A wizard of Earthsea

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Ursula K. Le Guin: A wizard of Earthsea (Undetermined language, 1968, Heinemann)

Undetermined language

Published Aug. 13, 1968 by Heinemann.

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4 stars (4 reviews)

A boy grows to manhood while attempting to subdue the evil he unleashed on the world as an apprentice to the Master Wizard.

71 editions

Very enjoyable but of its time

4 stars

I did really enjoy reading this, and will almost certainly go on to read the other Earthsea books.

I came to Earthsea after reading several of Le Guin's Hainish cycle books and short stories, including some of the earliest ones like Rocannon's World. I can see similarities with the earliest Hainish cycle works, from around the same time - an emphasis on male characters, for example - which I am sure would have been handled differently by the same author had she written them later on. But there are still a lot of great ideas here, and it is far more open-minded than most fantasy literature of its era.

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2 stars