Helpful Score: 1
Not the best LeGuin but even less than her best beats many others. Has all the magic of those battles between good and evil and is a quick read.
I enjoyed this book but was somewhat bothered by the rather graphic scene of the two teens in the book having sex.
While The Wizard of Earthsea was supposed to have been adolescent fiction Beginning Place is, in fact, adolescent fiction. I have a shelf full of Mrs. Le Guin's books but Beginning Place just wasn't my style. However, young readers that are fans of Harry Potter might appreciate this book.
Not one of her best efforts. It reminded me of Bridge to Tarabithia, with 2 disfunctional people in a "make believe" land figuring out how to coexist with "reality". It's ok, but not fantastic.
I am not usually a fan of fantasy, but this book grabbed me with the possibility of a colorful, new world hidden away so close to the drab, colorless existence so many of us experience today in the land of strip malls and bland sameness.