A Wizard of Earthsea (1968)

One of those classic fantasies I had not read before. Glad I did. This is a well written book. ( )

Maybe it's because so much that's of this type of genre has now been written that it didn't really grip me, but it didn't. It was fine and it wouldn't stop me reading more of the series or by the author, but not to go searching for the next one. ( )

Nice work. A non-white protagonist, in a non-white society. The "bad guy" is caused by the gifted main character being too prideful, and there's no big battle or war. Even though the main character is gifted, he gets better through hard work, deliberate practice, and service to others. Service to others, I may add, in exchange for no pay, but rather because he's capable of helping others!

Will definitely read the next one. ( )

I've read bad books by bad writers. I've read mediocre books by mediocre writers. I've read books by fantastic writers who don't know how to plot, but who do everything else really well, or some other combination of great strengths and equally great shortcomings.

This book frustrated me more than any of those, and here's why:
Le Guin is obviously a good writer. Her prose is magnificent. Her characterization isn't bad either. I like that Ged isn't cut from the same cloth as typical YA fantasy protagonists and he has an arrogant streak that mirrors real life teens. The story is now a cliché, but it's a cliché that I will easily fall for on any given day. Young men growing into their predestined powers and baddassery just does it for me. Maybe something went wrong in my own childhood, I don't know.

So why, then, am I only giving this book--a book that is a supposed "classic of fantasy literature" that everyone seems to love--only one star?

Because this book was half as long as it should have been and boring at the same time.

While Le Guin is a fantastic writer, able to write her descriptions densely and skillfully, she writes in some of the most distant third person I've ever read. She glosses over major events, and the entire book reads like a summary of a much longer work. You can literally turn page after page in some sections and never find a line of dialogue. There's no immediacy in her writing, no connection to the characters. I feel as if I'm viewing Ged's life through a cracked and foggy telescope from miles and miles away. Le Guin somehow manages to be a good writer while violating one of the most basic rules of writing. One that every seasoned writer will tell newcomers within the first five minutes of their asking for advice. Show, don't tell. All Le Guin knows how to do is show, and her work is much worse off because of it. It's a shame. I really could've loved this book if it were written differently, and I didn't at all expect to be disappointed after hearing so much about Le Guin for so long.
( )

A Wizard of Earthsea is fantasy at its best. Written for a juvenile audience, it nonetheless contains rich language and world building the likes of which is comparable to the Lord of the Rings. A Wizard of Earthsea follows our hero Sparrowhawk, a young magician-in-training that has little patience with the finer details of the art. Rather than learn as much as he can, he's more concerned with learning greater and better things. His ambition eventually leads him to recklessly call upon a soul from the dead and unleash a terrible shadow in the world. Sparrowhawk must now learn all he can in order to defeat the shadow and prevent it from wrecking havoc in Earthsea.

Read full review here: http://intersomniaindiem.blogspot.com/2016/07/book-review-wizard-of-earthsea-by....