In her afterword to my edition, Le Guin writes that, for the time, this novel was both conventional and a new beginning. She wanted true fantasy, which at the time was not the popular, massive industry of today’s world. But to me, A Wizard of Earthsea is all the best of true, classic fantasy. The book is told almost like a lay or a ballad and breathes magic and poetry and timelessness. This is not an action fantasy book, there are no real battles, and I will admit that, while I loved the prose, it took me longer to read than I expected. But the story is in no way stagnant. It deals with the action of Ged’s heart and how it is important to fight our own darkness, not just a vague evil. So maybe A Wizard of Earthsea is a coming-of-age tale. But if it is, then we are all coming of age, because it speaks of the battles we must fight everyday, from childhood to the end of our lives.