Ursula K. Le Guin: Čaroděj Zeměmoří (A Wizard of Earthsea)

   I had been planning to read something by Le Guin for a pretty long time, I first heard of her in the movie Jane Austen Reading Club and her work seemed really interesting. So I chose one of her books for our Reading club but than I finished the book and decided to choose something else for our discussion…I don’t know if I have just picked a wrong book but it didn’t meet my expectations at all.

   The story is about a young boy named Ged who lives in a little village. Their local witch finds out he is very gifted in magic and starts teaching him. One day, an army attacks their island and when they get to Ged’s village, he uses his power to hide them in mist. The word about his power spreads and one day, a stranger turns up in the village. Surprisingly, he is a famous kick-ass magician and takes Ged as apprentice.

   Later, Ged leaves his master and goes into the school for sorcerers. He is extremely talented and he is very well aware of it – he knows no one at the school can compete with him. So he is really mean and arrogant. There is only one student who tries to compete with him and he provokes him to summon a ghost.

   Accidentally, Ged summons not only the ghost but also something else from behind the veil. No one knows what it is and how it got into their world but one thing is certain – it will try to seize control over Ged and when it succeeds, it will be absolutely unstoppable. Ged finishes his training and leaves the school to fight the shadow.

   In one point, they meet and the shadow uses Ged’s name to suppress his magic powers. Ged has no idea how it got to know his name (almost no one knows his real name – people call each other by nicknames and you tell your name only to your real friends). I guess no one will be surprised by the ending by I won’t spoil…but the end is the lamest thing you can think of after reading this (so actually I did spoil…ssoooorrryyy).

   I have to say I didn’t like this book. It was one huge cliché after another. There were mysterious strangers with weird advices (that the hero followed immediately), there were dragons and super powerful sorcerers and deceitful women and all the characters were…just exactly what you expected them to be. I didn’t make myself like Ged in any point of he book. At the beginning, he’s a complete idiot but later it doesn’t get better. OK, he turns into someone who understands much more about the world and people but…gosh, you know that will happen from like the tenth page. I waited for the interesting…let’s say deeper…part but it just never came.

   Another thing I didn’t like was the system of magic. Maybe I just didn’t get how it works but simply, you learn some special language which expresses the real essence of things. But it also somehow depends on how local people call things so the far Ged gets from his home, the less powers he has. Well, maybe that’s where Le Guin gets philosophical but…whatever.

   I expected there would be something more than just a story. And if not something more, at least some catchy story. This is just boring, boring and when you start hoping it will turn out better…it gets even more boring. I guess I will try to read another book by her, there must be something into it…

  I have just found that there is a movie base on the Earthsea series. Accordingly to the reviews, it's even worse than the book...