Publisher's Summary

This first volume of the Earthsea Cycle is a tale of wizards, dragons, and shadows, played out in a world like and unlike our world, in an archipelago of imagined islands. The geography is exact, as are the laws and limits of the magic used by the wizards of the isles.

The young boy Sparrowhawk realizes his own uncommon powers while defending his village against an enemy horde. He becomes an apprentice to Gont Island's Master Wizard; but impatience to learn faster takes him far from home to Roke Island, where he enters the School at Roke - the school for Wizards famous throughout Earthsea. As a student of magic, Sparrowhawk exceeds his years in accomplishment. Pride and jealousy drive the boy to try certain dangerous powers too soon, and a terrible evil is let loose in the land. Thus begins the chase and the hunt between young wizard and shadow-creature across the stone-peaked islands and the farthest unknown waters of Earthsea.

This is an adventure story, a Quest, a tale of a proud, incautious boy who meddles too early with the Dark. It is a pure fantasy telling about a real thing: a boy coming into his power and his manhood...coming of age.

Recording (P)2001 Audio Literature; ©1968, 1996 The Inter-vivos Trust for the LeGuin Children