A Wizard of Earthsea: A Graphic Novel by Ursula K. Le Guin, Adapted and illustrated by Fred Fordham. Clarion Books, 2025. 9780063285767.
A Wizard of Earthsea is my favorite book. After seeing the live-action disaster (I think it was made for SYFY) and the animated adaptation which is, in my opinion, Miyazaki’s only terrible movie, I was worried about the graphic novel adaptation. But I was also hopeful because Fordham’s graphic novel adaptation of To Kill A Mockingbird was so good. Theo Downs-Le Guin’s addressed my concerns, and Fordham’s version won me over immediately not because it’s exactly like what I always pictured in my mind, but because it feels like Fordham is sharing what’s in his. And it’s beautiful.
And yes, most of the folks in this version are shades of brown, as in Ursula Le Guin’s original, including Sparrowhawk. His failures and his triumphs are shown in moving detail. I particularly liked the brief glimpse of the dry place where the inhabitants of Earthsea go when they die, and the pages that take place on Roke. And if you’re wondering, both the dragons and the gebbeth are terrifying, each in exactly the way they’re supposed to be.
