HomeGroupsTalkMoreZeitgeist
Search Site
This site uses cookies to deliver our services, improve performance, for analytics, and (if not signed in) for advertising. By using LibraryThing you acknowledge that you have read and understand our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. Your use of the site and services is subject to these policies and terms.

Results from Google Books

Click on a thumbnail to go to Google Books.

A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin
Loading...

A Wizard of Earthsea (original 1968; edition 2015)

by Ursula K. Le Guin, David Mitchell (Introduction), David Lupton (Illustrator), Ursula K. Le Guin (Afterword), Martin Sanders (Redrawn end-paper maps)

Series: The Earthsea Cycle (1)

MembersReviewsPopularityAverage ratingConversations / Mentions
15,885369327 (3.98)2 / 814
Ged was the greatest sorcerer in all Earthsea, but once he was called Sparrowhawk, a reckless youth, hungry for power and knowledge, who tampered with long-held secrets and loosed a terrible shadow upon the world. This is the tale of his testing, how he mastered the mighty words of power, tamed an ancient dragon, and crossed death's threshold to restore the balance.… (more)
Member:AlanRitchie
Title:A Wizard of Earthsea
Authors:Ursula K. Le Guin
Other authors:David Mitchell (Introduction), David Lupton (Illustrator), Ursula K. Le Guin (Afterword), Martin Sanders (Redrawn end-paper maps)
Info:The Folio Society, London
Collections:Your library, Folio Society editions
Rating:
Tags:None

Work Information

A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin (1968)

  1. 200
    The Riddle-Master of Hed by Patricia A. McKillip (BeckyJP)
  2. 197
    The Fellowship of the Ring by J. R. R. Tolkien (Death_By_Papercut)
    Death_By_Papercut: Sword & Sorcery at it's finest.
  3. 101
    Sabriel by Garth Nix (wosret)
  4. 156
    Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J. K. Rowling (wosret)
  5. 101
    The Once and Future King by T. H. White (MarcusH)
  6. 71
    The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss (Konran, Jannes)
    Jannes: Rothfuss draws inspiration from many sources, but to me no influence is so evident as that from the Earthsea series by Ursula K. Le Guin.
  7. 93
    The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien (Death_By_Papercut)
    Death_By_Papercut: Quality, epic fantasy.
  8. 50
    Seaward by Susan Cooper (spiphany)
  9. 50
    Gifts by Ursula K. Le Guin (sturlington)
  10. 40
    Abarat by Clive Barker (Death_By_Papercut)
  11. 30
    Northern Lights by Philip Pullman (andomck)
  12. 20
    The Naming by Alison Croggon (ed.pendragon)
    ed.pendragon: The protagonist who starts from humble beginnings to become a powerful mage may be a cliche, but in both these series beginnings there is a carefully thought-out alterative world with sympathetic characters.
  13. 20
    The Magicians by Lev Grossman (aulsmith)
    aulsmith: Two different schools of magic
  14. 31
    A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle (Anjali.Negi)
  15. 20
    Saga: Volume 1 by Brian K. Vaughan (andomck)
    andomck: Magic systems based on language . One is the secret names of things, the other is secrets itself.
  16. 10
    Tales of Nevèrÿon by Samuel R. Delany (Anonymous user)
  17. 10
    Lao Tzu : Tao Te Ching : A Book About the Way and the Power of the Way by Ursula K. Le Guin (paradoxosalpha)
    paradoxosalpha: The Taoism that Le Guin imbibed at her father's knee is evident in the magic of Earthsea.
  18. 11
    Who Fears Death by Nnedi Okorafor (andomck)
  19. 34
    Eragon by Christopher Paolini (Othemts)
1960s (90)
mom (568)
Loading...

Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book.

» See also 814 mentions

English (357)  Spanish (3)  Dutch (2)  Italian (1)  Japanese (1)  French (1)  Slovak (1)  All languages (366)
Showing 1-5 of 357 (next | show all)
Admito que casi le pongo 3 estrellas porque aunque me encanta el Worldbuilding que crea en muy poco tiempo, llega un punto en que la lectura se me atasca un poco. Aún así toda la metafora que es la aventura del protagonista es bastante “chef’s kiss”. Le Guin era una gran artista creando mundos pero sobretodo, plasmando ideas e inquietudes. ( )
  Cabask | Mar 27, 2024 |
My first re-read of this since it came out. A classic though one LeGuin herself returned to with a more critical eye in later years, especially for its limited male POV. At the time, it was considered groundbreaking for featuring dark-skinned primary characters. What struck me now was how little it reads like a young adult novel. Though it begins with a boy and a school for wizards, the boy is a traumatized young man of 19 or 20 well before the halfway point and there is little youth to him. The constant journeying means there's little chance to develop ancillary characters. LeGuin deals with this in part by having a childhood friend return for the final chapters. To be honest, while I enjoyed the novel, it felt thin. The social structures were just sketched and the limits of magic often seemed to just pop up when needed.

Recommended but it pales in comparison with her later writings. ( )
  ChrisRiesbeck | Feb 13, 2024 |
The majority of characters are thoughtful and sensitive, more interested in understanding their surroundings than in conquering them. The story was written for younger readers and in my eyes it lacks a bit of complexity, but it still has a mature and compelling heart to it. ( )
  AdioRadley | Jan 21, 2024 |
The ending is a bit on-the-nose for me. ( )
  audient_void | Jan 20, 2024 |
I loved this! The buildup was great and I like the world it's set in. The magic system is intersting as well. ( )
  Dances_with_Words | Jan 6, 2024 |
Showing 1-5 of 357 (next | show all)

» Add other authors (123 possible)

Author nameRoleType of authorWork?Status
Le Guin, Ursula K.primary authorall editionsconfirmed
Archer, KarenNarratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Bergen, DavidCover artistsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Cases, MadeleineTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Dillon, LeoCover artistsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Dillon. DianeCover artistsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Edwards, LesCover artistsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Ellison, HarlanNarratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Gilbert, Anne YvonneCover artistsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Harman, DominicCover artistsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Inglis, RobNarratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Mitchell, DavidIntroductionsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Paronis, MargotTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Pergameno, SandroForewordsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Rambelli, RobertaTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Rikman, KristiinaTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Robbins, RuthIllustratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Saunders, Micksecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Smee, DavidCover artistsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
You must log in to edit Common Knowledge data.
For more help see the Common Knowledge help page.
Canonical title
Original title
Alternative titles
Information from the Italian Common Knowledge. Edit to localize it to your language.
Original publication date
People/Characters
Important places
Important events
Related movies
Epigraph
Only in silence the word,
only in dark the light,
only in dying life:
bright the hawk's flight
on the empty sky.    
—The Creation of Éa
Dedication
To my brothers
Clifton, Ted, Karl
First words
The island of Gont, a single mountain that lifts its peak a mile above the storm-racked Northeast Sea, is a land famous for wizards.
Quotations
It is very hard for evil to take hold of the unconsenting soul.
The wise man is one who never sets himself apart from other living things, whether they have speech or not, and in later years he strove long to learn what can be learned, in silence, from the eyes of animals, the flight of birds, the great slow gestures of trees.
Last words
(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)
Disambiguation notice
Publisher's editors
Blurbers
Original language
Canonical DDC/MDS
Canonical LCC

References to this work on external resources.

Wikipedia in English (6)

Ged was the greatest sorcerer in all Earthsea, but once he was called Sparrowhawk, a reckless youth, hungry for power and knowledge, who tampered with long-held secrets and loosed a terrible shadow upon the world. This is the tale of his testing, how he mastered the mighty words of power, tamed an ancient dragon, and crossed death's threshold to restore the balance.

No library descriptions found.

Book description
Το νησί Γκοντ, ένα μοναχικό βουνό που η κορυφή του υψώνεται ένα μίλη πάνω από τη φουρτουνιασμένη Βορειοανατολική Θάλασσα, είναι ένας τόπος φημισμένος για τους μάγους του. Από τις πόλεις στα οροπέδιά του κι από τα λιμάνια στους σκοτεινούς, στενούς του κόλπους, πολλοί Γκοντιανοί έφυγαν για να υπηρετήσουν τους Άρχοντες του Αρχιπελάγους, στις πόλεις τους σαν μάγοι ή μάγιστροι, ή για ν' αναζητήσουν την περιπέτεια σαν περιπλανώμενοι γητευτές από νησί σε νησί σε όλη τη Γαιοθάλασσα.
Από αυτούς λέγεται ότι ο μεγαλύτερος, σίγουρα ο πιο πολυταξιδεμένος, ήταν ο άντρας που τον έλεγαν Κίρκο, που στις μέρες του έγινε και Άρχοντας των Δράκων και Αρχιμάγιστρος. Τη ζωή του αφηγούνται τα "Κατορθώματα του Γκεντ" και πολλά τραγούδια, αλλά τούτη εδώ δεν είναι μια ιστορία για την εποχή που δεν είχε γίνει ακόμα διάσημος, πριν γραφτούν τα τραγούδια.
Haiku summary
Sparrowhawk or Ged
A nameless shadow follows
Waiting for a name
(Benona)

Current Discussions

None

Popular covers

Quick Links

Rating

Average: (3.98)
0.5 4
1 48
1.5 8
2 212
2.5 49
3 800
3.5 152
4 1519
4.5 146
5 1390

Is this you?

Become a LibraryThing Author.

Penguin Australia

An edition of this book was published by Penguin Australia.

» Publisher information page

Recorded Books

An edition of this book was published by Recorded Books.

» Publisher information page

 

About | Contact | Privacy/Terms | Help/FAQs | Blog | Store | APIs | TinyCat | Legacy Libraries | Early Reviewers | Common Knowledge | 203,185,916 books! | Top bar: Always visible