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Title: A Wizard of Earthsea (Earthsea Trilogy, Book 1) by Ursula K. Le Guin ISBN: 0-553-26250-5 Publisher: Bantam Pub. Date: 01 April, 1984 Format: Mass Market Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $7.50 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.16 (276 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: Good, but not Earthsea-Shattering
Comment: This is a pretty good book that involves a wizard, a lot of magic, a bunch of islands, and endless voyages of sailing here and there as our main character, Ged, seeks to confront the shadow that he accidentally loosed with a spell. Don't be fooled though. If you are looking for another Tolkien or Lewis...well, such an author simply doesn't exist. But Le Guin may be the next best thing (depending on your tastes). Here's what I liked about the book:
1) Good, solid plot. Although the last 50 pages or so get a little long-winded (no pun intended), the storyline is overall fairly engaging.
2) Unlike many fantasy novels, the storyline doesn't wander aimlessly into an oblivion of minor side-stories.
3) Le Guin's writing style is pretty direct and to the point (almost too direct).
4) Although blatant and abundant, magical powers here come at a price and are bound by certain rules and skills.
5) The Otak! He was, by far, the best character. Unfortunately, Le Guin didn't think so considering she dropped him from the narrative like a bad habit.
And the ugly:
1) The narration is performed from a pretty removed point of view. Many events and scenes feel like they do not occur in "real-time," but rather in retrospect or summary.
2) Although, as I said above, the style is direct, it seems to be simultaneously stiff and a tad awkward. Le Guin's prose feels almost too "chiseled." Compared with the serene other-worldliness of Tolkien's "feary" or the sublime simplicity of C.S. Lewis, Le Guin's style seems somewhat lifeless.
3) Not enough Dialogue! Or at least not enough interesting dialogue. This is where Tolkien really is a master...he can make things-real, magical and mythical things-happen in even the most ordinary conversation. I never get tired of it, pages and pages of a single conversation in Tolkien are like taking a mythical journey into an ancient past. With Le Guin, I grow weary after just half a page.
4) Not enough attention to action scenes. The one that stands out most in my mind is when Ged confronts the dark spirits outside the castle on Osskil. It is described very briefly, but I could imagine in my mind a far greater potential.
5) The enemy lacks persona. The "shadow," as it is called, is a very vague enemy. It has no real agents, never speaks, or does much but wander after Ged. It could have been otherwise, Le Guin could have made this guy quite frightening and engaging.
Verdict: Deserves 4 stars for a good story, maybe even better for young readers. Unfortunately, there is much "unmined" potential.
Rating: 2
Summary: Earthsea more like a puddle
Comment: First of all this book was too into names of things. How could naming something give you power over it? I don't know, it was not explained. Also, why did everyone have 2 names? As a coming of age novel, this novel was a pretty good book. But I wish there was more action in this novel. Sometimes Sparrowhawk or Gad or whatever name the main character in this novel was going by just seemed to sail and sail and sail. Boring. Thats ok there are plenty of other fish in the ocean (no pun intended), like the Gor novels which have plenty of action and more of an interesting storyline.
PS. I didn't really understand that last part where sparrowhawk/gad goes head to head with the shadowy creature who has hunted him all threw the novel. It was not very clear what happened.
Rating: 5
Summary: "Still, Leagues Beyond Those Leagues, There Is More Sea"
Comment: Ursula K. Le Guin's A Wizard Of Earthsea (1968) is one of the finest coming of age novels written during the 20th Century. Grim and unsparing in its depiction of the harshness of existence, the book is nonetheless incredibly wise and beautiful, and should be read by audiences of all ages and backgrounds. With the exception of Tolkien's magnum opus, critics have called Le Guin's initial three Earthsea books the greatest fantasy novels ever written; but the simple truth is that Le Guin's trilogy surpasses Tolkien's achievement, since, without damaging the integrity of her fantasy world, Le Guin infuses her work with ample deep truths that are applicable to all individuals, all times, and all cultures.
A Wizard Of Earthsea is the story of Ged, called Sparrowhawk, a young Healthcliffian loner who unwittingly discovers that he has an innate potential for extraordinary magical power. Leaving Gont, the gray, windswept island of his birth to seek training on Roke, the island of wizards, the rough - hewn, sensitive boy foolishly accepts a dare from an envious senior comrade, and thus brings an irrevocable disaster down upon his head.
The balance of A Wizard Of Earthsea concerns Ged's comfortless flight from the horror he has raised, as his careless action is one so terrible that its resolution is beyond the power of the even the greatest of Roke's wizards. Earthsea's far - dwelling dragons, of unsurpassable age, erudition, and power, can likewise do nothing to buttress or assist him. Physically and psychically scarred and exiled from mankind by the singularity of his predicament, Ged courageously and responsibly accepts his fate. Accompanied only by a small shrew - like animal that nests in his hood, Ged takes to Earthsea's endless oceans and becomes both the hunted and the hunter of the black, faceless, and unknowable parasite he has unleashed.
The fantasy also astutely reflects the psychological truth that archetypal "monsters" are often, if not always, disenfranchised, wounded, and needy remnants of the very individuals and societies they ostensibly assault and violate.
Ged is clearly a Christ figure (Ged / God) and an everyman, and it is to Le Guin's great credit that she conveys both the existential nature of his character and his inexorable destiny in a manner in which the reader can readily identify. Few novels of any genre communicate what it is to be young, ignorant of self - knowledge, misunderstood, emotionally isolated, guilty, and bearing up resourcefully under a terrible burden as powerfully as A Wizard Of Earthsea.
As presented, Le Guin's fantasy world is a starkly romantic, autumnal, pre - industrial land of innumerable small islands set in an endless gray sea. The author's sparse, plain - spoken, and nuanced prose combines the stern, unyielding strength of Hilda Doolittle's early Imagist poetry with the psychological profundity of Jung's Memories, Dreams, And Reflections (1961) or Collected Letters (1973). Never less than insightful, A Wizard Of Earthsea is a sad, dynamic novel imbued with the genuine power to educate and inspire its audience about the fundamental difficulties inherent in living.
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Title: The Tombs of Atuan : The Earthsea Cycle by Ursula K. LeGuin ISBN: 0689845367 Publisher: Simon Pulse Pub. Date: 01 September, 2001 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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Title: The Farthest Shore : The Earthsea Cycle by Ursula K. Le Guin ISBN: 0689845340 Publisher: Simon Pulse Pub. Date: 01 September, 2001 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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Title: Tehanu : The Earthsea Cycle by Ursula K. Le Guin ISBN: 0689845332 Publisher: Simon Pulse Pub. Date: 01 September, 2001 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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Title: Tales from Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin ISBN: 0441009328 Publisher: Ace Books Pub. Date: 07 May, 2002 List Price(USD): $13.95 |
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Title: The Other Wind by Ursula K. Le Guin ISBN: 044100993X Publisher: Ace Books Pub. Date: 07 January, 2003 List Price(USD): $13.95 |
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