A Wizard of Earthsea

Ursula K. Le Guin's fantasy novel is set in Earthsea, an archipelago where names have power over the world and wizards are supposed to maintain a fundamental balance. Ged, a village boy from the island of Gont known in his reckless youth as Sparrowhawk, shows great power while still a boy and goes to a school of wizardry. There his prickly nature sets him against another student, and during a magical duel his spell goes wrong and lets loose a shadow creature that attacks him. The story follows his effort to free himself of it. First published in 1968, the book opens the Earthsea cycle and won the Boston Globe Horn Book Award.

Author Scott Perry named it among his past fiction favorites in an interview about the books that stuck with him.