Rating: 
Summary: Magic! Pure Magic!
Review: Le Guin's works, in my opinion, may very well top even The Lord of the Rings in their greatness (although the next 10,000 Tolkien fans who read this review will probably jump on me and rip me to shreds for saying so).A Wizard of Earthsea is quite an incredible work of high fantasy. It's a classic tale of wizardry and magic, but with twists along the way. A Wizard of Earthsea is the story of the Archmage and Dragonlord Ged. Long before Ged had become Archamge and Dragonlord, he was known as Sparrowhawk, an intelligent, but reckless youth, power-hungry and lacking in wisdom. Ged begins learning simple magic from a local witch before being apprenticed to Ogion, a quiet mage from the other side of the island on which he lives. After spending several years with Ogion, he travels to Roke, to attend the school for wizards. However, he soon becomes rivals with a fellow student. One night, intent on putting his rival to shame and establishing himself as the superior magic-user, Ged accidently lets loose a shadow on all Earthsea. For the rest of his life, it will follow him, hunting him down trying to kill him and posses his flesh so it can gain form and substance with which to wreck havoc upon all of Earthsea. In order to prevent this, Ged must confront and defeat this evil, but the quest cannot be accomplished easily, but Ged must try, at risk of his life so that he can save his soul.
Rating:
Summary: A joy for all ages
Review: I bought my first copy of this book for a class when I was a sophomore in high school. Since I finished the first book, I fell in love with the story of Earthsea. The story is gripping and original, and the charachter development is well rounded. I would recommend this series for fantasy readers of any age.
Rating:
Summary: Terse, mystical, profound
Review: It is an insult to the genius of this book to try to describe it in layman's terms. Words just don't do justice. Le Guin always proves that she has a unique outlook on the world, and the Earthsea books are no exception. The Wizard of Earthsea is the first part of a series of (now) four books. This part details the origins and youth of Ged - a boy from a backwater village in the great archipelago world of Earthsea. With a magical feat that saves his entire community from barbaric invaders, he shows himself to be greatly proficient in the Art. He is apprenticed to a sorceror (who nevertheless hides under the guise of a simple healer), and makes his way to the Academy on the Island of Roke. There, out of his great pride, he unleashes a shadow-thing in a contest of forbidden magics. Injured, scarred both physically and mentally, he now must flee the thing he brought into this world - or confront it. One of the most surprising and masterful twists is the terse, epic writing: Le Guin does not spend time to write whole descriptive paragraphs; she sets the scenes with broad strokes of a few sentences, focusing on the most important events. This book is very quick reading. Ged is an inspiring character. He can be crudely compared to Ender from Orson Scott Card's writings, or perhaps Taran from Lloyd Alexander's, in that he wields great power, by which he is burdened. The reader quickly becomes attached to his grim, brooding persona, as his quest takes him through the world. Ged is also a powerful role-model: he must acknowledge his undeniable talent and shed his fears of losing control of his powers. The Wizard of Earthsea is undoubtedly a classic, a powerful work of high fantasy and spiritual development.
Rating: 
Summary: Simple, but deeply interesting and fun.
Review: This book, along with "The Black Cauldron", and "Dragondrums" was one of my favorites as a child. As an adult, I still deeply enjoy sitting down with it for a re-read. Fundamentally a simple story, we look into the life of a young orphan "Sparrowhawk", who discovers that he is a wizard with the true-name of Ged. Through his arrogance and pride, he accidentally releases a supremely dangerous and powerful force, that even the greatest of wizards cannot destroy. He must find a way to make right what he has done. I've always loved this story because of its characters, and its world. I have found with fantasy books that most authors tend towards the stereotypical "man wearing a black cape releases ball of fire" motif. This world has a clear philosophy on the use of its magic, and a whimsical, "fairy-tale" feel throughout. The characters are strong, and empathatic. Overall, one of the best books of its kind. I give it a four only because I reserve my five's for books of such depth and complexity as Dune. Out of 100, I would give it an 85.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful!
Review: The series of Earthsea is great! I enjoyed the first book one of my teacher lent me, and now I'm working on the third, having completely enjoyed the second. I love Ursula K. Le Guin's writing and have fallen in love with the Earthsea series. I plan to read the rest of the books in the series and move onto her other books. I recommend you buy this book, but I must warn you, you're going to get hooked on it!
Rating: 
Summary: Horrible Book, Do Not Waste Your Time!
Review: Very slow, dull, predictable, and wholly uninteresting. At no point does anything that happens come as even the slightest surprise. The battle sequences are very slow moving and would not interest anyone. It is a small book but it still took me over 3 weeks to drudge my way through this garbage. Afterwords I used it to start my fireplace, a task I am not sure its even worthy of.
Rating: 
Summary: A good beginning was partially lost somewhere along the way
Review: Not too many fantasy series really impress me. Of this date,there have only been two: Pullman's His Dark Materials and TolkiensLOTR. This book, and series, come close, but i found them wanting. AWizard of EarthSea has its own appeal, in the style that marks theseries. The story has the air of a saga, and one gets the feeling thatimportant things might happen with Ged. People have called it HighFantasy, which is fine. This book is thoughtful and insightful, butthere a few problems. First of all, although great things seem to bein store for Ged, they are not apparent in this book. The sense ofdestiny that was created in the beginning got lost somewhere along theway, and now Ged drifts along with his sole purpose of exterminating ashadow. The book also has little to hold it together; again we getthe feeling of being adrift. He wanders from town to town, from evilcastle to dragon-infested island to fishing villages. Another problemis the interminable length of the boat rides, which creates nosuspense at all for his confrontation with the shadow; nor does itimpress with its imagery, or its rich complexity. The book franklygets a little dull towards the end. In good fantasy we usually get atleast a glimpse of some overarching conflict. That is absent here,almost completely. I'm not asking for a thriller but a book should nottake too much energy just to stay focused. Finally, the way he defeatsthe shadow has the air of a cheap movie ... The book isn't bad. Theauthor's language is simple yet evocative, and I found myselfcontemplating the book. If the second half of the book had been asgood as the first i would have to give it at least 4 stars. LeGuin'sseries has an air of timelessness about it. I only wish this promisehadn't been largely ignored in the rest of the series.
Rating:
Summary: Simple, but not
Review: Before I start, I should explain what I mean by high fantasy. High fantasy is (to me) a writing style that does not concern itself with the mundane details. Good is good and evil is evil. People don't worry about where the next meal comes from, and death and disease are not immediate, except as the story needs them. That being said, in some ways, A Wizard of Earthsea is a very simple book. It's straight high fantasy, and it's a coming of age story about confronting your inner demons, and the price paid for the sin of pride. And in an age where staggering complexity seems to be the norm, with plot twists and complex hurried action, sometimes it is good to sit and read a simple story, well told. Perhaps it's a personal thing of mine. So many people feel that it is necessary to do something new and exciting, the novel seems to exist to be novel and nothing else. I find great pleasure in seeing people do the simple things well. It's a lot harder than you think. Witness how few do it well. The fact that Earthsea is a seemingly simple novel, but complete in its simplicity makes it a classic in the field. Other novels build on the base, or change it, but this is a book you must read to understand the root of how high fantasy is written.
Rating:
Summary: Beautiful
Review: There are a lot of positive things that can be said about this book, and this series. One thing many reviewers seem to be overlooking is the simple beauty of LeGuin's writing. She employs a simple, almost monosyllabic vocabulary, to give her tale the feel of a song, or a poem. Compare her use of language to, for example, the frenzied addiction to long-winded, Latin-derived vocabulary used by Poe, and you will see why her writing conveys an almost mythic calm. I also like the way she has such beautiful sentence structure -- many sentences are like terraced waterfalls, with the reader's mind tumbling lazily down a series off steplike prepositional phrases. If you want to study writing, and the use of language, you could do a heck of a lot worse than start with this book. The story is of a young man's growth to wisdom. There is Taoism as well as Jungian ideas all through this story -- if you can get a copy, (which would have been very difficult if you live in a small town, until Amazon.com and its competitors came along), I recommend picking up the "Tao te Ching", by Lao-Tzu. You will recognize many quotations from this story. You can have a lot of fun with this story, and hopefully get a lot out of it. Check it out!
Rating:
Summary: A very Good Read!
Review: I would have preferred to get more deeply inside the heads of the characters than I did. Otherwise, an excellent book. Sparrowhawk is a masterfully created hero and I thoroughly enjoyed reading it.
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