Earthsea

This volume contains the three books about Earthsea: A Wizard of Earthsea, The Tombs of Atuan and The Farthest Shore. The trilogy covers the life of the wizard Sparrowhawk, from his apprenticeship and training on Roke at the School for Wizards, to his final great battle to restore the vital equilibrium between life and death.

In A Wizard of Earthsea, pride and jealousy drive the boy Sparrowhawk to try certain dangerous powers too soon, and a terrible evil is let loose in the land. In The Tombs of Atuan, his quest for the missing half of the Ring of Erreth-Akbe, an amulet which it is reputed will bring peace to Earthsea, takes Sparrowhawk deep into the labyrinth beneath the Tombs; here he meets the high priestess, a girl trained from childhood in the ritualistic and hideous deeds of her religion. In the third book, Sparrowhawk embarks on an epic voyage, accompanied by the young prince Arren, to confront the dark force that has sapped the will of the people. He faces almost certain death.

This is a story of wizards, dragons and magic, in which to know a man’s true name is to own his soul. It can be seen on one level as pure allegory, on another simply as a story of adventure. In each sense, it is powerful and utterly compelling.