A Wizard of Earth Sea is one of those novels that always comes up when people list their all-time favorite fantasy books. This was written at a time when people were not so concerned with breaking away from the tropes of the genre, and yet it still pushed boundaries in subtle ways.
The novel follows the early life of Sparrowhawk from an arrogant and wild child to a humble and mature adult wizard. It is a very straightforward plot and a traditional coming-of-age story, but the characters are remarkably complex. Honestly, it was one of the best young adult fantasy fiction novels I’ve ever read.
Ursula does not overly explain her magic system but allowed it to just be magical. The rules and principles she does explain are important to the story and enough to feel immersed in the story.
I like the fact that Sparrowhawk is naturally talented at magic, but he isn’t a Mary-Sue, or some prophesied messiah like modern fantasy books do. He has to learn the boundaries of his abilities the hard way. Even when I suspected how the book would end, I was blown away by the simple power of it.
As I read this novel, I realized just how many novels mimic it poorly, including a very recent bestseller. I have heard people criticize various stereotypes in fantasy fiction, but when you read the original source of those stereotypes, you can’t dismiss them as being shallow or silly. It is only the copies and imitations of good books that make the stereotypes flat and lifeless.
A Wizard of Earthsea was written as a young adult book when young adult meant middle school readers and older. I would very gladly hand this to any age novel-level readers without any worry. It is clean from sex, cursing, or violence. I don’t know what Ursula’s religious views were, but this novel is compatible with a Christian worldview (as long as you are not the kind of Christian who sees any magic in fiction as evil). I look forward to getting more books in this series to read eventually. It was a great book!
Check out my young adult fantasy fiction novels HERE for something optimistic and fun.
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What do you think?