A Wizard Of Earthsea by Ursla K. Le Guin
(Book One Of The EarthSea Saga)
A Wizard of Earthsea is a book which is set in a ‘mythical’ world called Earthsea, which could only be described as bursting with life. Ursla goes into tremendous detail, describing her world with layer upon layer of detail. A Wizard Of Earthsea follows the life of a promising young wizard, Dunny as he was named by his mother who died at birth. Dunny however is not his only name, he happens to have three. One, Dunny a name he himself has neglected since birth, Two, Sparrowhawk his given name or the name he choose for himself and Three, Ged. The only names that Dunny actually recognises are the latter two, the first of those because he chooses to and the second because you can not choose your own true name. Dunny’s true-name is Ged, only with those you fully trust, with literally your life, would you share such information with. So by a process of elimination, Sparrowhawk is the name he’s commonly known by and the one he recognises as his own.
Sparrowhawk is the son of a bronzesmith, from a small village called Ten Alders high in the Mountains of Gont. As a young child he knows he’s different and soon finds he has the ability to wield magic. The witch situated in his village teaches him as much as she knows about the art, which admittedly isn’t much, but which still unlocks a word to Sparrowhawk, previously closed to him. Sparrowhawk’s life all changes however when Ten Alders is attacked and the people of Ten Alders, not being war like, don’t know how to respond. Therefore Sparrowhawk feels the responsibility to defend the village is on him, regardless of the fact that no one but the Witch knows about his abilities. Sparrowhawk ends up single handedly defends the village from the raiders. News of this soon spreads and it isn’t long before Ogion a hermit with magic abilities far beyond Sparrowhawk’s wildest dreams asks if Sparrowhawk would like to be his Prentice (magic apprentice). Sparrowhawk being an eager student immediately accepts and goes to live with Ogion, cut off and isolated from the rest of the wold. Sparrowhawk soon grows bored of Ogions slow and simple life and yearns for more. This urge soon brings him to the Magic School of Rook where his journey really begins…
Teen Rating: Unfortunately Earthsea in my opinion, is written in a vague way in terms of getting to know it’s main characters, making it a very heavy read. This is a shame considering the lush picture Urlsa paints of her world and the effort she must have put into the book to do so. However, after a while I certainly got attached to the book, so it’s not all bad, but I won’t deny it is a struggle to read. ( So before you buy the book make sure you know your up for it) 13+ 2/5
