Ged, the greatest sorcerer in all Earthsea, was called Sparrowhawk in his reckless youth.
Hungry for power and knowledge, Sparrowhawk tampered with long-held secrets and loosed a terrible shadow upon the world. This is the tale of his testing, how he mastered the mighty words of power, tamed an ancient dragon, and crossed death's threshold to restore the balance.
I found the imagery in this book to be beautiful, I found that with every scene that Le Guin set each detail became clear in the picture in my head. I felt shivers when cold winds blew and a warmth when Vetch and Ged were together that felt almost as if they were brothers. Le Guin was also very good at describing the emotions of Ged as well as his desires and ambitions, giving the impression of someone who understands people and perhaps how they work in great detail.
I really liked the development of Ged's character throughout the story, from an ambitious young boy to one who has learnt from mistakes and become wiser because of it. The way Ged treated others during the beginning of the book also developed as the story continued, this again gave me the impression that Le Guin understands people. That they can change, move on and learn.
Le Guin seemed to have a knack at making me feel what the characters in the book felt like I had previously mentioned with the scenes and imagery. This made everything feel that little bit more realistic. I did however have one problem with Le Guin's writing and that was simply her style of writing, I found sentences dragged and sometimes in less dramatic scenes I'd read a whole page without taking in a single word. (If you are a reader you might know what I mean.) Not to say she was by any means a bad writer, just some aspects of her writing style in this book wasn't my cup of tea. (Stops typing to take a sip of said tea, shout out to Yogi Tea - Throat Comfort... I'm poorly.)
I really liked the development of Ged's character throughout the story, from an ambitious young boy to one who has learnt from mistakes and become wiser because of it. The way Ged treated others during the beginning of the book also developed as the story continued, this again gave me the impression that Le Guin understands people. That they can change, move on and learn.
(I have found this isn't always something writers understand.)
Now as well as finding the development of Ged to be accurate in how "people" develop, and although this is clearly fiction, I found Ged to be quite a realistic character, if you discard the whole sorcerer thing. And not just Ged, but the majority of characters (besides the "SHADOW") all felt to be realistic with very human qualities including unconditional love, jealousy and courage with different characters showing each different qualities. (Not one character showing them all.)
Le Guin seemed to have a knack at making me feel what the characters in the book felt like I had previously mentioned with the scenes and imagery. This made everything feel that little bit more realistic. I did however have one problem with Le Guin's writing and that was simply her style of writing, I found sentences dragged and sometimes in less dramatic scenes I'd read a whole page without taking in a single word. (If you are a reader you might know what I mean.) Not to say she was by any means a bad writer, just some aspects of her writing style in this book wasn't my cup of tea. (Stops typing to take a sip of said tea, shout out to Yogi Tea - Throat Comfort... I'm poorly.)
The storyline overall was fabulous, with magic, dragons and adorable creatures such as an Otak, with them how can it not be. I really enjoyed this book and I am definitely going to continue reading the Earthsea Cycle. I am curious to see what Le Guin will do with Ged and due to mentions in A Wizard of Earthsea about The Tombs of Atuan (the title of book 2) how can I resist.
8.5/10
xo
Book Published 1968
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