Hello bookworms,

Today I am going to talk about A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin and our opinion about it. This was the book we read in June for The Brno Book Club. Yes, yes, I know, I am late as always… Please be aware of spoilers in this post.

I would like to mention that this meeting was a wonderful evening in a new place with new people, so I really enjoyed it.

Well, let’s start. As always the administrator was guiding the discussion with her questions.

• General opinion

Look at the marvelous cover of this edition by Puffin Books that one of the members purchased for the meeting

Some members found it easy to read and they would like to read the rest of the books from Earthsea series. Other members commented that the end was quite predictable. Others had a big expectation from the book because it is very important book in this genre. Honestly, I didn’t like it, it was too descriptive, there were a lot of side stories that didn’t make the plot progress, I didn’t feel attached to any character, etc. More info about my disappointment in this mini review I wrote in Spanish.

• Commons things with Harry Potter

Earthsea series is considered the inspiration of Harry Potter’s world. So we listed common things that we saw between these two series. Please be of spoilers about Harry Potter’s series.

• Main character: Ged vs Harry, both poor boys with no mother and raised by their aunts
• A school of wizardry with teachers: Roke vs Hogwarts
• Animal companion: otak vs Hedwig, both killed by the enemy
• Loyal and best friend: Vetch vs Ron
• Rival in school: Asper vs Draco
• Enemy: the shadow vs Voldermort, both are attached to the main character and are part of him
• Crush: his best friend’s sister

• Magic in Earthsea world

We all agreed that the principle of the magic in this world is a very interesting idea: by knowing the true name of the things you can have power over them. One of the members compared it with the social networks and the usage of alias instead of real names.

• Characters

Paperback edition with Yevaud by Puffin Books *o*

We first talked about Ged and how he has to live with the consequences of his arrogance. Also how Ged and Jasper are so alike that they are like magnets that repel each other. However, everybody talked well about Vetch, how wise, nice and calm he is and how Ogion looks like an old version of Vetch in the future. Regarding the female characters, nobody was happy about them because they didn’t have any important role and because all of them were not strong but beautiful. What’s more, everybody was disappointed about Serret, who looks important and then just dies and Ged continues his quest without even caring about her.

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And that’s all regarding A Wizard of Earthsea. I hope you enjoyed reading about our meeting and comments on the book. Please don’t hesitate to write down below your own opinion; we would be happy to know about it.

So July meeting was about a book in Spanish by the great Gabriel García Marquez but… unfortunately, and due to my reading slump, I couldn’t even start the book and therefore I didn’t attend the meeting. That’s why there won’t be any post about it. Sorry :(.

However, you don’t have to worry. During the August meeting we discussed Norwegian Wood (aka. Tokio Blues in Spanish) by Haruki Murakami and in October we discussed The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway, so stay tuned for more posts about our awesome book club.

Till then, happy reading! ^^

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Anacris

Audiovisual and literary translator (/>). I like writing short stories, playing ukelele, drinking chai latte and talking about ,,, y in this blog.

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Header image: Pixabay.