The Books of Earthsea By Ursula K. Le Guin
Our Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ (4 out of 5 stars)
Reviewed by: Hilary Habegger
The Books of Earthsea is the Earthsea Cycle (series) in one convenient book. It was made into an anime in 2006 titled Tales From Earthsea. For this review I am going to focus mostly on the first book of the cycle A Wizard of Earthsea.
I enjoyed this book and the series as an adult, but even more so, as a young adult (tells you how old I am). The story starts in the land of Earthsea, a place where magic and dragons are real; and names have unspeakable power. On the island of Gont a young man known as Sparrowhawk saves his village from would be raiders. This causes Ogion, a Mage of great reputation, to take notice and offers him an apprenticeship. Sparrowhawk learns much but yearns for more so he is sent to the School of Roke. Here his pride and ambition get the best of him and he unleashes an untold horror out into the world. Sparrowhawk must now go and face down this apparition of his own making. Thus starts Sparrowhawk’s adventure from goat herder to Archmage of all Earthsea.
To me, this, is a classic of the Fantasy genre. It is a series that grows with each book. The first book was originally published in 1968 and the last in 2001. It is a great series and I highly recommend it (did I say that already?). My one critique the first book is slow to start. However, since it is a short book I’m willing to forgive this, as the whole series more than makes up for it. ***PARENTAL ADVISORY*** In the book, Tehanu, there is some suggestive language of a sexual nature but nothing explicit or overt.
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