A Wizard of Earthsea, first published in 1968, is the first of a series of books written by Ursula K. Le Guin and set in the fantasy world archipelago of Earthsea depicting the adventures of a budding young wizard named Ged. The tale of Ged's growth and development as he travels across Earthsea continues in The Tombs of Atuan and The Farthest Shore and is supplemented in Tehanu and The Other Wind. The series has won numerous literary awards, including the 1990 Nebula for Tehanu, the 1972 Newbery Silver Medal Award for The Tombs of Atuan, 1972 National Book Award for Children's Books for The Farthest Shore, and 1979 Lewis Carroll Shelf Award for A Wizard of Earthsea.
Duny is a young boy on Gont, one of the larger islands which dot Earthsea. His mother is dead, his much older siblings have all left home, and his father is a dour, taciturn bronze-smith with nothing in common with his son, so the boy grows up wild and headstrong. Duny discovers by accident that he has an extraordinary talent for magic. His aunt, the village witch, teaches him the little she herself knows, but his power far exceeds hers.
One day, he uses his talent and a fog-gathering spell he learned from a passing weatherworker to save his village from Karg raiders. The tale of his remarkable feat spreads far and wide, finally reaching the ear of a wise Gontish mage, Ogion the Silent. He recognizes that the boy is so powerful he must be trained so as not to become a danger to himself and others. In the rite of passage into adulthood, he gives the boy his "true name", Ged, and takes him as an apprentice. In this world, a magician who knows someone's true name has control over that person, so one's true name is revealed only to those whom one trusts implicitly. Normally, a person is referred to by his or her "use name". Ged's is Sparrowhawk.
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I agree - read the book.
A young boy, Duny, nicknamed Sparrowhawk, has magical gifts which are powerful even for the island of Gont, a land famous for wizards. But when he gains his True Name of Ged and travels to the Island of the Wise to learn the ancient secrets of wizardry, his youthful pride and anger cause him to unleash a terrible darkness into the world. Doomed forever to be hunted by a nameless creature that would devour his soul and turn his powers to evil, the young wizard must journey beyond the edge of the world, battling dragons and encountering many perils, to confront the beast which only he can destroy. Brought to life in this spellbinding BBC Radio 4 dramatisation, A Wizard of Earthsea is a classic tale of high magic, courage and the neverending struggle between good and evil.
With:
Dame Judi Dench as The Narrator
Michael Maloney as Ged/Shadow
Emma Fielding as The Girl/Serret
Richard Johnson as The Dragon of Pendor
Mark Burrows as Young Ged
Abigail Docherty as Yarrow
Tom Felton as Ioeth
with:
Jonathan Adams, Sean Baker, Ann Beach, Keith Drinkel, Robert Harper, Ioan Meredith, Chris Pavlo,
Colleen Prendergast, Chris Scott, Kim Wall.
Dramatised by Bert Coules.
Directed by Janet Whitaker.
Music composed by David Chilton and Nick Russell-Pavier.
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