A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin

If I ever make a "must reads for teens" list one day this book will absolutely be top of the list. Originally made for the middlegrade age range, A Wizard of Earthsea is a beautifully deep and complex story about transitions from childhood to adulthood, learning about the harsh realities of the world, and finding the strength to perservere in incredibly difficult times. Side note that this review will likely be longer than my others because a lot of it is pulled from an essay I wrote in college.

Spoiler free summary:
The book follows the story of Ged, a powerful young wizard with a natural gift for magic and a strong dose of arrogance. Ged's journey takes him from his small village to a prestigious school for wizards. While there he gives himself the title of Sparrowhawk because, in the world of Earthsea, "true names" are used in magic to control and manipulate the world around you (e.g. knowing the true name of a particular rock in the old language will allow you to manipulate its shape).

While at the school he also forms a rivalry with a fellow student, Jasper, which ends up forever altering the course of his life and awakening a dark shadow. From this point on, Ged has a choice to either spend the rest of his life running from his shadow, or to turn and face it head on.

Review - Spoilers ahead
I originally read this book as part of a children's literature course in college (sadly not required reading, I picked it myself), so a lot of my interpretations of the book are more so from the angle of what lessons children and teens specifically might take away fom it and how it could be used in an English Lit class. To me, the main theme of this book is finding the strength and resilience to both face and eventually overcome truama. During a duel, Ged calls upon the shadow monster as an attempt to prove to Jasper once and for all that he is the more powerful wizard. Ged's arrogance, his main character flaw in the beginning of the novel, overtakes any sense when he perfroms a spell that is far too powerful for him to fully understand. The shadow attacks Ged, latching itself onto his soul and nearly killing him. The attack leaves Ged forever changed and isolated from his peers, unable to speak and with a large scar covering much of his face. I took his scar to be a pretty clear metaphor for the scar left on Ged's soul from the attack. The other students are frightened of his new face and the fact he doesn't speak, showing that the scars left by trauma can affect us far beyond the trauma itself. The effects of trauma can be complex, isolating, and confusing.

Eventually, Ged begins to recover and once he's strong enough is sent to a small village to be their wizard. There, he is far from the rest of the world and able to live a quiet life without much fear from the shadow. After some time however, Ged begins to feel the force of the shadow nearing him and he begins a long journey that spans nearly all of Earthsea as he sails from island to island trying to escape his shadow. After years of trying to escape it and risking his life to find ways to defeat the shadow once and for all, Ged reaches his breaking point and decides to turn and face the shadow head on, expecting to finally be able to fight it again. To his surprise the shadow turns and runs when it notices it's being chased. This is the turning point in the book where Ged finally finds the courage to face his shadow, his scars, his trauma head on in order to overcome it.

I absolutely loved this book because it shows that even when you feel like smallest, most frightened little creature and you wish you could (quite literally in Ged's case) grow wings and fly as far away as possible to rid of your fears it is still possible to find the strength to face them. This book is, ultimately, about understanding your inner strength and being resilient in the face of adversity.