This article contains spoilers for the Earthsea Cycle, if you haven’t read it, I recommend that you do.

The Earthsea Cycle is a series of fantasy books by Ursula K. Le Guin. It’s set in an island-filled world called Earthsea, filled with magic and other classic fantasy topics. But its classicality ends at some point. After the first Book – the Wizard of Earthsea – its tone changes rather quickly. Where the first book was an ode to adventure, a story about a young boy setting out on a voyage to discover his true greatness, the later books deal with characters that cannot leave everything behind as easily.

Le Guin herself states that in her foreword to the first book in its newest edition. And that’s what made me even more interested after having been recommended the book. She states that she was compelled to make a fantasy book for younger readers and she did so.