Rating: 
Summary: Intersting if you work it.
Review: A Wizard of Earthsea caught me off guard. I plan to teach in the high school in a couple of years and it really took me a while to get into this book. However, I noticed that Ursula LeGuinn is very descriptive and my goal was to figure out what my students would get out of this book. There are many morals to the story. Ged, the main character, has to find something that makes him who he is. He finds himself through magic and the meaning of his name. This is good, but it can take the reader a while to realize what the story is about. When reading the book in the beginning I thought it to be very boring and didn't see a reason to encourage anyone to read it because I was focused on what was where and how it might have looked. Then an idea suddenly came to me! The idea that I came up with was an art class. Because of the descriptiveness, it would be very interesting to see how students would draw the land of earthsea and the people that live there. I would advise students who are into art and imagination to read this book.
Rating: 
Summary: A Wizard of Earthsea
Review: In the book, A Wizard of Earthsea, you encounter a wild young man named Ged. His mother died when he was born, his father has no use for a baby that can do no work, and his aunt merely looked after him until he could fend for himself. Ged has no family support and no friends. He is looking for acceptance and he finally finds a way to gain some form of respect when his aunt, the local witch, recognizes his natural talent for magic. From that point on, Ged has found the path that he must take in life. That path finally brings Ged to the doors of the School of Roke and into the company of real friendship.
Magic was Ged's deliverance from his small little town, it was his means of saving his townspeople, but it also has a darker side. Ged glimpsed this dark magic once while under the tutelage of the great mage of Ogion, and while at the School for Wizards, he gets a horrifying view of it that nearly takes his life. Due to his proud, boastful nature, Ged accidentally looses a dark demon into his world and the balance is not offset and a great man dies in order to save him. Everyone can see that there is a great powerfully potential in Ged, but he, so starved for acceptance, is careless. Now that he has disrupted the balance of the world, he has to live up to his potential, temper it with wisdom, and right what he has set wrong. The demon Ged let loose will eventually seek him out to destroy him and Ged must be equal for the fight.
This book depicts Ged as an imperfect hero. He is greatness within him, but he does not know how to manage it. The events in his life have molded him into an impetuous child that answers to no one. Ged had no guidance as a child. No one paid him any attention until he saved the town with his spells. He led a life not necessarily in the shadows, but one of invisibility until someone saw him. Ged, like any other child, wanted to be noticed. He wanted to be a part of something. The only chance that he had was to become a wizard for with that title comes the respect and acceptance that he yearns for. In order to handle this responsibility, Ged also had to learn humility. He had to understand that greatness does not come solely from sheer skill. It is a delicate balance between skill and an ongoing search for and acquiring of wisdom.
Rating:
Summary: A Little Book with Big Adventure
Review: I was surprised by this little excellent book! A young boy named Sparrowhawk is born with tremendous power but has no training or discipline to handle it. He is taken by the Wizard Ogion to be trained but, Sparrowhawk, impatient to use his skills asks to be sent to the Island of Roke to the famous Wizard School.
There he encounters other boys with skills like his own. He comes to face his own weaknesses and greed for power when a classmate whom he hates dares him to cast a spell he is forbidden to do. This results in a tragedy and Sparrowhawk's near fatal injury. Upon recovery, he vows to change his ways and right what he has done.
Although this book was recommended for ages eleven and up, it is by no means a book for young adults only. It has some very profound life lessons that adults will identify with. I loved the fantasy world that Le Guin creates. Her writing is taut, suspenseful and imaginative. The premise that the power of a word can change a relationship or destiny is brilliant. The story stresses balance and equilibrium in life in that each action effects all as we are all from one source.
Wizard of Earthsea is a totally engrossing and vivid fantasy tale.
Rating: 
Summary: Really Unrealistic: An Acquired Taste of Literature
Review: Before I start, I have to admit that my review of this book is sort of biased because I usually would not read literature that deals with fantasy and as you probably guessed, I did not like the book. I will, nonetheless, attempt at giving a fair review.The book is about a young man named Ged, who is known as Sparrowhawk to the rest of the world, and his journey to become a grand wizard as well as a learned man who knows how to conquer his fear. The journey is a worthwhile read for the message that it gives but, at the same time, the plot is long and drawn-out. My last thoughts were, "I'm sure the author could have found another way of getting the message of conquering fear across to her readers." Once again, though, I must say that my statement may be biased. Looking back at the events that took place in the book, I don't believe that any one was insignificant. Every event in some way brought the protagonist closer to the story's final message. The plot may have seemed long and drawn-out to me because I am not accustomed to reading this genre of literature and, of course, every event in a fantastic story is going to seem far-fetched which is a quality that I do not look for in the novels that I choose. So, I will conclude by saying that I would only recommend this book to lovers of fantasy literature. Otherwise, readers are in for a long, tiresome ride.
Rating:
Summary: A Wizard Of Earthsea
Review: A Wizard of Earthsea was written by Ursula K. Le Guin. This book may have been interesting to kids but it wasn't interesting at all to me. Personally, I thought that this book was very hard to get through. Earthsea is the story of a young boy named Ged who seems to be climbing the ladder of becoming the greatest sorcerer ever. After discovering that he has some power, Ged goes on a quest of trying to see what else he has power to do. Ged was not satisfied with a few things he had to learn and do more. Ged starts off being a curious young boy who wants to learn every trick there is. Later on down the line his curiousty caused many problems for him. After reading the book, I realized that Ged didn't really know who he was and throughout the book he was trying to figure himself out.
This book isn't the worst but it isn't the best either. For all those readers who love fantasy, I would suggest this book. I like fastasy but not enough to really enjoy this book. I found this book so hard to get through that I'm not interested in reading the rest of the series.
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Summary: Oh No! Not Another Snoozer!
Review: The Wizard of Earthsea was an incredibly difficult novel. Ged's coming of age story lacked the necessary pieces to form a great work of art. The lack of excitement and character development made for a tedious reading. Earthsea's stop and go, choppy presentation created even more difficulties. The climactic scenes were few and far between and without those couple of events, the book would have been a complete failure. The two main confrontation scenes held the most excitement and this enthrallment simply festered out of the need for action and longing for an interesting facet to this book.
Another fault within the confines of this book was the poor depiction of time. With all of the sea travel and moving around, the time frame seemed to extend to decades. It appeared to be much like an epic, extending over an incredible amount of time. However, in actuality the lapse was only a couple of years. There was only one instance where the time passed was given an amount. The time between the first encounter with the shadow and the running into Vetch towards the end of the novel was two years. In those two years, Ged had traveled far and encountered much, so much it seemed impossible that it had only been two years. For this reason, it was extremely difficult to give age, appearance or understanding to the character, Ged. The similarities between Earthsea and Harry Potter were amazing, however, Harry Potter was written well with character development and exciting, adrenaline-rushing scenes. Despite the similar aspects Earthsea fails to live up to Harry Potter or Tolkien's Lord of the Rings.
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Summary: If You Like Fantasy
Review: If you like fantasy, A Wizard of Earthsea, by Ursula K Le Guin, is an enjoyable read. Le Guin creates a wonderful world of wizards, dragons, heroes and villains, where a young boy, Duny, grows into a man and a wizard. After saving his village from maurauders, Duny is given his true name, Ged, and leaves with the Mage Ogion to gain the knowledge to fulfill his destiny. When Ged's pride leads him to unleash the evil shadow, he must face himself and his fears to restore the balance he has upset. A Wizard of Earthsea is fun for those who enjoy entering a world where anything is possible, however, the story is predictable and at times tedious. Le Guin inundates the reader with the names of the various islands, mountains and seas in which the story takes place. It becomes rather like a Geography lesson as one follows Ged on his journeys. Le Guin is exhaustive in her descriptions and histories of the people and places that comprise Earthsea. Because A Wizard of Earthsea is at times a tedious read, I would not recommend it to readers who do not enjoy fantasy. For those who do, A Wizard of Earthsea, and the remaining books in the series, will be a pleasurable excursion into a world of wizards and magic.
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Summary: Outdated
Review: I found Earthsea to be quite a difficult read. There is no real background about Duny who ends up going from age 4 to a thirteen year old in less than two chapters. He also ends up getting his name changed to Ged by the end of the first chapter. It is not clear to me as to why he was not given the proper name at birth. I also found it difficult to take the story seriously as far as Gont being known for wizards and other forms of sorcery, maybe if I had an interest in fantasy, I may be more impressed by the storyline. The story just seems overdone to me. Even though it was written over thirty years ago, it still seems redundant due to all of the books and movies that have similar storylines. The names of the people and places are difficult to pronounce which made me focus more on what I was trying to pronounce and not the story itself. The theme was unclear to me (if there really was one) and the story seemed to just ramble on aimlessly. While reading this book I could not help but compare it to Lord of the Rings or Harry Potter, which I recently finished. Earthsea sounds so much like both stories, only far less of interest. This could have been a far better story had Duny/Ged not appeared to be going around in circles. And the maps that were included in the story did not help me one bit, it just made me glad that there was one less page to read. Le Guin tries to elaborate on details that do not seem to connect at all to Ged's journey throughout the story. It is a wonder that the book is still in print.
Rating:
Summary: A World Apart
Review: A world steeped in mystery. A world where a name gives you power over a being. This is the world that young Ged, also known as Sparrowhawk begins his epic journey. After calling a mist to protect his village, young Ged is chosen to be an apprentice. The wizard he is first apprenticed to does not teach him the power words he wishes to know. An ego combined with bravado and ambition lead to great danger for our young hero.
Using his power and a magic he does not understand, young Ged summons a great evil into this world after having his ego bruised. Full of himself and overconfident, he loses control of his spell and launches his own great tale of victory.
This is an interesting book as it actually deals with the consequences of misusing magic. Ged suffers drastically for his "crime" and must set his wrong right. Not an easy task, he doesn't seek fame after his encounter, he merely seeks to make it right. This grand adventure that he undertakes and the taming of the dragon make him famous which is an ironic twist to get what he really desired despite the fact he gave up on it.
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Summary: Lack of Excitement Rushes through a Book that Drags
Review: The Wizard of Earthsea was hardly the book of excitement I expected it to be. Ursula K. Le Guin follows the life of a young wizard Ged, as he learns to cope with the responsibilities of being a wizard. The story manages to simultaneously fly through the first nineteen years of his life and drag on. Many of the characters and adventures Ged encounters last no more than a few pages and hold little, if any, bearing in the story as a whole. The beginning of the story seems to lag as we wait to find out what exactly Ged's great adventure will be. When he finally finds it, there is still some confusion as to what "it" is. It does pick up a bit from here, and the reader can get more involved in the story. However, then Ged is off on another adventure and the one the reader was interested in is pretty much lost. The end was unfortunately predictable, though I was not disappointed by it personally. It seemed that is was the only real way to end it. The final showdown does prove to be a satisfying read and I finally found some of the excitement and magic I had anticipated. Whether it makes up for the rest of the book, I am unsure, but it does open the possibility of a more successful second and third book.
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