I have read this book two previous times, in 2003 and 2006, and enjoyed it- though my favorite Earthsea book has always been Tombs of Atuan. Very recently I got a chance to watch a fabulous new documentary about Le Guin, Worlds of Ursula K. Le Guin directed by Arwen Curry. If you get a chance to see this film, take it! It's extremely good, but is only showing in very select film and lit festivals currently (you can find the schedule on the website, here: https://worldsofukl.com/). One of the things Le Guin talks about in the film is the moment it was pointed out to her that Earthsea, as celebrated as it is, has almost no female characters of agency in it. Le Guin considered herself a feminist, and really had to sit with this realization and think about it for a while. Many of her later books grapple with gender in very explicit and exciting ways, but she hadn't quite got there yet when this (her fourth published novel) was written. I wanted listen to the audiobook again both because it had been a really long time, and also to experience it through the lens of all the new things I learned about Le Guin from the film. Hopefully I have time to make my way through the rest of the series as well!