A Wizard of Earthsea (The Earthsea Cycle Series Book 1)

I did really enjoy reading this, and will almost certainly go on to read the other Earthsea books.

I came to Earthsea after reading several of Le Guin's Hainish cycle books and short stories, including some of the earliest ones like Rocannon's World. I can see similarities with the earliest Hainish cycle works, from around the same time - an emphasis on male characters, for example - which I am sure would have been handled differently by the same author had she written them later on. But there are still a lot of great ideas here, and it is far more open-minded than most fantasy literature of its era.

Uuuhm. I enjoyed it, and for a "men doing things while talking in a complicated way" fantasy story this is very very good. Still... I asked myself why a few times.

A must-read in the collection of fantasy classics

Tämä on taas näitä kirjoja, jotka olisi ehkä pitänyt lukea viimeistään neljännesvuosisata sitten, jotta osaisi arvostaa. Kaunista kieltä ja helppolukuisesti etenevä tarina, mutta noin muuten ei kovin kummoinen. Yksiulotteisia henkilöitä, ohkainen juoni ja kaikki jotenkin pintapuolisesti kerrottua. Sitä paitsi tosinimiin perustuva staattinen essentialismi ontuu filosofisesti sen verran paljon, ettei kirjan taikamaailmakaan tunnu kovin kiehtovalta.

Mutta kyllä nuorimmaiseni varmaan tämmöistä tykkäisi lukea. Minä olen auttamattoman yli-ikäinen.

Read in 2007