A Wizard of Earthsea

After reading The Lathe of Heaven, I had to have more from Le Guin. I kind of like fantasy but they are usually too complex or whimsical for me. A Wizard of Earthsea was neither—I really enjoyed this one. The plot was simple enough that it was engaging and the world-building was really great. If you’re into easy fantasy with beautiful prose, I highly recommend it.

Favorite quotes

He looked down at the pebble again. “A rock is a good thing, too, you know,” he said, speaking less gravely. “If the Isles of Earthsea were all made of diamond, we’d lead a hard life here. Enjoy illusions, lad, and let the rocks be rocks.”

He glanced at Ged and said without welcome, as if Ged had never been away, “Go to bed; tired is stupid.”

And he began to see the truth, that Ged had neither lost nor won but…had made himself whole: a man: who, knowing his whole true self, cannot be used or possessed by any power other than himself, and whose life therefore is lived for life’s sake and never in the service of ruin, or pain, or hatred, or the dark.

(Minor) spoilers ahead

I appreciated the relatively simple plot in this book. A proud young boy wants to impress others with his power but instead releases an evil shadow onto the world that follows him. Ged follows his quest to rid himself of the shadow, learning and discovering who he really is along the way. While simple, it was incredibly engaging to watch Ged become this powerful wizard that is smart with how he uses his talents and begins to understand the consequences of using his power.

The tone for the majority of the book was pensive, almost like there was a puzzle that I (who is, sadly, not a wizard) could figure out. The Master wizards said wise, wizardly things that had some deeper meaning that added to the effect. As the book progressed, Ged, on the advice of his first master, listened and thought more as he tried to puzzle out a smart way to end the thing he started. It made me want to keep reading and I blew through the whole thing in just a few days. That doesn’t mean there weren’t gripping scenes, though, and they didn’t all involve magic. But when Ged or anyone else did pull out their staff or use a rune, it was enchanting.

Earthsea as a setting was fun to discover. There were different islands, languages, and cultures that each influenced how Ged interacted with people there. I could feel how cold it was in the sea and the snow in the colder regions. Language is a major theme in this book and even Ged experienced language barriers whenever he strayed from home.

Ged’s arc from proud, careless boy to wise, traveled wizard was good. He is an authentic, flawed character even though he was incredibly powerful. As a boy, he didn’t understand that every action has a reaction, that “to light a candle is to cast a shadow.” I was rooting for him the whole journey.

I love Le Guin’s prose—it’s mostly why I wanted to read another one of her books after reading The Lathe of Heaven. It really helps the characters and the settings feel real and like I was sitting right alongside Ged.

One thing that Le Guin did that I liked were the flash-forwards. Ged would have some side quest or down-time and after he was gone, Le Guin described what happened to that area or person as a result. One specific example is when he got some help from an outcast couple on an uncharted island. To say thanks, he made their brackish well fill with plentiful clear water that stayed long after the couple was gone:

The water rose up through the sand as sweet and clear as any mountain spring in the heights of Gont, nor did it ever fail. Because of it, that place of dunes and rocks is charted now and bears a name; sailors call it Springwater Isle. But the hut is gone, and the storms of many winters have left no sign of the two who lived out their lives there and died alone.

Overall, I highly recommend anyone to read A Wizard of Earthsea. I’m looking forward to continuing with the rest of the series.

Created: 2024-12-23

Last modified: 2024-12-28