Akiva Reads

by Ursula K. Le Guin

I think there's not much I could say about this that other people haven't said better already. I really loved it, though. I loved the spoken-word tone to it, and the poetic turns of phrase, and just... all of it. This is going to be one I reread a lot, I can tell.

I did try to read this once before when I was 12 or 13, and I struggled with the slow beginning (despite the battle right at the beginning? oh well) before I gave up in disgust when Sparrowhawk decided to leave for Roke. He's not a character you instantly sympathize with---and that's part of the point. I'm now reading Tombs of Atuan and I had similar trouble with the slow start, but now it's beginning to take off.