Rereading A Wizard of Earthsea as an adult
I first read this as a teenager and remembered it as a simple wizard school story. On a reread it is something else entirely: a book about pride, names, and the cost of trying to undo a mistake by force.
The prose is spare. Islands are sketched in a few lines, voyages take a paragraph, and yet the archipelago feels enormous. It made me realise how much modern fantasy relies on length to create a sense of scale, when restraint can do it better.
The central idea, that knowing the true name of something gives you power over it, is used carefully and never turns into a cheat code. The ending is quiet and inward rather than explosive, and I think that is exactly why it lands.
Next up: the rest of the cycle, slowly, one book per month.
Verdict: Classic for a reason. Read it in two evenings.