Book Bearings
A Wizard of Earthsea
- 205 pages · about 3 hours
- First published 1968
- 87 editions
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1 About this book
On the island of Gont, in the archipelago of Earthsea, a village boy nicknamed Sparrowhawk shows a rare gift for magic. The mage Ogion takes him as an apprentice and gives him his true name, Ged, and later he joins a school for wizards. Proud and quick to take offense, Ged lets a rivalry with another student goad him into a spell beyond his skill, and it releases a shadow creature into the world. The rest of the novel follows him across the islands and seas of Earthsea as he tries to be free of it. Ursula K. Le Guin's novel, first published in 1968, is the first of her Earthsea books.
- Magic
- Magic in fiction
- Fantasy
- Science fiction
- Wizards
- Wizards in fiction
- Children's fiction
- Fantastic fiction
2 What to expect
A short fantasy classic about the youth of a great wizard: a gifted, proud boy from a small island unleashes a shadow through his own arrogance and must face it. It is a coming-of-age story about power, balance and knowing oneself, set among islands and open sea, with magic based on the true names of things. The prose is spare and grave, like a legend retold, and there is little humor or battle.
Good for readers who want: classic fantasy, a wizard's coming of age, and a short, thoughtful read.
3 About Ursula K. Le Guin
Bio adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)
4 More by Ursula K. Le Guin
5 Similar books
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- The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
- Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J. K. Rowling
- The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan
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