Paperback, 183 pages
English language
Published Aug. 12, 1980 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.
Fun and short. I could see quite enjoying this when I was younger as well.
That afterword took a good book to a truly great one.
A bit cliché, but it seems like maybe it established some of its cliches rather than just following them, so that can be forgiven.
Definitely aimed at a teenage-reader crowd, but still an enjoyable read; Le Guin's style of writing lends more of a mythical feel to the story.
Fine fantasy quest, childish feelings tempered to balance and self-confrontation, and well done for that. I'm feeling LeGuin's own regrets about how male-dominated her first books are, however.
Fabularnie to zwykła pospolita podróż bohatera, ale styl trudny do określenia. Dostrzegalne ulotne feministyczno—ekologiczne wpływy (niczym u „Nausicaä z Doliny Wiatru”), choć kobiet jak na lekarstwo, bohater jest trochę jak z „Mrocznej Wieży” Kinga. Na to wszystko magiczna warstwa, kontynentalna wersja „Harry'ego Pottera”. Intrygująca, pięknie napisana historia, która wiele zyskała dzięki zacnemu przekładowi Barańczaka.
Refreshing to realize high fantasy doesn't have to be laid out in tomes and be riddled with vuolence. This book is short, entertaining and thoughtful. And Le Guin writes well.
Immense storytelling and really subversive for the genre when it was written.
A Wizard of Earthsea is a masterpiece in worldbuilding, a miracle of economical storytelling, an endlessly quotable novel, LeGuin's lyrical prose style at its most beautiful. The "saga" mode of writing makes this feel like a book out of a real Earthsea, constantly hinting at a fully existing history and cultural corpus. I also love the writings around it, reading the collected novels edition I'm surrounded by introductions, essays and afterwords from LeGuin herself that make me appreciate the text even more and show what a great human being she always was.
Fun and quick read. This was a perfect respite after reading way too many research papers and other weighty nonfiction.
This is a timeless classic I had read before. It is the story of the early years of the most famous wizard of Earthsea and how his early years formed him. Earthsea is a place of a thousand islands far away and yet somehow familiar.
I first read this in 2011 and rated it 3. I was unimpressed with the book and its sequels and couldn't understand why it was supposed to be so good. I didn't see it.
Now on re-reading, I can finally appreciate the timeless quality of its beautiful language and the clear, recognizable plot that still does not feel cliched or dated at all. And I can see how this must have inspired so many other books I have read. (I am looking at you [b: Name of the Wind|186074|The Name of the Wind (The Kingkiller Chronicle, #1)|Patrick Rothfuss|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1515589515s/186074.jpg|2502879]).
Coming here and seeing my own …
This is a timeless classic I had read before. It is the story of the early years of the most famous wizard of Earthsea and how his early years formed him. Earthsea is a place of a thousand islands far away and yet somehow familiar.
I first read this in 2011 and rated it 3. I was unimpressed with the book and its sequels and couldn't understand why it was supposed to be so good. I didn't see it.
Now on re-reading, I can finally appreciate the timeless quality of its beautiful language and the clear, recognizable plot that still does not feel cliched or dated at all. And I can see how this must have inspired so many other books I have read. (I am looking at you [b: Name of the Wind|186074|The Name of the Wind (The Kingkiller Chronicle, #1)|Patrick Rothfuss|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1515589515s/186074.jpg|2502879]).
Coming here and seeing my own 3 rating from just 7 years ago shows how much context means to reading books. My reading habits have changed and my enjoyment of this book is a completely different one.
Sometimes you can go home again. Just as captivating today as when it first sunk its hooks into me back in second grade.
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.
This was brilliant. There is so much in it that I would not have picked up as a kid, but now it spoke very strongly to me. The notion of the conflict being an externalized version of the main character, the rambling pace that it took, and the focus on trust was all excellent.
I'm not normally a fantasy reader, but I love Ursula Le Guin. I heard her refer to this as her most anarchist book, so I had to read it. It is about power, knowledge, and how we need to own our worst selves. I found it delightful.
