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A Wizard of Earthsea

(Earthsea Cycle #1)

Ursula K. Le Guin

really liked it 4.00 · Rating details · 210,192 ratings · 8,040 reviews

Ged, the greatest sorcerer in all Earthsea, was called Sparrowhawk in his reckless youth.

Hungry for power and knowledge, Sparrowhawk 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.

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Paperback, 183 pages

Published September 28th 2004 by Bantam Spectra (first published November 1968)

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Sep 02, 2016 Jeffrey Keeten rated it really liked it · review of another edition

”The hunger of a dragon is slow to wake, but hard to sate.”

The Folio Society edition is superbly illustrated by David Lupton.

The boy is born on the island of Gont in the archipelago of Earthsea. This is a world infused with magic. Not everyone can control this magic, but those who know the right words and have a wizard soul can learn to utilize the power of the Earth to manipulate obje ...more

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Oct 16, 2010 Kat Kennedy rated it liked it

If there were ever a time I'd curse my constant reading of Urban Fantasy, Paranormal Romance or YA lit, it would be now.

Because clearly, CLEARLY this is a fantastic book that deserved to be finished. Ursula K Le Guin is a phenomenal writer and whilst this book (up to what I read) wasn't absolutely perfect, it was enchanting. It was different, it was QUALITY.

Yet I didn't finish it because, thanks to the aforementioned reading habits, my ability to concentrate and enjoy quality literature has slipped to the point that ...more

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Jan 15, 2012 Nataliya rated it really liked it

Shelves: first-in-a-series, 2012-reads, ursula-k-le-guin

"It is very hard for evil to take hold of the unconsenting soul."

This seemingly simple statement actually says a lot about the human nature - just as all the Ursula Le Guin's books that I've read so far seem to do.

***

A Wizard of Earthsea is a simple but beautiful and magical coming-of-age story of a young wizard Ged, who starts out as a brash and cocky boy who in his arroganceclass="gr-hostedUserImg">

A ...more

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Feb 14, 2013 Lyn rated it really liked it

A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin is a beautiful fantasy.

First published in 1968, it has clearly influenced many fantasy novels since. Orson Scott Card, with his 1980s era Alvin Maker series, stated that he wanted to make an American fantasy, and escape or at least distinguish his work from the inherently English Tolkien sub-genre of fantasies. This is not quite such a departure from the Tolkienesque fantasies, but a difference can be seen and enjoyed.

Another Goodreads reviewer made th ...more

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Apr 03, 2011 Ben Babcock rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: favourites, teachable-texts, 2011-read, 2011-best10, didactic-fiction, own, fantasy

This what A Wizard of Earthsea taught me:
* To know a thing's true name is to know its nature.
* Don't fuck with dragons (unless you know their true names).
* Summoning the spirits of the dead is a bad idea, especially on a schoolboy dare.
* Truly changing your form is dangerous, because you can become lost in the aspect you assume.
* If you find yourself hunted, turn it around and become the hunter.
* Above all else, know yourself.

I don't know how I acquired this particular copy of A Wizard of Earthsea. It's an old, 1977 reprint that is, aside from its yel ...more

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Dec 12, 2015 Sean Barrs the Bookdragon rated it really liked it

Shelves: y-a, 4-star-reads, children-of-all-ages, fantasy

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. This is old school fantasy at its finest. It has all the classic elements. It has a young and naïve protagonist who learns the dangers of power; he overcomes his initial stupidity and learns how to wield his power effectively. It also has wizards, dragons and creatures of great evil. It’s a standard fantasy plot, delivered in basic way, but, nonetheless, it is still great. I think this is because of the plot itself. Le Guin drew me in completely, and made me reach the ending rather quickly. I ha ...more

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Nov 20, 2008 Manny rated it really liked it

Shelves: science-fiction, transcendent-experiences

How come Harry Potter is the publishing sensation of the century, and this is only a moderately popular cult novel? Life seems unfair sometimes, but I suppose that in a few hundred years it will all have sorted itself out. The ending is one of the best I know in any book.

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Dec 15, 2007 J.G. Keely rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: reviewed, fantasy, novel

As a reader of Fantasy, this book felt like a return home, even though I had never read it before. The tale of this young wizard and his hardships and coming to terms with his own darkness is one that has been redone again and again, from Rowling to Jordan to Goodkind, and so far, despite adding gobs of length and endless details, no one has managed to improve upon it.

Though she isn't the first to explore the Bildungsroman-as-Fantasy (Mervyn Peake precedes her), he was an author who ...more

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Jul 20, 2017 Bradley rated it it was amazing

Shelves: ya, fantasy, 2017-shelf, fanboy-goes-squee, worldbuilding-sf

Here's an odd bit of trivia: I had just read Beagle's Last Unicorn this month, so it is still very fresh in my mind. I agreed with everyone that it was a real classic with so much to love within its pages.

And yet, right after reading A Wizard of Earthsea, I'm gonna have to say I think A Wizard of Earthsea is better. Not only better, but a lot more enjoyable, fascinating, and exciting!

Not by a lot, mind you, but enough that I can easily say that this Le Guin's classic is s ...more

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Nov 08, 2010 Mark Lawrence rated it really liked it · review of another edition

I rated this 5* from memory of reading the trilogy (as it then was) back in the late 70s.

My wife has taken to reading to our very disabled daughter (now 13) while I make up her medicines before bedtime (it takes a while, there are 8 drugs that need to be counted out between a 1/3rd of a pill and 4 pills, crushed, mixed with water, sucked into a syringe and administered through a tube that goes through the wall of her stomach!).

Anyway, A Wizard of Earthsea was a recent rea ...more

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Apr 18, 2018 Candi rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: classics-shelf, book-i-own, favorites, fantasy, young-adult

"A man would know the end he goes to, but he cannot know it if he does not turn, and return to the beginning, and hold that beginning in his being. If he would not be a stick whirled and whelmed in the stream, he must be the stream itself, all of it, from its spring to its sinking in the sea."

Three years ago I picked up my first Ursula K. Le Guin novel, The Left Hand of Darkness. I did so as part of a challenge to read a science fiction book, a genre in which I was not at all well-read. I didn’t real "A man would know the end he goes to, but he cannot know it if he does not turn, and return to the beginning, and hold that beginning in his being. If he would not be a stick whirled and whelmed in the stream, he must be the stream itself, all of it, from its spring to its sinking in the sea."

Three years ago I picked up my first Ursula K. Le Guin novel, The Left Hand of Darkness. I did so as part of a challenge to read a science fiction book, a genre in which I was not at all well-read. I didn’t really expect to like the book, but was happy to check one off the list. To my great surprise, I adored it! In fact, I still think about it fairly regularly, even with loads of other books read between now and then. I was determined to read more of her work and see if it was just a fluke that such a novel would appeal to me. I had seen a copy of A Wizard of Earthsea at a used bookshop at the time and hesitantly purchased it - an illustration of a wizard with staff in hand and a dragon on the cover very nearly told me to leave well enough alone, but I risked it. I’m not necessarily a fantasy kind of gal either… with a couple of exceptions. It has sadly sat on my own shelf for three years, until two of my Goodreads groups recently decided to read her work shortly following Le Guin’s passing. I jumped at the opportunity, and once again was astonished by both the writing as well as the perceptive concepts developed within.

I won’t attempt to make any sort of comparison between this book and others within the genre, as I am not qualified to do so. I am aware that J.R.R. Tolkien came first and J.K. Rowling after. I cannot delve into a written discourse on the elements of fantasy or the influence of various genre writers upon one another. What I can do is tell you why I admired this work of fiction. The quote I’ve included at the start of my review is one that illustrates a journey of sorts. That is what I feel this book on its most basic level embodies – not just a trek across the lands of Earthsea, but a journey of the self, a discovery of one’s very substance or essence. I can see the similarity between Ged’s quest in this book and that of Genly Ai’s flight across the harsh and icy landscape of the planet Winter in The Left Hand of Darkness. Two very different characters with distinctive lessons to be learned along the way, both Ged and Genly develop and make discoveries of self as well as understanding of others.

At the beginning of The Wizard of Earthsea, we meet a boy born with special gifts; one destined to become the greatest wizard of Gont… a young man called by his 'use-name', Sparrowhawk, and later by his 'true-name', Ged. Le Guin makes a distinction between use-names (or nicknames) and true-names, with true-names not being known to all, but rather to a select few that can be trusted to keep this secret. For, in Earthsea it is believed that: "Who knows a man’s name, holds that man’s life in his keeping." When we first meet Ged, or Sparrowhawk, he is a teenager with a temperament that one might expect from a ‘typical’ teen. He is naïve, a bit rash, and prone towards arrogance. He is a ‘know-it-all’ who can let pride in his power get in his way. I didn’t like him initially, but he seemed very real to me as a result. Full of natural flaws, he is not a typical hero. He could have been one of us. He eventually goes to train on Roke Island, essentially at a school for wizards-to-be. He is sent there on the advice of Ogion, his quintessentially wise early master in the craft. Ogion, in fact, is one of my favorite characters. He sends Ged forth with such prudent advice as "To hear, one must be silent," and "Have you never thought how danger must surround power as shadow does light?... every word, every act of our Art is said and is done either for good, or for evil. Before you speak or do you must know the price that is to pay!" Sensible words that can be applied to more than just your standard wizard-in-training!

Pride is not easily shed, however, and as a result Ged lets loose upon the land of Earthsea a dark and dangerous creature. This evil entity will haunt his dreams as well as his waking moments. He is kept safe from this being by the Nine Masters of Roke and the Archmage while continuing to study under their tutelage. But, as we all know, one reaches adulthood and must strike out on his or her own given the knowledge and tools that have been imparted to us. Thus Ged goes out into the world as a wizard yet with the fear of this creature termed ‘gebbeth’. As he travels from land to land, Ged is pursued by this gebbeth, endangering those inhabitants of Earthsea with whom he settles for a time. As a result he moves on until he realizes that the cycle can only be broken if the hunted in fact becomes the hunter. Thus begins a new journey to seek the gebbeth and destroy it. But in order to do so, Ged must know its ‘true-name’, a name that eludes him. Many of his encounters are dark and frightening and I found the plot to move forth quickly and dramatically; it was quite gripping! At times it seemed the being would overwhelm him completely. "The body of the gebbeth has been drained of true substance and is something like a shell or a vapour in the form of a man, an unreal flesh clothing the shadow which is real. So jerking and billowing as if blown on the wind the shadow spread its arms and came at Ged, trying to get hold of him … devouring him out from within, owning him, which was its whole desire."

I can’t give away whether gebbeth or wizard wins in the end - you’ll have to grab a copy for yourself to find out. Needless to say, I loved it. It is a quick read for a fantasy novel, with so much packed inside. There are moments of great adventure, but also a lot of introspection which I highly esteem. You have to open up your mind to fantasy a bit to read this, but you most certainly don’t have to be a genre fan to appreciate the messages Le Guin offers to us. The world-building was excellent and I loved the growth of Ged throughout. Le Guin's themes are so compelling and leave me reflecting for quite some time after reading her work. Her worlds are a place where we can go and allow ourselves to think about ideas in ways that we otherwise might not. She helps to open our minds by painting a vivid world first, and then makes us take the next step and learn that there are in fact other ways of thinking about our own worlds and those within them. 4.5 stars rounded up to 5 for this excellent work!

"… a man: who, knowing his whole true self, cannot be used or possessed by any power other than himself, and whose life therefore is lived for life’s sake and never in the service of ruin, or pain, or hatred, or the dark." ...more

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Feb 03, 2019 Melissa ♥ Dog/Wolf Lover ♥ Martin rated it liked it

Shelves: fantasy-all, young-adult, own, hardback

I’m reading these one at a time but I have that big ole chunker of a book with all the illustrations. I will add it at some point!

I enjoyed the book. I was pulled in at the beginning but it let some slack in a little later. I’m going to keep on with them because I do like it!

Happy Reading!

Mel 🖤🐶🐺🐾

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Aug 09, 2012 Apatt rated it it was amazing

Shelves: fantasy-top20, favorites

I remember reading this book as a child and loving it, and that is all I can remember, the reading and the loving. Anything about the contents has slipped through the old grey cells somehow. As it turned out my brain knew what it was doing when it jettisoned all the details of the book so yesterday I was able to read it as if for the first time. Like A Virgin.

Nowadays any fantasy book that features a school of wizardry can not help but bring up Harry Potter comparisons (I can't help it anyway). A Wizard of Earthsea wa ...more

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Oct 23, 2010 Tatiana rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Recommended to Tatiana by: Ashley Waldron

Shelves: 2010, fantasy

I can't believe I am giving a Le Guin book 2 stars, I have nothing but respect for this writer and her work, but alas, A Wizard of Earthsea was a chore to get through.

Frankly, I only enjoyed the very beginning and the very end of this story. What's in between is excruciatingly boring. A Wizard of Earthsea is an introspective book. What I mean is, it's all about one wizard's personal quest to overcome the dark entity - Shadow - that he unleashed during a youthful boasting about his magical powers. Ged spends th ...more

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Feb 03, 2017 Emily (Books with Emily Fox) rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: dnf, 2-star-y-am-i-doing-this-to-myself

So... this really wasn't for me!

I love fantasy and the overall story was good, the writing was beautiful (definitely helped me practice my english!) but I was so bored. Like REALLY bored. I ended up skimming a bit..

It reminded me of Uprooted - which I also didn't like! Also couldn't get attached to the main character due to the third person narration and how often months or years of his life were described in one sentence.

Will not continue the series.

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Jul 02, 2010 Ian rated it it was amazing

Shelves: audiobook, author-knows-my-life, must-read-again

I couldn’t have chosen a better time to experience LeGuin’s reimagining of the story—pardon me, I mean The Story—which we weave into our lives and the lives of those around us. At 35, I’m not really old but I don’t often feel young anymore, and it’s only now that I feel like I am finally confronting my shadow and embracing who I am.

There are an infinitude of ways to reflect upon, analyze and understand our life experiences. But LeGuin provides a framework that is just right for me. Her te I couldn’t have chosen a better time to experience LeGuin’s reimagining of the story—pardon me, I mean The Story—which we weave into our lives and the lives of those around us. At 35, I’m not really old but I don’t often feel young anymore, and it’s only now that I feel like I am finally confronting my shadow and embracing who I am.

There are an infinitude of ways to reflect upon, analyze and understand our life experiences. But LeGuin provides a framework that is just right for me. Her telling of The Story is one that I can understand, one that fits and mirrors many of my own life experiences. A Wizard of Earthsea is the story of Ged, a young man with a natural gift and a powerful potential. Ged's journey to understand his gift will be longer and more difficult than his impatience allows him to admit. He is sent away to learn from those who know how to control such a gift. Then, just as Ged is truly beginning to harness and develop his latent power, his pride leads him to overreach his abilities and loose a terrible shadow upon the world. Ged’s life then becomes one of fear and evasion, until he decides to turn and confront his shadow. Now, I don't flatter myself to think that I have the power to set free some evil that puts the world in danger. But LeGuin's story fits my life in its own way, and on a smaller scale :)

So, A Wizard of Earthsea gave me a much-needed archetype to contextualize my experiences—including my fair share of physical and emotional hardships—of the last 18 months and articulate what is happening in my life. I’ve stopped running from my shadow. I’ve become the hunter and I’ve cornered my shadow on the distant sea. I’m embracing the entirety of “me,” for better or worse, even as I write these words. Already I like the person who is emerging from this fusion. Perhaps of equal import, I think my loved ones like that person, too.

This begs the question: was it mere chance that I read A Wizard of Earthsea at this time, in this place in my life? Or was I maneuvered ... influenced in some subtle way by some deliberate force ... to read it now? That’s an unanswerable question, I suppose, and that’s fine with me. What’s important is that I did read this book. No, that’s not precise, I experienced this book, and at a time when I could get the most out of it, at a time when I most needed the counsel of an author who knows how to meet people where they are.

I still haven't read the text of A Wizard of Earthsea; instead I listened to the audiobook narrated by Harlan Ellison. What a powerful way to experience LeGuin’s work! Mr. Ellison’s sense of pacing, tone, volume, and timing, not to mention his ability to dramatize and entertain the listener, were a perfect match for LeGuin’s natural storytelling. I listened to the book while commuting to and from work, or mowing the lawn, or—my favorite way—lying on the couch with eyes closed, absorbing LeGuin’s world as her words fill my senses. My five-star rating applies with equal force to LeGuin’s story and Ellison’s reading.

Thank you, Ms. LeGuin. Thank you, Mr. Ellison. And thank you to my GR friends whose reviews convinced me I couldn’t wait any longer to read A Wizard of Earthsea! ...more

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Jul 20, 2010 unknown rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: 2010, sci-fi-fantasy, audiobooks, ya, here-there-be-dragons

I wish I'd read this one as a kid. It's one of those books that crams an epic story in under 200 pages, sketching the world and the details and the action rather than spelling everything out. As a kid, you get lost inside of a book like that, and it seems the better for it (the closest comparison I can think of is The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe - I was shocked to re-read that and discover the "epic battle" at the end is about two pages long).

I can tell that's what UKLG was goin ...more

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Mar 26, 2008 Brad rated it it was amazing

Shelves: fantasy, the-best, faves

When I was in grade seven I had a Language Arts teacher named Mr. Hore (you can imagine the fun we had with that in junior high school). He noticed that I was a voracious reader, and that I was devouring fantasy books at the time, so he nudged me in the direction of his favourites: Ursula K LeGuin and Anne McCaffrey.

The nudging began in class with a LeGuin short story. I remember sterile white homes that were pre-fab pods, I remember odd, sci-fi-ish flora and a girl as the protagonist. I also remember not liki ...more

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Apr 12, 2018 Bionic Jean rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: children-s-and-ya, read-authors-i-l, caravan, favourites, fantasy, children-s-1960s

“In the Creation of Ea, which is the oldest song, it is said, 'Only in silence the word, only in dark the light, only in dying life: bright the hawk’s flight on the empty sky.’”

“Back then, in 1967” Ursula Le Guin once commented, “wizards were all, more or less, Merlin and Gandalf. Old men, peaked hats, white beards. But this was to be a book for young people. Well, Merlin and Gandalf must have been young once, right? And when they were young, when they were fool kids, how did they learn to be wizards? And theresky.’”
“Back ...more

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May 02, 2019 Leonard Gaya rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Ged is a copper-skinned wizard who sails endlessly across the sea, from island to island, like Odysseus, across the Mediterranean, or rather like the hero Māui of Polynesian mythology, across the Pacific Ocean. However, there is something very original, an almost abstract quality, about this fantasy novel from the 1960s. It does not have the massive choral and dramatic dimension of Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings (1954), and it lacks the charming and childish mannerisms of J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series ( ...more

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Feb 16, 2018 Manuel Antão rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2013

If you're into stuff like this, you can read the full review.

NB: read originally in the 80's. Project re-read.

“Only in silence the word,

Only in dark the light,

Only in dying life:

Bright the hawk’s flight

On the empty sky”

Yin & Yang?

I honestly don't remember a time when I wasn't obsessed with reading and collecting books. I'd define childhood as a never-ending vacation. A weekend withou ...more

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Sep 16, 2007 Alex rated it it was amazing

Recommends it for: everyone

Shelves: fiction, sff

The thing to remember about Earthsea, like all of LeGuin's writing, is that it is less fiction that it is Taoist parable. LeGuin is a philosopher cleverly disguised as a sci-fi/fantasy writer. Her writing is beautiful and languid; her characterization and plotting range from excellent to mediocre. But character and plot serve as a vehicle for the themes of balance, simplicity and serenity that infuse all of her works.

Earthsea is, on its face, a fantasy saga along the lines of Tolkien ...more

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Jan 05, 2019 Darwin8u rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: myth, young-adult, 2019, fiction, fantasy

"For magic consists in this, the true naming of a thing."
- Ursula K Le Guin, A Wizard of Earthsea

description

I rarely venture into YA fiction. Less often still do I pick up and read a book of fantasy. There are exceptions. When I trust the author, we I think there is art/beauty/originality lurking there, I will often venture into spaces and ...more

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Dec 11, 2009 Meredith Holley rated it liked it

Shelves: reviewed, up-hill-both-ways-in-the-snow, dangerous-hokum, young-adult, classic-young-adult

I have been reflecting a lot lately on the hugeness of my own limitations. This story represents one of my most obvious limitations when it comes to appreciating books. I don’t understand world building. I think this is my limitation when it comes to historical fiction as well. I don’t understand why an author would want to make a story more complicated than just what it takes to tell what happens to characters. That’s how I experience world building in both sci fi/fantasy and historical fiction – a ...more

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Jan 29, 2008 Tracy rated it it was amazing

Recommends it for: young adults and adults

Shelves: read-and-liked-it

The fantasy classic A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin was first published in 1968 and this fantasy book deserves the praise it has often received. The fantasy world, Earthsea, created by the author is rich in detail. The fishy odor at the dock of every village and the salty tang of the sea literally wafted off the pages. The magical system revealed by Le Guin is convincingly real as well, and the way in which the wizards, witches, and sorcerers fit into the society felt natural and logic ...more

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Apr 08, 2015 Ivan rated it it was amazing

Shelves: fantasy, favorites

When I think about my favorite epic fantasy books I always think about books that are 500+ pages long and honestly I didn't think it could be done properly any shorter.I was wrong.
A Wizard of Earthsea is only 180 long but it doesn't does feel short neither do I find story lacking as anything and it doesn't leave story unfinished.This book is just as long as it needs to be.

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Jul 02, 2007 Evan rated it did not like it

Shelves: left-unfinished

One of the first aphorisms of a creative writing class is "Show, not tell." Not that I don't believe in turning aphorisms on their heads, but this one is there for a reason. Le Guin, for the greater part of the book, just tells. It makes for a painful reading experience. Children's literature in the 21st century is not limited in its range of boy in fantasy realm turns amazing magic user, and so the dull setting, plotting and characterization of "A Wizard of Earthsea" is best left unread. In 196 ...more

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Dec 13, 2014 Ryan rated it liked it

The Good:
Written in an amazing mythic style, this book initially blew me away. The societies depicted weren't just modern Western cultures with bronze/iron age furniture - the setting felt like a truly ancient place shaped by geography and history, and where lack of technology actually mattered. The magic and metaphysics were freakin' sweet too.

The Bad:
The second half of the story really dragged, probably for a few reasons. The mythical style certainly keeps the reader at arm's length (not i/>The ...more

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Nov 30, 2016 Solseit rated it it was amazing

Shelves: to-read-on-shelf

This is such a precious book of fantasy, of a classic (if it even exists) fantasy tale, of a mage who learns his true nature, who fights himself and his fears to become a better version of himself.
The plot is nice and simple, straightforward and entertaining.
The writing style is superb, impressive in the simplicity of the delivery. Yet, the words used tend to be of a refined palate; it is pure gold.
I dare saying this is felt as a family tale, a book to share with your loved ones; it also feel ...more

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Jun 25, 2019 HP Saucerer rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: children-s-classics, coming-of-age, read-in-2019, award-winners, favorites, magic, fantasy

The first book of Ursula Le Guin’s mythical and magical Earthsea Cycle tells the story of a young mage’s journey to becoming a great wizard.

Ged, a young inhabitant of the island of Gont and one of the mageborn, is gifted with great powers but his gifts make him arrogant and impatient and the pride that he takes in his power precedes an inevitable fall: a duel of magic with a rival mage and the release of a terrifying shadow creature, unrelenting in its pursuit of Ged. And so begins an epic journey of growth ...more

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About Ursula K. Le Guin

Ursula K. Le Guin

15,787 followers

Ursula K. Le Guin published twenty-two novels, eleven volumes of short stories, four collections of essays, twelve books for children, six volumes of poetry and four of translation, and has received many awards: Hugo, Nebula, National Book Award, PEN-Malamud, etc. Her recent publications include the novel Lavinia, an essay collection, Cheek by Jowl, and The Wild Girls. She lived in Portland, Oregon.

She w ...more