In terms of just the prose, Ursula Le Guin is just one of my favourites. I love how she imbued Earthsea with this mythical grandeur, where the characters feel like small stars in a wider universe, the world so lived in and rich. It was lovely re-reading The Tombs of Atuan; all the things that worked in A Wizard of Earthsea doubly works here, especially with its sad but ultimately hopeful story. It certainly has a shelf life in that it now (in 2023) reads as a story about de-radicalisation. Ged’s unwavering belief in the inherent good in all hits hard and Guin’s wise words shine through.