2013 read #83: A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin.

A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin
183 pages
Published 1968
Read from June 20 to June 24
Rating: ★★★★ out of 5

My library doesn't seem to know what to do with the Earthsea books. This volume, the first in the series, was in the young adult room. The next book, The Tombs of Atuan, is absent entirely from their collections; I just ILL'd it from Bay Shore. The Farthest Shore is on the adult literature shelves, while the final book, Tehanu, is in the juvenile collection.

This series has been at the periphery of my awareness since before that Legend of Earthsea miniseries came out; one of my long-ago LiveJournal friends referenced the series a lot, and I meant to look it up but kept forgetting about it for the longest time. I didn't even realize it was by Le Guin until I looked up her bibliography a few months back. It's interesting to place this volume in the context of her career and its intersection with feminism. Published only a year before The Left Hand of Darkness, and only two years after the admittedly pre-feminist Planet of Exile, Earthsea represents a potentially illuminating transitional period in Le Guin's development as an author. Sadly, I didn't come away from Earthsea feeling Le Guin had much to say about gender -- possibly because it was, after all, intended as a fairly straightforward high fantasy adventure for younger readers. Gender roles in Earthsea are pretty much standard for high fantasy of the period (or, for that matter, for high fantasy right up until the 1990s), and I don't think I, as a lazy critic, can glean much of substance from the fact that women are shut out entirely from official magic use. Perhaps this gets developed in the later installments.

All that aside, this was a fun fantasy adventure, the main character leavened with plenty of Le Guin's signature pathos and critical introspection. I look forward to The Tombs of Atuan getting here and to seeing how this series grows.