Il mago (1968)

I kind of always knew I'd love these books when I finally got around to them, so I'm not sure what took me so dang long, but oh well.

The funny thing is, Earthsea isn't the kind of fantasy setting I would draw up, personally. I mean, I'm too horny for orcs and whatnot to settle for humans being the only show in town. And I also don't really vibe with the way magic works here? The whole "knowing a thing's true name gives you power over it" thing has never really worked for me. For me, a thing's (or person's) name is an outward thing, to be worn proudly.

Even though it doesn't really work for me in the abstract, I actually love a lot of the storytelling Le Guin does with the whole true name thing. I like that it's a way to establish intimacy and trust between characters. It's an interesting and intentional way to show that someone is making themself vulnerable. So, yeah. It isn't how I think magic works, or how I enjoy seeing it work in fiction, but that doesn't mean it's bad or wrong or whatever.

I also appreciate that the things I vibe with about the book seem to be the same things that were important to Le Guin herself. She talks in the afterward about how she basically "snuck in" the fact that all the good guys in the book aren't white, and all the bad guys are. And also that she very intentionally avoided a very simple conflict-based narrative that glorified war and militarism.

That's a really good sign to me that going forward I'm really going to continue to enjoy the series. I can't wait to see to see what other stories Le Guin felt moved to tell about this world of hers. ( )

It is often on Fantasy must read lists but I must of waited too long to get to it. I find the subject matter and writing style far outside my current interests. Nov 2021

I kind of always knew I'd love these books when I finally got around to them, so I'm not sure what took me so dang long, but oh well.

The funny thing is, Earthsea isn't the kind of fantasy setting I would draw up, personally. I mean, I'm too horny for orcs and whatnot to settle for humans being the only show in town. And I also don't really vibe with the way magic works here? The whole "knowing a thing's true name gives you power over it" thing has never really worked for me. For me, a thing's (or person's) name is an outward thing, to be worn proudly.

Even though it doesn't really work for me in the abstract, I actually love a lot of the storytelling Le Guin does with the whole true name thing. I like that it's a way to establish intimacy and trust between characters. It's an interesting and intentional way to show that someone is making themself vulnerable. So, yeah. It isn't how I think magic works, or how I enjoy seeing it work in fiction, but that doesn't mean it's bad or wrong or whatever.

I also appreciate that the things I vibe with about the book seem to be the same things that were important to Le Guin herself. She talks in the afterward about how she basically "snuck in" the fact that all the good guys in the book aren't white, and all the bad guys are. And also that she very intentionally avoided a very simple conflict-based narrative that glorified war and militarism.

That's a really good sign to me that going forward I'm really going to continue to enjoy the series. I can't wait to see to see what other stories Le Guin felt moved to tell about this world of hers. ( )

I think that this is the first Le Guin book that I've read, and for some reason I have a lot of her stuff in my to-read list. This one was just OK. Most of the time it seemed as if I was reading a summary of the book, as there were many times that a significant period of time passed in only a couple of sentences; Ged's time at the Wizard school was only a chapter long. I get that this was not a Harry Potter novel, but if the point was that this was the greatest wizard ever (which I got from the book's description, not from the novel itself), then there was a bit of a rush to get him into place. Maybe later books expand on his greatness. ( )

love the tough love episode.... not your usual YA fantasy novel. ( )