false 5 3 false false Sat Apr 28 09:35:23 -0700 2007 Wed May 09 18:37:34 -0700 2007
The prose aside, the story itself is original for its time. Many newer tales now also involve the journey of some boy as he rises to power, and how he eventually discovers his rightful place in the world.
The difference between most of THOSE tales and this one, is that THIS one is really pretty good. :)

And of course... forget Hogswart.
Really. Forget that one, purge it from your memory.
Forget that model-of-a-British-boarding-school they tried to pass off as a School Of Magic. The one true school is on Roke, a place that Le Guin brought to life with so much more finesse.
Instead of injecting pseudo-latin gibberish as a sorry excuse of how magic works, she proposes that arcane power is fundamentally contained in the True Names of all things. To know someone's Name is to have power over her or him. Indeed, one of the best scenes ever was when the protagonist was challenged at his graduation with the task of finding the Name of the Master Doorkeeper. I still read that chapter every now and then.

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