A Wizard of Earthsea (Unabridged)

Rating:
Summary: Better than Tolkien
Review: It has been at least a decade since I read either LeGuin or Tolkien. LeGuin because I have not had the time; Tolkien because I did not want to be bored out of my wits yet again. But from memory alone, I know that LeGuin's writing is in a word: Fantastic. Her command of English prose is absolute genius. I can still remember the haunting beauty of those words in A Wizard of Earthsea that gave each thing its true name, as if all of us, on this earth, had such a name as well. And I still remember the scene in The Farthest Shore on which the reader casts his eyes: dragons floating in the distant air, reflecting the gold of the sun from their wings, onto the water. That image haunts one's memory, because LeGuin gives us something rare not only in fantasy, but in all of literature -- the shared imagination : so vivid that we cannot help but retain those images in indelible memory. Though I read her novels as a teenager, I also read Shakespeare and Tolstoy, and Joyce and Homer. It strikes me as rather insipid to plug her novels into the genre of juvenile literature while somehow vaunting Tolkien's as for the sophisticated and mature. I really beg to differ. LeGuin's Earthsea is far richer, far more imaginative, far more convincing, and dare I say, just darn more interesting, than the world of Tolkien's pen (I won't say imagination). And that Joyce's Ulysses should be about a young Stephen Dedalus becoming his nation's poet has never caused that novel to be called a book of Bildungsroman. Please! Her novels, if we must be plain, are about the search for self, which is not a meager task accomplished between the ages of 11 and 20 -- but a lifelong endeavor. Earthsea is about discovery, of a new and fantastic, beautiful world, and of oneself, as deep, as turbulent, as entangled and mesmerizing as the realm of her imagination. Is this not what we hope for from any piece of art? Understanding of the world, and understanding of the worlds within.

And simply because LeGuin's novels are terse and stylistically written in the meter of lore and legend, does not render it in any way inferior to the prose of Tolkien. In fact, many an intelligent reader would gladly do without the droning repetition and pedantic, overwrought elaborations of Lord of the Rings. Quantity does not equal genius. In fact, the true poet is one who says the most with least words. One only has to read a single Shakespeare play to realize that.

So once and for all, let us give Ms. LeGuin her due honor, and stop comparing her to a writer such as Tolkien, who truly is much less than her equal. Ms. LeGuin is by my estimation one of the greatest fantasy novelists, and possibly THE Greatest, ever to have taken up the pen. She writes fantasy not to create a world for its own sake (as might be said of some others), but to bring that world of the imagination into the realm of the possible, the credible, the believable -- so much that we would believe in spite of ourselves, and we only wish we could will this imagined world into being a part of our own.

Rating:
Summary: Mostly Filler, Very Little Killer
Review: Maybe I'm biased against this book because I was required to read it for school, but most of the other books we have read I have loved. This one just annoyed me. It seemed like when you read it there were always certain parts in the book that just didn't need to be there. Filler. If I had taken out all the filler in this book, it would have been at least half as thick. Maybe I'm just not into these kinds of books (although I like most books no matter what they're about), but I found it hard to focus on because of all the unnecessary information, and kind of boring. I personally do not recommend this book.

Rating:
Summary: The old authors are still the best
Review: Modern fantasy writers should take a day and reread Mrs. Le Guin's novel with the hopes of gaining perspective on what makes a good fantasy novel. In about 30% of the length of most new novels, the author builds a world rich in detail and history, and still manages to keep the story driven by the characters, and not by the world itself.

The central character goes through a six-year span of his life in this book, from the age of his naming to when he's nineteen and a full-fledged wizard. During that time he studies and grows and faces his most inner demons. The author fleshes out that inner turmoil that every teenager goes through and turns it into a great adventure of self-discovery. This would have made an even more fantastic read when I was in high school.

The book is definitely a fantasy, but in the classic sense. Magic and such is not he backbone of this book. It is more of a backdrop.

I recommend this book to all adults and young adults who have 5-6 hours to immerse themselves in a world of fantasy adventure and friendship.


Rating:
Summary: Harry Potter's cousin
Review: Similar to Harry Potter...The boy who goes to wizard school is not liked in the town. Most people in the town do not understand magic or have powers, but the magical people go to the wizard school. Very transporting and trancendent.
This book is part of a trilogy. Writer is Ursula K. LeGuin The other two books are about magic as well.
I liked Harry Potter better, however.

Rating:
Summary: great standalone book, start of a very good series
Review: With the recent Sci- Fi Channel miniseries, there is bound to be renewed interest in LeGuin's classic first book in her Earthsea series, as there should be. This remains a classic fantasy for good reason. The world within which the characters move is fully developed, having a sense of past, present and future as well as a sense of a larger "there there", as opposed to some fantasies that feel like a Hollywood stage set, as if nothing exists beyond the narrow social/geographical worlds the characters move through. Such is not the case with Earthsea. One feels it is real from the start and the ensuing books in the series only deepen that feeling with regard to its social and political structures, its people, its mythic past.
The characters are equally strong, especially Ged, the young boy who grows to adulthood in true coming-of-age fashion--through pain, loss, self-destruction, and eventual slow growth of wisdom. The depiction of his younger years as he first learns of his wizardly power and potential, apprentices to a single wizard then rejects that slow, dull path in order to attend the more exciting wizardry school (do not think Harry Potter here, style, tone, and environment are quite different) is right on. He is impatient, cocky, self-sure, quick to anger, impulsive, moody. In short, he is an adolescent. As such he has no time for the slow pace of his masters, for their constant warnings about the "balance" (the universe is in constant equilibrium and one change someplace effects another change, for good or ill, somewhere else) and its restrictions on use of power. The idea of the balance is the more you know, the less likely you are to act. Ged, in impetuous and realistic fashion sees it as the more you know, the more you can act.
As one might expect, his blithe self-confidence sets him up for a major fall, as he accidentally opens a portal, allowing an unknown "shadow" to enter the world. Roughly the first half of the book leads up to this event, the second half follows what happens afterward, as Ged is hunted by the evil he has let into the world, an evil that can cause great harm unless he does something about it. Along the way, he slowly grows in wisdom (the steps toward adulthood are gradual but nicely marked), helped along by his former tutor whom he rejected for his dull passivity and his closest friend from the wizard's school at Roke, Vetch.
The end, without giving details away, is simply perfect in its resolution, in its tone, and in its complexity. Don't expect simplistic happy ending or heroic battles against overwhelming odds; this is a personal journey, a personal victory, though it has larger repercussions.
The book succeeds in pretty much all it does. Its world creation is rich and full and three-dimensional. Its characters are sharply detailed, realistic, complex beings. Its plot exciting, its language vivid (sometimes classified as young adult--I'm not sure why--it does not talk down to a perceived younger audience, in terms of complexity of language or philosophy). And in the best test of a good book, it leaves the reader wanting much more; luckily LeGuin provides with several more books in the series. Very highly recommended.