The Dwarrowdelf

Moria. That is all.

Status Check

This post is to determine our whereabouts in the trilogy to keep us more or less at the same point.

I have finished the first book and am ready to begin the next, but am also willing to wait until others have finished Wizard as well.

Please comment with your status and any ideas or comments you have for continuing our reading series.

My First Post

So I've finished the first book in Ursula's Earthsea trilogy and I still don't really know what I want to say about it. First, a disclaimer: I know that the intended audience for this series is a bit younger than myself. Nevertheless, I've begun reading the Harry Potter series again (for like the 8th time), and I'm still so fascinated by it, though by society's standards, I should have outgrown them by now.

What to say about A Wizard of Earthsea? It is obvious that Ursula cannot compare to Tolkien, so I'm not going to focus my discussion around that. But I will say that the book just did not capture me in the way a book should. Even in the bits that were supposed to put me on the edge of my seat, wondering what was going to happen next, such as when the shadow chases Ged on Osskil or their final confrontation toward the end of the book, I knew that everything would be alright. Certainly this is the case with many books and movies. Even in Harry Potter, where somehow he manages to meet Voldemort toward the end of each of his school years, I know he will continue on. But I still can't stop reading and am mesmerized by the stories in the books.

Not so with Wizard. I honestly don't care that much. Perhaps this is because of my slight dislike for the main character Ged. In ways he is similar to Harry, a boy of seemingly humble background (for Harry it is the years living in the cupboard under the stairs) with amazing magical abilities. And though Harry gets a little whiny in his adolescent years, I still prefer him over self-centered Ged. Why does it always have to be about him? I want to hear more about Vetch and his family, not Ged and his shadow. And the poor little otak. I was really enjoying the little squirrel-y creature.

Going back to what Josh said in an earlier post about Ursula seemingly pulling names out of a hat to throw at us, I feel that is the same with the story. It follows a typical fantasy plot, but has none of the magic (pardon the pun). One should be swept into the story following a boy going to wizarding school and travelling the sea between the small islands. In the end I was left wishing I could feel a part of the world, but remained on the outside, uncaring and uninterested.

And one more complaint from me and then I'm done. Why did he have to kill the baby dragons? Totally unnecessary as far as I'm concerned. Though this is coming from someone who is pro-dragon and hate it when they die in books (yes, I know one is killed in The Hobbit). Why could people never learn to coexist with them and them with us?

Remembering again that this book is not meant for my audience group, I still am a great lover of fantasy and wish Ged could have captivated me like Harry or Bilbo or Frodo or like characters out of Jane Yolen or Anne McCaffrey books once did.

It turns out that I really did have something to say about the book, though perhaps I have been too harsh. I hope my strong opinion here will at least provoke some discussion amongst yourselves.

The Adventures of Lihp, a novel by Joshua Correll

So the Earthsea books have inspired me to write my own fantasy novel. The only problem I had was coming up with all of the endless names for people and places that had to sound otherworldly. Then inspiration hit. Tell me what you think.

There once was a young sorcerer name Lihp who was from a small fishing village called Oprah on the Island of Danza. Lihp only knew a few minor spells, but his potential was clear to even the most novice of sorcerers. Lihp studied the books of DeGeneres in hopes that one day he would be able to sail to the outlying islands of Leno, Lauer and Roker. Roker was of course the home of the Lady of Tyra, the wealthiest woman of all the island communities, and it was rumored that he who was able to win her heart would also win her wealth. Lihp cared not about love, but with her wealth, he felt he be able to have all he wanted in this world. Now Lihp was coming towards his sixteenth year, and that is of course when he was to perform the ritual of the Colbert, wherein he retreats to the forest of Donahue for 30 days to prove his worth as a man. Before he begins, he must first meet with the chief of the town Elder Ferguson and receive a personal proverb from the book of Gifford written many generations before by the great sage Regis of Hasselbeck. So Lihp headed towards the hall of Arsenio at the center of the town in order to begin his new life as a man.

Race in Earthsea

A problem with adaptation. Here's a shot from the sci-fi miniseries Legend of Earthsea. What is the issue here? There's Ged, front and center, looking like Pippin's older brother. That's not how Ged is supposed to look. Ged is "red-brown", "like most folk of the Archipelago" (somewhere in chapter 3) His buddy Vetch is "black-brown", as he's from the East Reaches. The only white people with blonde hair in the book are from the Kargad Empire, the freaking barbarians! (More examples of how the movie fucked up, Danny Glover was cast as Ogion the Silent (A Gontsman, so he should be more reddish-brown than blackish brown), and the two women are from the Kargad Empire. Apparently, Asian is the new Scandinavian) Le Guin rips into the movie here, and it's better written than what I could do.

Race is very interesting in this book. Can you think of any other fantasy novel that doesn't have "a honky named Bob or Joe or Bill" as the protagonist? What about a fantasy novel that doesn't have everyone be white? Everyone in the Lord of the Rings is white, with the exception of the Southernmen and Easterlings, both of which are complete barbarians in thrall to Sauron.

Fuck, even people that shouldn't be white are. Elves? Always white, or in Avatar's case, blue, even when their culture is clearly Asian, Native American, or South American. Why? I don't know. What I do know is that I really like Le Guin's choice to have a protagonist of color. I had to catch myself many times while reading and imagining the story and say, "No, Ged is not a whitey." I like that because it forces me to read with greater focus and attention--unlike other fantasy novels, I couldn't slip into complacency. That attention to race made me focus more clearly on other aspects of the novel as well.

A Wizard of Earthsea

Just a quick thought about the book. You know what it reminds me of? This.


Or, rather, this game reminds me of Earthsea, as the book came out some 40 years before the game. Oh, Shigero Miyamoto, you tricksy little plagiarist!

First Post

This isn't really related to the book per se, but I've got a beef.

Why do wizards always use freaking staffs? Why don't they have freakin enchanted swords? Or, if they have to have enchanted wood sticks, why don't they make wizard spears? That way, they'd be able to cast all kinds of spells, and also chop people up good.