Lacking Natural Simplicity

Raven Swordsmistress of Chaos, by Richard Kirk, copyright 1978; Ace Fantasy/The Berkley Publishing Group, 1987. A fair example of the later generation Sword & Sorcery fiction.

A Wizard of Earthsea, by Ursula K. Le Guin, text copyright 1968; illustrated by Ruth Robbins, illustrations copyright 1968; originally published by Parnassus Press, 1968; Bantam Books, Inc, August 1975, 10th printing sometime post November 1977. I'm in the process of watching the SciFi Channel's disappointing attempt to bring Earthsea to TV; Ursula K. Le Guin explains the movies flaws much better than I could, of course, but it inspired me to re-read the Earthsea books again. As I reread the first book I was struck by how lyrical the writing is and how the book is layered with meaning, without being preachy.