Coco reviewed A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin (The Earthsea Cycle, #1)
A Wizard of Earthsee
4 stars
Cute Story and good length (not like LotR)
Paperback
Published Jan. 12, 1991 by Bantam Books.
A boy grows to manhood while attempting to subdue the evil he unleashed on the world as an apprentice to the Master Wizard.
Cute Story and good length (not like LotR)
A must-read in the collection of fantasy classics
Fun and short. I could see quite enjoying this when I was younger as well.
What is most remarkable to me about aWoE is how Le Guin reveals her world and the magic system.
I'm glad I finally read this classic from 1968. When I was heavy into Lord of the Rings in my teenage days, one of my closest friends was into the Earthsea books, but I never got into them. This time I stuck with it and was entertained to read the story of Ged, who would once be the strongest mage of the world of Earthsea.
Along the way I felt a bit sad that to make it as a female writer back then, you had to fill your story with men, and men only. There are only 3 notable women in the story at all, it's like they don't exist or are irrelevant. Minor quibble, after all this is a book from the 60s.
I enjoyed it, but it didn't wow me, yet I will likely finish the series.
Sweetly told coming-of-age story, that preaches Daoism as much as Daoism may be praught. I loved how it takes a very male story and turns machismo into a self-punishing weakness, but was also troubled by how even Le Guin wrote a story in which the women were all minor characters and very limited in what they could do. I gather later Earthsea books fix that, and look forward to them.
Sweetly told coming-of-age story, that preaches Daoism as much as Daoism may be praught. I loved how it takes a very male story and turns machismo into a self-punishing weakness, but was also troubled by how even Le Guin wrote a story in which the women were all minor characters and very limited in what they could do. I gather later Earthsea books fix that, and look forward to them.