Thread: I love a book with a map in the front. I used to spend forever staring at this map of Earthsea, hoping that I'd need to know my way round the Inmost Sea one day ... pic.twitter.com/U57faR9NoS
— Frank Cottrell-Boyce (@frankcottrell_b) January 23, 2019
8. Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin
Ursula K. Le Guin’s Earthsea series is a seminal work of fantasy to which other works are often compared. Earthsea is a world rife with magic, with plenty of places to explore. Throughout all five published novels — A Wizard of Earthsea (1968), The Tombs of Atuan (1970), The Farthest Shore (1972), Tehanu (1990), and The Other Wind (2001) — Le Guin leaves no stone unturned, no island unexplored.
Earthsea is an archipelago, meaning the action takes place on a strong of islands. Everyone here is familiar with water and how to traverse it, but there’s still a ton of variety. There have been multiple interpretations of the map of Earthsea over the years, but this one drawn by the author herself is a thing of fantasy beauty. It’s filled with dozens of creatively named lands, many of which we visit in the books. The geographical accuracy of the map is terrific. I particularly like the two snowy poles and the mountain ranges across the middle of the vast archipelago.
The world is inhabited by a vast array of fantastical creatures, mainly humans and dragons. There are plenty of wizards and sorcerers — our main character, Ged, is a wizard. Le Guin was also a master of building lore. When reading the series, there’s a sense of scale and depth that you don’t get with a lot of other novels. Le Guin explores many different cultures, such as the Nameless Ones in The Tombs of Atuan.