Hey everyone. So a few months ago I read “A Wizard of Earthsea” by Ursula K Le Guin and I was so excited because I had heard so many good things about it.
….and I was pretty disappointed.
I know the typical response to this sort of thing is that everyone has different preferences and that I need to just let it be, but I feel like I’m missing out on something or interpreting it wrong?
Okay so, those who are fans of this book: I have heard some people say that the way the book is written is beautiful i.e. when read aloud, it reads like poetry. Is this one of the big draws to the book? Because that’s not something I tend to care about and if that’s what’s going on, I would love to know.
I guess my issue is that this is touted as such an amazing series and yes, I know I only read one book, but the world-building seemed minimal for me. I also didn’t love that hey we made another fantasy world and men have all the power here too…in a way that I felt was repeatedly mentioned. (I get there’s a point to that, it’s just not something I love to read in my fantasy books).
I felt like a lot of the description to set scenes just made me confused. Even the map seemed unnecessary to me, it didn’t add anything for me at all. It seems contradictory to complain of no world building and over-description, but writing just didn’t mesh into a cohesive world for me.
Then the ending is….he has to face himself? Am I getting that right? Was that what the author intended for me to take away? It seemed like a predictable ending that had no real purpose in the sense that I didn’t feel like Ged grew as a person to get there.
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Again, I know everyone has their own feelings and perspectives that warp interpretations and allow us to enjoy things. I was just so excited, and I keep going back to thinking about this and wondering why I didn’t enjoy it. I recognize it’s possible that maybe I missed some stuff and would love input from fans to see if I should revisit it so that I can really appreciate it.
by TardigradeCat