2011 Reading #15: A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin

[snurri]

Books 1-10.
11. The Imago Sequence and Other Stories by Laird Barron.
12. The Price of Salt by Patricia Highsmith writing as Claire Morgan.
13. Surviving the Siege of Beirut: A Personal Account by Lina Mikdadi.
14. Mammoths of the Great Plains by Eleanor Arnason.

15. A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin (Re-read). Possibly you have heard of this one. I have to confess something--I read the Earthsea books (the original trilogy, anyway, which was all that was out at the time) back in junior high and didn't really imprint on them. I knew there was something there, but I was a bit befuddled; at that time what I wanted from fantasy was pretty much swords and--actually, that probably covers it. (Well, and axes, which were somehow even cooler than swords, which was why dwarves were the greatest thing ever. Baruk Khazad! Khazad ai-menu! But I digress.) So I think when I came across this book I was befuddled; I mean (and remember, this is my 13-year-old self talking here) OK, he indirectly slays a few of the young dragons, but he defeats the big one by talking to it? And the big villain is his own death or something? I just didn't get it, then. Reading it now, I want to put half the book into a file of memorable quotes and demand that it be required reading for ethics courses. Now I get it, or at least much of it. If I read it in another 25 years I'm sure I'll get even more.

Comments

[hecubot.livejournal.com]

I always loved that she had such a well-thought out basis for magic in that world. And that it's easy to see it as a metaphor for writing. Knowing the true names of things is not so different than knowing the right words to use.

[snurri.livejournal.com]

The names thing is one element of the Earthsea books that I internalized and found myself stealing much later :-)

[nancylebov.livejournal.com]

One more thing about the trilogy, at least-- Ged is a great wizard, but he doesn't have a destiny-- his career is just one thing after another.

[snurri.livejournal.com]

I hear that. Destiny is such an overused trope in fantasy that it can at times completely ruin a book for me.

[gregvaneekhout.livejournal.com]

I'm kind of that way with the rest of the trilogy, but Wizard of Earthsea spoke to me strongly on the first read. Mostly, though, I think it's because I thought the magic school was really neato.

[snurri.livejournal.com]

Magic schools are an automatic plus, it's true.

[mythusmage.livejournal.com]

I read a Wizard of Earthsea when I was 15 and the message I got from it was, "That's your bad side dude, and it's a part of you. Accept it and get on with your life."