A Wizard of Earthsea

Hey everybody! Join me while I disparage an icon of 20th-century fiction literature and one of their seminal works! A Wizard of Earthsea is one of those books I missed along the way. I had a copy of it as a teen, but I guess I set it aside to read yet another Star Trek novelization. In my defense, my copy of Wizard back then had a very dour grey cover and tiny print. I know, excuses, excuses. Since I’ve sort of made this my year of fantasy, I thought I should go back and hit some of the classical titles, and this one was high on my list. 

Ged is an aspiring wizard from the archipelago of Earthsea. After demonstrating some power as a kid, he is sent to a master to study, who then sends him to the most renowned wizard school. He gets into an argument with a haughty classmate, tries to prove himself by casting a dangerous spell, and instead unleashes a dangerous dark shadow creature into the world. He runs from it for a while, then he turns and starts chasing it. By the way, during the bulk of the action in the book, he’s about 19, although sometimes he acts 91.

It's a short one, but did I ever struggle to get through it! It reads like an outline or, better yet, a Wikipedia entry instead of a fully formed novel. Ged goes here and does this. Then, he goes to a different place to do a different thing. Then, yet another place where he does something else. Rinse and repeat for the entire book. He wanders, sometimes with a motive but sometimes without. There is barely any dialogue, so each “adventure” plays like a quick tiny vignette. And the conclusion? It is far and away, without a close second, the most anticlimactic ending to any piece of media I have ever consumed that wasn’t written by a fifth grader.

This feels like it could become a movie that is legitimately better than the book. Lots of the adventures he goes on are interesting, but the book asks you to do a lot of the work imagining them. The right writer and director could really turn this into something fun to watch. 95% of the characters we meet, including Ged, are people of color, which is a welcome change to the tropes of the genre. Somebody get on this instead of a Harry Potter series!

I know Le Guin is hailed as a genre giant for a reason, and I’m going to make a point to read some of her sci-fi. This one was a huge miss for me, though. 2 outta 5 stars