Ursula and I have a complicated relationship. I never love her books as much as I wish I did, but they grow on me after I finished reading, and I think of them frequently. As I was immersed in A Wizard of Earthsea, I appreciated that it was an actual fantasy book, easy to read, no stress no headaches, just adventure after adventure. Yet, I didn't think it was amazing or ground-breaking. It was reading the author note at the end that I started to notice all the subtle ways in which the plot deviates from the classic, without breaking with the genre. Most famously, most characters, are not white, though the theme of race is never made explicit, it just happens to be that way, a detail that could escape readers in a rush. Perhaps more importantly, there are no wars or bad guys - the protagonist is on a quest to regain control of the creature he himself liberated, which can only be won by learning its name - that's a classy twist! The parallels with Harry Potter are clear but superficial: both boy wizards, both haunted by an evil creature, both scarred, both attending magician school...But Ursula's worlds are filled with less details (no quidditch, no lively description of the school, not fanthom platforms) and more poetry and philosophy: names have power, and spells have consequences beyond the wizard's control.