A Wizard of Earthsea (The Earthsea Cycle, Book 1)
by Ursula K. Le Guin
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Book Summary Information
Author: Ursula K. Le GuinEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2004-09-28
ISBN: 0553383043
Number of pages: 192
Publisher: Spectra
Book Reviews of A Wizard of Earthsea (The Earthsea Cycle, Book 1)
Book Review: Legendary Fantasy
Summary: 5 Stars
Duny is no ordinary boy. He has a true name, a nickname, and the one given to him at birth. He's a boy shaped around words. In this world words have become very important, especially when it comes to naming. When he leaves for Roke, the magical island renown for its school of magery, it's with youthful fantasies of turning himself into any creature he desires, of changing mundane objects into marvelous ones, and unrealistic ideas of power--with none of responsibility. In the land of Earthsea, names are very powerful; language is the very thing used to harness the world's greatest strengths and manipulate reality the way it was never meant to be.
A Wizard of Earthsea (first published in 1968) has the lyrical and romantic command of a legend. It's one of those books I wish I had read as child. I'm sure I would have fallen in love immediately. How could I not? I've already fallen in love. It's adventurous with magic and wonderfully sentient creatures, and a map I found myself placing my finger on to trace the path of Ged's boat. Oh, the map. Earthsea unfurled beneath my fingertips. I could almost feel the mountainous terrain of Gont, the saturated grasses of Roke Knoll, the wintry court of Terrenon. Surprisingly, the map gave a vast scale to a journey that was now measurable by sight as well as description. But description alone would have done the job quite well.
Le Guin doesn't seem to waste a phrase. She's mastered her diction and molded a narrative that invites a measured reading. There is no rushing here. The language is poetic; Le Guin's prose lingers long after the book is closed and lifts my mind to the beyond--to worlds we can inhabit only in our dreams and imagination. And what an imagination she has herself--what beautiful writing. Le Guin is at heart a story-teller. She has the type of narrative voice easily read aloud (in fact, I couldn't stop thinking that someone should be reading this to me). There's something organic about her writing, something wonderfully intoxicating that reaches up from the very depths of a tradition that goes further than the printed word.
As I read about Ged and his magical quest, finding friends and making enemies along the way, I suddenly found myself feeling as enchanted with the story as I have by only a handful of stories since I was a child. The Hobbit, The Once and Future King, these are books that speak to the soul with some mysterious and intuitive soul language; A Wizard of Earthsea deserves a place of honor next to both. It's as much a coming of age story as it is a tale of a young boy who learns how to test his limits. He develops lasting friendships and comes to understand the darkness deep within himself is tempered only by the light, which he must also recognize.
This is a difficult book for me to write about. I don't just want to talk about it, I want to share it with you. The characters sometimes fall into these difficulty childish roles influenced by misunderstandings and jealousies. Ged clearly and quickly identifies Jasper as an enemy, if at first only as a rival in his seniority, due in part to his curiously cultivated, subtly sarcastic attitude. These are characters we must see through Ged's eyes to best understand his motivations and weaknesses. And he is nothing if not prideful and impatient, eager to impress others and become recognized for the glory he imagines in the talent and accomplishments of magery, rather than temperament or restraint.
His actions are not only influenced by who he is (or who he thinks he is), but by his intentions. This is a book that contains such subtle and non-subtle messages of responsibility and kindness, honoring the sacrifices of friends, and the intrinsic relationship people share not just with each other, but with all creatures and objects of nature. Ged has to find his place in the world, but to do so, he has to discover his limits. And so he reaches out by islands and boats, on foot and through air, at times running away from or toward his fears, back into the arms of friends and out into palaces of those that wish him no good. He travels everywhere and back again, even to the ends of the world, determined to find equilibrium without ever realizing that is what he yearns for the most. To be at peace is to find balance within one's soul and to accept that which is good and that which is bad. Knowing when and how to act is Ged's most difficult journey and harshest lesson.
A Wizard of Earthsea may be a short novel, but it leaves a lasting impression. It's a type of bildungsroman with an awareness of itself as the stuff of fairy tale and legend. The text even refers to itself through the narrator as a story we all must have heard before, concerned with characters we might know in bits and pieces. Whether or not Ged's tale is true, or if different versions conflict with each other, we have this one here which even references other legends and tales outside of itself, but altogether within the realm of Le Guin's fantasy. Surely there's darkness and adventures with perilous and light-hearted outcomes, but Le Guin has created something cognitive and tightly woven. Anyone, no matter the age, will find something to enjoy about it. You never know. Perhaps it will be the dragons.
Summary of A Wizard of Earthsea (The Earthsea Cycle, Book 1)
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.From the Paperback edition.
Often compared to Tolkien's Middle-earth or Lewis's Narnia, Ursula K. Le Guin's Earthsea is a stunning fantasy world that grabs quickly at our hearts, pulling us deeply into its imaginary realms. Four books (A Wizard of Earthsea, The Tombs of Atuan, The Farthest Shore, and Tehanu) tell the whole Earthsea cycle--a tale about a reckless, awkward boy named Sparrowhawk who becomes a wizard's apprentice after the wizard reveals Sparrowhawk's true name. The boy comes to realize that his fate may be far more important than he ever dreamed possible. Le Guin challenges her readers to think about the power of language, how in the act of naming the world around us we actually create that world. Teens, especially, will be inspired by the way Le Guin allows her characters to evolve and grow into their own powers.
In this first book, A Wizard of Earthsea readers will witness Sparrowhawk's moving rite of passage--when he discovers his true name and becomes a young man. Great challenges await Sparrowhawk, including an almost deadly battle with a sinister creature, a monster that may be his own shadow.
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