Book Review: A Wizard of Earthsea (The Earthcycle, Book 1)

aarmau@gmail.comOctober 26, 2011book review

From Powell Books Website

Earthsea 
Ursula K. Le Guin’s Earthsea cycle has become one of the best-loved fantasies of our time. The windswept world of Earthsea is one of the greatest creations in all of fantasy literature, frequently compared with J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle Earth or C.S. Lewis’s Narnia. The magnificent saga begins with A Wizard of Earthsea, continues in The Tombs of Atuan and The Farthest Shore, and concludes with Tehanu — each book a treasure of wisdom, wonder, and literary wizardy.



A Wizard of Earthsea
Ged was the greatest sorcerer in all Earthsea, but once he was called Sparrowhawk, a reckless youth, hungry for power and knowledge, who tampered with long-held secrets and loosed a terrible shadow upon the world. This is the tale of his testing, how he mastered the mighty words of power, tamed an ancient dragon, and crossed death’s threshold to restore the balance.
My Thoughts

I am restarting my journey of reading the hundreds of books on my bookshelves that I have purchased over the years that I have not made time to read. This book was the start. I have been wanting to read this book for years. I bought it quite some time ago and finally found some time this weekend to give it a read.

This book was published in 1968. I was interested to read the book to see how many elements of fantasy have been taken from her work. The book is short being under 200 pages. In the fantasy world it is not uncommon to read a 500+ page book in a long series. 

I will admit that I struggled at first stay interested in this book. It is all about personal taste. It was not so much about the writing or story line as it had everything I typically like. However, it just did not grab me. I almost felt bad for thinking this way as hundreds of people just rant and rave about how great this series is. I posted at about page 109 on Goodreads.com that I was thinking of putting the book down.

I am glad I did not. I decided to finish the book to give it the proper time it deserved. One Ged finally turned himself around and went after his main voyage I became quite interested. I think it was because the journey paralleled the many thoughts and ideas of my personal goals I create for myself. I was able to relate to his mindset. I am actually in the process of applying this novel to some principle of my GETTING IT DONE blog series and book I am writing.


I am glad I read this book. Not a favorite of mine, but one that I think deserves to be read by and fantasy fan. I can see why so many would like this book and series. I think many middle grade students would love this story. It is a great stepping stone to the much larger volumes. Despite myself not liking this story as much as I had hoped for, please don’t let that deter you from reading. I think many people will really like this story. I guess I need to jump back into the A Song of Fire and Ice series and begin book two to satisfy my cravings.



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