“that which dies shall still know life in death for all that decays is not forgotten and reanimated shall walk the world in a bliss of not-knowing…”

for all that decays is not forgotten: such an interesting piece with so many cool ideas about what it is to lose oneself within a greater and more complex natural system and, therefore, maybe even find an altogether different form of self.

so many passages in this book, especially the words written by the crawler, are—purposefully—psalm-like and tinted with religion. this is, however, not monotheism but a religion of nature and organisms and bodies and not quite understanding how all of life works and finding out that you are okay with it. this book encloses such religion, which, in turn, had me reading the entire thing as if in a trance.

wow. it's been so long since I read fantasy, and still, this was unlike anything I've ever read. the plot is not really packed with action, yet Ged undeniably goes on a long and transforming journey. it was so nice to see him go from a prideful boy to a quietly confident young man.

the prose is meandering and slow-paced but I was never bored. it's admirable how every interaction and every character Ged meets serves a purpose in his formation—there is a tiny piece of wisdom (applicable not only in Earthsea but in our own world) imparted by every character. so many interesting ideas about power, about self-identity, and, above all, about friendship and loneliness/aloneness.

“You thought, as a boy, that a mage is one who can do anything. So I thought, once. So did we all. And the truth is that as a man’s real power grows and his knowledge widens, ever the way he can follow grows narrower: until at last he chooses nothing, but does only and wholly what he must do…”

“In trouble and from darkness you come, Ged, yet your coming is joy to me.”

and, finally:

“When they had nothing left to eat but a few scraps of smoked meat Ged remembered what Yarrow had said when he stole the cake from the hearth, that he would regret his theft when he came to hunger on the sea; but hungry as he was the remembrance pleased him. For she had also said that he, with her brother, would come home again.” this is one of Ged's final reflections and I loved it so much and it reminded me of this Edna St. Vincent Millay poem, "Love is Not All"