A Wizard of Earthsea

September 2102

I was hoping Ursula K. Le Guin's A Wizard of Earthsea would be good.

Her book The Left Hand of Darkness, which I read many years ago, has always been on my personal list of favorite books. Right after reading that, I tried reading another of her books -I can't remember its title- and in great disappointment, abandoned it as being not worth the reading. More recently, earlier this year, I started reading her Changing Planes, and could not bring myself to get very far into it.

So, after one great Le Guin novel, and two abandonments, I am relieved to say that A Wizard of Earthsea is a good read. It keeps one's attention from start to finish, though the climax is not as strong as I had hoped. Fantasy is not my favorite genre, so I don't know if I will follow this up with others in the series, but perhaps, one of these days.

_________________________________________________

April 2017

The first time I read A Wizard of Earthsea nearly five years ago, I had read only one other Le Guin novel, The Left Hand of Darkness, which has always been one of my favorite books. Since then Ursula K Le Guin has become one of my favorite authors. I've read quite a few of her books, including the second and third books of the trilogy that begins with A Wizard of Earthsea. Oddly, I could not remember it when I read the other two. Upon the rereading, I did recall Ged's encounter with dragons, but little else.

SPOILER ALERT - A Wizard of Earthsea is the story of Sparrowhawk (true name Ged), a boy with mage talents who is trained to be a wizard. In school he inadvertently conjures up a spirit, an evil shadow. This sets the stage for the story. Ged evades the evil of the shadow, but eventually learns enough magery and gathers the courage to confront it.

I enjoy Le Guin's prose and her storytelling. A Wizard of Earthsea was worth rereading.