I haven't read all of Le Guin's books, but I have read a good handful of them and this is the one I judge all others by. I first read it years ago, and it was by far my favourite Earthsea book. Rereading over the past couple of days my initial opinion stands. The imagery is just so strong, it stayed with me for years and years and it's what makes this book such a standout, I think. I also appreciate (far more now than I did then) the restraint regarding length - there's so much packed in here, and it's such a little book - if only more SFF authors valued brevity this way! I get far more of a sense of history and age from what's sketched here than I do from those wretched encyclopaedias of endless exposition that so frequently pass for fantasy today.

Also, Tenar is a fantastic character. She even makes Ged interesting, and that's an achievement in itself.