A book club book, and technically a reread, though it’s been decades since I last read it and I remembered almost nothing about it. I’ll say this: Le Guin writes beautifully. Her words are melodic and almost song-like in a way most books aren’t. They have a lovely cadence. (I read Le Guin’s “Steering the Craft” book last year, and it’s clear that this is a woman with a deep mastery of the written word.) That said, the story itself is a fairly straightforward hero’s journey, and I was sometimes thrown by all the place names that got tossed around willy-nilly. I was really annoyed with the protagonist, Ged, for the first few chapters, until he has his pivotal Moment of Dumb Male Pride In Which He Works a Spell Too Powerful For His Abilities In Order To Fulfill A Stupid Boast (tm) that changes him as a character and drives the rest of the plot. I haven’t read any of the other Earthsea books, and at some point I’d like to – it’s not that this one is bad by any means, but I’ve heard they get richer and deeper as the book goes on. But still, a fun reread and I’m glad I got the chance to revisit it.