Reviews tagging 'War'

A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin

12 reviews

cmlalonde's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful inspiring medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Animal death, Child death, and War

pandemonicbaby's review against another edition

adventurous reflective relaxing medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

Ursula Le Guin's writing is simply phenomenal. This book has so many great lessons to teach, about friendship, about living in tandem with nature, about discovering oneself.

I had a feeling the shadow's name was going to be Ged, that it would represent an aspect of himself that he had yet to accept. When that did happen in the end, it felt very cathartic to me. Like a coming-of-age story, Ged had finally understood who he was and who he needed to be, for himself.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal death, Child death, and Violence

Minor: Slavery, Xenophobia, Blood, Death of parent, Colonisation, and War

tangleroot_eli's review against another edition

adventurous slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

I enjoyed the story of this book. But I never entirely adjusted to Le Guin's distanced style of storytelling. For me, a book to read once and enjoy, but not one to reread and love.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal death, Child death, Death, Sexism, and Blood

Minor: Child abuse, Slavery, Death of parent, Murder, and War

alicebutton's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful mysterious reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

An exciting enough story that moves along at a fast pace, although sometimes the prose slowed me down. I enjoy how much Ged's temper and ego move the story, but I wish the book had spent more time building up the other characters. It spends a lot of time quickly summarizing large portions of his life, and while I'm glad it didn't get bogged down in the minutiae of his school years, it leaves relationships feeling undeveloped. Even tragic events get glossed over.

The world is where Earthsea really shines. I'm not one to pore over maps myself, but a carefully crafted map still adds a ton of immersion. The places and details mentioned in Ged's travels place him in a real world, not just an empty ocean. The magic is simple enough but enticing, tied to the world's history. It makes the mythos part of the story in an organic way.

The patriarchal setting, and the fact that wizardry is restricted to men and boys is an uncomfortable element, but one I can personally forgive.

It's not perfect, but like other reviewers I'm interested to see where the sequels go.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal death, Death, and War

Minor: Child death, Mental illness, Death of parent, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

yourbookishbff's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Stalking

Moderate: Child death, Death, and Grief

Minor: Xenophobia and War

saltylane's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This was a fun read! I really like the narrator used. He gave such life to the characters! The story is a bit dark at times, though not overly so. The characters are lovable and the magic system interesting. I love the diversity and step away from typical medieval (& very white) stories involving wizards/mages/sorcerers. I was left wanting more by the end. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Violence

Moderate: Blood and War

saltycoffee's review against another edition

adventurous reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal death, Bullying, Child death, War, and Classism

Minor: Slavery

elizlizabeth's review against another edition

adventurous reflective tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Someone recommended me to start my LeGuin journey and I can see why, the writing is precise and quick paced, and the plot although simple it's engaging. I love the world building on all of Ursula's books and this wasn't an exception. 
It was so easy to root for the characters, flaws and all. Especially grateful that they are flawed on the first place because often one assumes children's books must be clear cut between good/evil but this shows that one can in fact tell a story where characters are not necessarily born with goodness but strive to be better. Which ultimately is such a much better message to give to kids.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death

Minor: Confinement and War

afion's review against another edition

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death and War

Minor: Animal death and Child abuse

nerdkitten's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional inspiring tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Blood, Grief, Stalking, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Death, Infidelity, Slavery, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and War

Minor: Bullying, Child abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Xenophobia, and Excrement