I read this book partly because I admire Urusla K. Le Guin's writing and have enjoyed the other books I've read by her (most notably, The Dispossessed) and partly because it's one of those books that's always mentioned as a classic of the fantasy genre. I'd say its reputation as a classic is well-deserved. Long before Harry Potter was even a twinkle in JK Rowling's eye, Ursula Le Guin wrote this "wizard-coming-of-age" story which, although ostensibly aimed at "young adults", is much darker and much deeper than many a "grown-up" book I've read. I found this trilogy very hard to put down, and certain scenes and ideas from the three stories really got under my skin in a way that I was not expecting at all. I just found out that the Earthsea Trilogy is a actually a quartet, and though the fourth novel in the series was written many years after the other three and seems not to have been terribly well-received by fans of the original three stories, I'll definitely be seeking it out. The Earthsea Trilogy hooked me.

Further reading…