A Wizard of Earthsea, Ursula K Le Guin

A Wizard of Earthsea is a fantasy novel written by the American author Ursula K. Le Guin, first published by the small press Parnassus in 1968. Set in the fictional archipelago of Earthsea, the story follows the education of a young mage named Ged who joins the school of wizardry. A Wizard of Earthsea is widely regarded as a classic of fantasy literature and was one of the final recipients of the Lewis Carroll Shelf Award, an award that recognized outstanding children’s literature. This is the first book in a set of 6 novels written about the world of Earthsea.

Margaret Atwood has called A Wizard of Earthsea one of the “wellsprings” of fantasy literature, illustrating Le Guin’s influence within the genre. A Wizard of Earthsea has been compared to major fantasy works such as J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings and L. Frank Baum’s The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Modern writers have credited A Wizard of Earthsea for introducing the idea of a “wizard school,” which would later be made famous by the Harry Potter series of books.

Whilst I think both the Earthsea novels and Tolkien’s Middle Earth’s novels are both great, I don’t necessarily think of them as comparable apart from both being in the same genre and have wizards and dragons. Having said that, they have both created incredible extensive worlds for their characters. There are clearly a number of gender issues that Le Guin is interested in. There is a clear distinction between the roles of the witches and wizards within the books. It is only the wizards that are allowed to train at the island of Roke. The magic of witches is only considered of secondary importance. Of course the books are so wonderfully written you can enjoy them purely for the adventure and great characterization. My only regret with these novels is that I came to them so late. I somehow missed these as a child. It would’ve given me great pleasure to sail round the islands of Earthsea in my mind.