Cover Illustration: Jonathan Field Show more Genres Fantasy Fiction Young Adult Classics Science Fiction Science Fiction Fantasy Epic Fantasy. If this sounds familiar, you’re not the first to note it. Wizard of Earthsea, The Tombs of Atuan, The Farthest Shore - Ursula Le Guin's brilliant and magical trilogy. Regarding the story of Ged in A Wizard of Earthsea, Le Guin didn’t say that J.K. Rowling “ripped me off” in her Harry Potter series, but felt that Rowling should have been “ more gracious about her predecessors”. In the Earthsea series, we are introduced to the complex responsibilities of becoming an adult, and asked to consider the values of life and the nature of death. It’s heavy, but significant and humanly realistic reading for a teenager. Le Guin was fiercely protective and supportive of other authors. In 1973, she made a humorous critique of the problems faced by writers trying to make their worlds fantastical and strange in From Elfland to Poughkeepsie, encouraging and emphasising the importance of appropriate style. Style is something Le Guin seemed to be able to master effortlessly and consistently. I consider her short story Semley’s Necklace – first published in 1964 and later included in The Wind’s Twelve Quarters – to be the finest of its kind in fantasy writing, its crystalline prose equal to Semley’s tragic fate. It differs greatly to modern fantasy as it ‘tells’ much of the story rather than ‘showing’ it, but this is not a weakness of the novel. Le Guin maintained an interest in encouraging writers and sharing her art. I love classic fantasy for the simplicity.
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