Hardcover, 192 pages
Published Oct. 8, 1973 by Heinemann Educational Publishers.
A boy grows to manhood while attempting to subdue the evil he unleashed on the world as an apprentice to the Master Wizard.
I really liked the book. There are a lot of cool ideas about how the magic works in this universe, and a ton of amazing world building. Earthsea feels like a real place, with its own rules, customs, and quirks.
There is something about the writing style that felt a bit off to me though. I honestly don't know how to explain it.
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A must-read in the collection of fantasy classics
Prose is slim and considered, the imagery vivid without being exhausting, but I did not feel engaged with Ged, personally, philosophically, etc.
I appreciate how concise and capable a novel this is; that it is in its way rubbing against the grain of what, in 1969 especially, are the expectations of a fantasy novel and setting.
But I read it today, in a different cultural milieu. While Left Hand of Darkness and The Dispossessed still felt compelling and relevant, Wizard of Earthsea is something I can only imagine once having a greater potency.
