It explores the concept of the shadow (as well as many others). An excellent read for anyone looking for a fantasy action story with deep meaning.
Some of My Highlights:
“Ged had thought that as the prentice of a great mage he would enter at once into the mystery and mastery of power.”
“But you must not change one thing, one pebble, one grain of sand, until you know what good and evil will follow on that act. The world is in balance, in Equilibrium. A wizard’s power of Changing and of Summoning can shake the balance of the world. It is dangerous, that power. It is most perilous. It must follow knowledge, and serve need. To light a candle is to cast a shadow…”
“For magic consists in this, the true naming of a thing.”
“Wizards speak truth.”
“Who knows a man’s name, holds that man’s life in his keeping.”
“…having learned a long hard lesson from fear.”
“…until at last he chooses nothing, but does only and wholly what he must do…”