The strength of this book lies I think in the philosophy behind it - in the system of magic and names. That being said, while I do enjoy the system and think very fondly of the setting, I'm not that much interested in the characters. I'm largely indifferent to Ged and always have been, and that hasn't changed on my rereading. It has to be said the plot is a little thin as well, though this is frequently disguised by the clean, quiet prose.

I do look forward to the next in the series however; it's the one I remember admiring most. (And it had an actual woman in it, which was nice.)