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Yeah. The last post I made was kinda long and went off topic a bit, didn't it?
Well, I finished the first chapter of A Wizard of Earthsea and I really don't have much motivation to read further. The setting is rich and colorful, but the characters are flat. The vast majority of the chapter was exposition told from an omniscient point of view. There was very little dialog. What there was was short and usually one-sided. A couple lines from one character might be given, then the rest of the exchange paraphrased.
The writing, from a technical standpoint, is quite good. Tending a little too much toward long, complex sentences, but good. And the descriptions are lovely. But they tend to be flat and analytical. The same emotional weight is given to a battle scene as to a boy's coming of age ceremony.
And remember the omniscient pov I mentioned? It's used to tell, not show, what the characters are like. I was told by the narrator that Duny's father didn't care much for him, but that wasn't shown. It felt fake, flat, and condescending. As if the author didn't trust the readers to analyze the characters from their actions and come to their own conclusions.
How this became a fantasy classic is beyond me, quite frankly. There isn't even anything particularly original so far. Youngster with a gift for magic becomes great hero. Whoopee. We're even told in the first sentence of the book that he becomes arch mage and dragon tamer. I guess it could be interesting finding out how, but right now I really don't care all that much.Current Mood:  tired Current Music: (watching something on TruTV) |