescence and self-identity are woven into the narrative with care and precision. Le Guin is a master of using story to drive a point home, and adapting a coming of age story is no sweat for her.
My take seems to run with the majority, because the Earthsea Cycle is considered as one of the tent poles of the Tolkien-era fantasy genre. A Wizard of Earthsea introduces us to the clustered islands of Earthsea through the eyes of Sparrowhawk, a young boy born with an incredible talent for magic. Sparrowhawk is taken in as an apprentice by the powerful mage Ogion and given his true name, "Ged". Ogion teaches Ged only the basics of mage craft, and endeavors instead to teach him of balance and the natural order, which magic can easily upset. It comes to naught as Ged rifles through Ogion's tomes, looking for a spell to impress a girl, and accidentally summons a shadow that Ogion must banish. Frustrated with Ogion's slow and steady teaching method, Ged reluctantly accepts his master's suggestion that he set out for the Wizards school on Roke Island. Once on Roke, he gains power quickly, making friends and enemies before being baited into a magical duel in which he casts the spell secretly taught to him by the shadow. Rather than summoning the spirit of a mythical beauty from the dead, he instead summons a shadow creature which attacks him, drawing him into a world-spanning battle for survival as Ged struggles to right his wrongs and return balance to Earthsea.
I have no notes on this one, as is the case with much of Le Guin's work, there's very little room for improvement. This is an adolescent fantasy, it's what she sought out to do with this book, and it's what she achieved. To have the book be so richly imaginative on top of basically establishing the modern template for the fantasy Bildungsroman is probably what elevated Earthsea to its contemporary success. I have friends who hate to read old books or watch old movies because these things tend to date themselves, thankfully this is not one of those books- I could not tell this was published in 1968. So to any prospective reader looking for an excellent all-ages fantasy series to get into, something rich in imagination and message, look no further than Wizard of Earthsea. Glad to have crossed this off my TBR.
PS: Among the other reasons, I also picked this up because I realized I couldn't remember if I had in fact read it before. This realization came after a very confused viewing of the animated Tales of Earthsea by Goro Miyazaki, sparrowhawk seemed familiar but nothing else. Turns out that aside from borrowing the settings and characters of Earthsea, the rest of the Miyazaki project is OC- and my familiarity with the series? From the Sci-Fi channel miniseries
I call a lot of things "classics" around here, particularly for anything by Le Guin, but Earthsea truly fits the bill. If you only accept perfection from your fantasy, look no further. I say that with the small caveat that this is an all-ages read, if you need a gritty, action-packed, thrill ride with a formula defined magic system this is not for you.
I read this because half-way through Akata Witch (which I just reviewed) I started to self-doubt, had I turned into a YA hater? Reading through Earthsea helped to confirm that I wasn't losing touch, and it reinforced for me the things that I like in YA. This story is lovely, a fanciful and touching voyage across the world of Earthsea. I found Earthsea itself every bit as enchanting and detail rich as Middle Earth but without all the exposition. As a piece of genre writing, this book is technical perfection, capturing the raw essence of fantasy without aping LOTR, in fact, while innovating with concepts like cosmic balance and the magic of True Names. Beyond genre, the themes of adolescence and self-identity are woven into the narrative with care and precision. Le Guin is a master of using story to drive a point home, and adapting a coming of age story is no sweat for her.
My take seems to run with the majority, because the Earthsea Cycle is considered as one of the tent poles of the Tolkien-era fantasy genre. A Wizard of Earthsea introduces us to the clustered islands of Earthsea through the eyes of Sparrowhawk, a young boy born with an incredible talent for magic. Sparrowhawk is taken in as an apprentice by the powerful mage Ogion and given his true name, "Ged". Ogion teaches Ged only the basics of mage craft, and endeavors instead to teach him of balance and the natural order, which magic can easily upset. It comes to naught as Ged rifles through Ogion's tomes, looking for a spell to impress a girl, and accidentally summons a shadow that Ogion must banish. Frustrated with Ogion's slow and steady teaching method, Ged reluctantly accepts his master's suggestion that he set out for the Wizards school on Roke Island. Once on Roke, he gains power quickly, making friends and enemies before being baited into a magical duel in which he casts the spell secretly taught to him by the shadow. Rather than summoning the spirit of a mythical beauty from the dead, he instead summons a shadow creature which attacks him, drawing him into a world-spanning battle for survival as Ged struggles to right his wrongs and return balance to Earthsea.
I have no notes on this one, as is the case with much of Le Guin's work, there's very little room for improvement. This is an adolescent fantasy, it's what she sought out to do with this book, and it's what she achieved. To have the book be so richly imaginative on top of basically establishing the modern template for the fantasy Bildungsroman is probably what elevated Earthsea to its contemporary success. I have friends who hate to read old books or watch old movies because these things tend to date themselves, thankfully this is not one of those books- I could not tell this was published in 1968. So to any prospective reader looking for an excellent all-ages fantasy series to get into, something rich in imagination and message, look no further than Wizard of Earthsea. Glad to have crossed this off my TBR.
PS: Among the other reasons, I also picked this up because I realized I couldn't remember if I had in fact read it before. This realization came after a very confused viewing of the animated Tales of Earthsea by Goro Miyazaki, sparrowhawk seemed familiar but nothing else. Turns out that aside from borrowing the settings and characters of Earthsea, the rest of the Miyazaki project is OC- and my familiarity with the series? From the Sci-Fi channel miniseries