A Wizard of Earthsea: The Earthsea Cycle, Book 1
Common Sense Note
Parents need to know that there is a battle scene with some deaths, not described. Otherwise there is little to be concerned about here.
Families who read this book could discuss the ideas about personal responsibility and about life and death raised here. What responsibility do we bear for the unintended consequences of our actions? What do you think of how life and death are presented here? Also, author LeGuin was very vocally unhappy with the miniseries adaptation of this book. What do you think of the adaptation? How could it have been done better? Why are film adaptations often so different from the book?
Common Sense Review
Reviewed By: Matt Berman
This is high fantasy, written by a master, one of the great works of young adult literature of the 20th century.
Grounded in Celtic and Norse mythology, and written in the flowing, formal language that used to characterize this type of book in the pre-Potter era, this is not one of your slam-bang, sword and sorcery, action fantasies: when Ged goes to battle a dragon, they negotiate an agreement instead, and the climactic moment is as quiet as a whisper. There isn't even a real villain.
So what keeps the pages turning? For turn they do -- this thoughtful and thought-provoking novel hasn't stayed in print for 40 years for nothing. It's all in the details, the gradual unfolding and perfecting of another world, with its own rules and geography and magic.
Ged is a fascinatingly flawed hero, and the action, though placidly paced and without much in the way of histrionics, moves relentlessly forward toward a final confrontation that has more to do with Ged coming to understand himself than with the overcoming of some world-dominating evil.
This is a fantasy for the intellect rather than the gut.
From The Book
He had worked all night at the forge-bellows, pushing and pulling the two long sleeves of goathide that fed the fire with a blast of air. Now his arms so ached and trembled from that work that he could not hold out the spear he had chosen. He did not see how he could fight or be of any good to himself or the villagers. It rankled at his heart that he should die, spitted on a Kargish lance, while still a boy: that he should go into the dark land without ever having known his own name, his true name as a man. He looked down at his thin arms, wet with cold fog-dew, and raged at his weakness, for he knew his strength. There was power in him, if he knew how to use it, and he sought among all the spells he knew for some device that might give him and his companions an advantage, or at least a chance. But need alone is not enough to set power free: there must be knowledge.
Plot Summary:
Ged, a motherless goatherder from a small island village, shows early signs of magical power. First taught by the village witch, he is then apprenticed to the wizard of the island. But he is restless for power and glory, and is eventually sent to study at the Wizard School on Roke Island.
There he is a top student and shows signs of one day becoming one of the greatest of wizards. But his pride and jealousy foolishly lead him to accept the challenge of a snide older boy to show his power.
In doing so, Ged accidentally unleashes into this world an evil shadow from the land of the dead, and causes the death of the Archmage. Now Ged must figure out how to overcome this shadow before it possesses him.
Related Books:
The Earthsea Cycle
The Tombs of Atuan
The Farthest Shore
Tehanu
Tales from Earthsea
The Other Wind
Other Books by Ursula K. Le Guin
The Lathe of Heaven
Gifts
The Hainish Sequence
Related Video
Earthsea
Related Web Sites
Author's site
Movie site
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ViolenceA battle with some deaths, Ged is injured by a nameless shadow, a small pet is killed. |
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Social BehaviorGed is arrogant and filled with anger and jealousy, but he learns better. |
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