Growing up Gontian…
Author: Ursula K. LeGuin
Ever since Harry Potter burst on the young adult literary scene in 1997, wizardry has been all the rage. But he wasn’t the first young wizard to make his mark. Back in 1968, the acclaimed science-fiction and fantasy writer Ursula K. LeGuin wrote about Ged, a teenager from the isle of Gont, in A Wizard of Earthsea. I read the book long ago – when I was a teenager myself – and remember being impressed with the mysterious magic spells and the detailed fantasy world it contained. Unfortunately, reading it again after so many years, it’s not as good as I recalled.
Growing up in the rural highlands of his home island, Ged displays an aptitude for magic at an early age. Trained by his aunt, the village witch, he goes on to become an apprentice of the local mage, Ogion the Silent. Frustrated by Ogion’s emphasis on balance and restraint, Ged eventually leaves his home to attend the wizardry school on the isle of Roke, where he’s sure to make a name for himself. He excels at the school, but continues to let his vanity and envy get the better of him, eventually casting a spell that inadvertently releases an evil shadow spirit into the world. The rest of the book tells of Ged’s efforts to learn from this foolish act of hubris and his subsequent efforts to subdue this malevolent force.
While LeGuin has created a remarkably imaginative world with cunning dragons, powerful magic and dozens of interesting cultures, I found Ged’s adventure to be rather slow and dramatically dull. Lacking much in the way of suspense and completely devoid of any humor, the storyline is disappointingly predictable and mundane. The story also neglects the key component to any great fantasy adventure story, a team of supportive comrades.
Without a doubt, Earthsea is a fascinating fantasy world and LeGuin’s lyrical prose, lovely imagery and mystical tone are frequently quite captivating. So much so that I’m still tempted to give the next book in her Earthsea series a chance. But I really can’t recommend this to wizard aficionados or Harry Potter fans with much enthusiasm. While A Wizard of Earthsea works as a modern day morality story, it doesn’t really succeed as an adventure tale.
— D. Driftless
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