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A Wizard of Earthsea (Earthsea Cycle, #1)

Ursula K. Le Guin

Start date: August 1, 2011

Finish date: August 31, 2011

Discussion: Book Discussions

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What Members Thought

Sep 19, 2008 Jim rated it really liked it

Shelves: favorites, fantasy, sword-sorcery, 2fiction, 3series, 1paper

A short, excellent fantasy with a good point. I first read this as a teenager about 40 years ago & really liked it then. I loved it this time around, too. That says a lot about a book & proves it is a fairly timeless tale.

7 likes · Like · see review

Jun 12, 2010 Michael rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, read-in-2010, summer-of-series

For some reason, growing up I never got around to reading Ursula K. Le Guin's "A Wizard of Earthsea." Part of it could be that I heard it compared to the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy, a series that I couldn't quite plow my way through, despite multiple attempts as a younger reader. And part of it could have been that I was enamored with the tie-in novels for "Doctor Who" and "Star Trek," that I never got around to some of the other original stories from the genre.

When ads began running for an "Ea ...more

5 likes · Like · see review

Jul 11, 2010 Netanella rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, classics-modern, young-adult, dragons, wizard-warlock

First line: 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.

Excellent story. I should be ashamed of myself for owning these books for over 30 years and not having started reading them until now. But I'm not - ashamed, that is. Perhaps a little remorseful that I waited so long, but grateful that I can come to them now, a little older and perhaps wiser, and enjoy the story of Ged that much more. ...more

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Nov 18, 2023 Scot rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: amazing, young-adult, fantasy

I read this when I was young, and the story completely slipped from consciousness. What a beautiful book to return to so many years later and discover the story anew.

Le Guin is such a fabulous writer and this tale is truly captivating. I look forward to continuing the series and bringing the same youthful wonder that I brought to the first book.

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Aug 17, 2020 Timothy rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: sci-fi-fantasy

Densely prosaic writing; a morsel of which can easily be chewed and considered, yet with a lyrical, or perhaps elegiac, quality. The novel is short, really more of a longer novella, yet the depth of cleverly inserted world building makes it feel as if you have read a longer work, with roots as deep as any mythology that Tolkien could build. And yes, the comparisons with the elder work are both obligatory and necessary in my opinion. But Ms. Leguin definitely does her own thing here as the plot i ...more

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