Book Review: A Wizard of Earthsea

The other day, I was helping my son do some pull-ups on the chin-up bar. He asked me, “Dad, how come we do these every day?” I simply told him it was so he could get stronger and beat his last score on the school fitness test. “Do you think we could just practice a couple of days before your test and that would be all you would need?” I asked him. I was surprised when he answered yes.

I remember when I was his age though, I couldn’t wait for anything. I was even born a month premature and my mom said it was because I kept bugging Heavenly Father if I could go yet, and finally he gave in. I guess I still am a bit short on patience in some situations (I can hear my wife's voice . . . "SOME situations?").

Perhaps that is why I so readily aligned myself with the main character Ged in Ursula K. LeGuin’s coming-of-age novel, A Wizard of Earthsea. Ged is a precocious child who shows above average aptitude for magic and can’t wait to gain more knowledge, ultimately to his own detriment. The world he lives in is an island-based land with nothing but boats and sea-based cultures. Magic is ubiquitous and wizards are highly respected members of society.

I first picked up A Wizard of Earthsea because my new favorite author ( Shannon Hale ) included it in a list of her must-read books. As I read it, I found that I couldn’t put it down, despite the little things that bothered me about it.

In some circles, Earthsea is compared to Harry Potter, but other than dealing with a boy who goes off to wizard school, they are nothing alike. First off, the language of Earthsea (written in 1968) is somewhat detached, for lack of a better word. You tend to see things from a narrator’s point of view instead of getting inside the characters’ heads.

Another thing that bothers me about many fantasy books are all the impossible-to-pronounce made-up names of people and places. Oh, and the maps that are included to help track the action. Unfortunately, Earthsea has both. The good news is that the story is strong enough to get you past these things.

In the world of Earthsea, magic takes real exertion. You can’t just keep casting spell after spell, because you become week drained. Not to mention the fact that the world must maintain balance. If you change the weather by magic here, you could be affecting the weather adversely in another part of the world. This lesson of balance is lost on Ged as he brings a horror from the world of the dead into the realm of the living. Ged is a flawed hero who learns to combat his pride, arrogance, and above all, he learns the value of patience. Ursula allows Ged to make bad choices and then he must live with the consequences of those choices.

As Ged battles the darkness he has unleashed, he learns that this enemy is a part of himself. He ultimately learns that he must confront his problems instead of avoiding them, as his shadowy enemy only has power when Ged is afraid and retreats from it. It is difficult to admit that we each have darkness within us, but only by confronting these problems can we triumph over the evil things within ourselves.

No, this book is no Harry Potter. It is definitely for teens and adults. The journey Ged faces kept me up reading late into the night on several occasions. I even finished the book in record pace for me. In language and world creation, Earthsea is more Tolkien-esque, but a bit faster paced. Still, I am a little uncomfortable making that comparison as well. Overall, I could not put down this book and have already gotten the sequel (there are 4 books in the Earthsea saga, plus a prequel). I highly recommend picking this one up. But don’t take my word for it. Read the first chapter on Amazon and decide for yourself. You can get it for .75 cents.

Author’s note: you may remember that the SciFi channel did an Earthsea mini series a while back. Ursula hated it ( read her article ) and felt that it was untrue to her book and her characters.