This is the first in the series. Right now, Ged (the main character), is not in the best of moods. Things keep going wrong and he never feels like he belongs. But he makes progress in this book and I am looking forward to book #2. I want to see him come fully into his power. : )

And here are some of her thoughts from the afterward, which was awesome!

"The conventionality of the story and its originality, reflect its existence within and partial subversion of an accepted, recognized tradition, one I grew up with.

"...The principal characters were men. If the story was heroic, the hero was a white man; most dark-skinned people were inferior or evil. If there was a woman in the story, she was a passive object of desire and rescue (a beautiful blond princess); active women (dark, witches) usually caused destruction or tragedy. Anyway, the stories weren't about women. they were about men, what men did, and what was important to men.

"It's in this sense that A Wizard was perfectly conventional...

"In other ways my story didn't follow the tradition. Its subversive elements attracted little attention, no doubt because I was deliberately sneaky..." (p. Afterward p. 261-264)

I loved reading in the afterward that Le Guin doesn't want her heroes to win war and battles, not the ones that involve slaying other people in wars between countries. The wars here are more internal. And her main characters are not white! It's subtle, but they are dark skinned.

Nicely done Ursala!! Read the Afterward. ; ) ( )

Admito que casi le pongo 3 estrellas porque aunque me encanta el Worldbuilding que crea en muy poco tiempo, llega un punto en que la lectura se me atasca un poco. Aún así toda la metafora que es la aventura del protagonista es bastante “chef’s kiss”. Le Guin era una gran artista creando mundos pero sobretodo, plasmando ideas e inquietudes. ( )

My first re-read of this since it came out. A classic though one LeGuin herself returned to with a more critical eye in later years, especially for its limited male POV. At the time, it was considered groundbreaking for featuring dark-skinned primary characters. What struck me now was how little it reads like a young adult novel. Though it begins with a boy and a school for wizards, the boy is a traumatized young man of 19 or 20 well before the halfway point and there is little youth to him. The constant journeying means there's little chance to develop ancillary characters. LeGuin deals with this in part by having a childhood friend return for the final chapters. To be honest, while I enjoyed the novel, it felt thin. The social structures were just sketched and the limits of magic often seemed to just pop up when needed.

Recommended but it pales in comparison with her later writings. ( )

The majority of characters are thoughtful and sensitive, more interested in understanding their surroundings than in conquering them. The story was written for younger readers and in my eyes it lacks a bit of complexity, but it still has a mature and compelling heart to it. ( )

The ending is a bit on-the-nose for me. ( )