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The Earthsea Quartet contains the first four of Ursula LeGuin's Earthsea novels (I believe there are five now, plus a collection of short stories). Earthsea is a large archipelago of islands, some of which are inhabited by dragons, but most of which are inhabited by humans. It's a fairly well-realised world which never gets bogged down in unnecessary details, unlike many other fantasy series. LeGuin sticks to basics, both in terms of world-building and in terms of style. Her writing is sparse and detached, which suits the philosophical themes she addresses. It is also nearly sexless, which gives the stories collected in this book a lovely archaic and Tolkienesque ring.

Apart from its detached tone, what most sets The Earthsea Quartet apart from other fantasy series is its concept of magic, which involves knowing the true names of things -- the names things were given back when they were first created, many of which are now forgotten. In LeGuin's universe, the way to power is to know lots of true names, be they of people, dragons or inanimate objects. So people who can divine true names, like the intrepid hero of the Earthsea Quartet, Ged, are potentially very powerful indeed.

Not that Ged cares about power. All he cares about is keeping Earthsea a safe place to be, which basically means preventing other wizards from using too much magic. You see, the central conceit of the Earthsea novels is not that it's cool to know magic and use it as often as possible, as in, say, the Harry Potter books. In Earthsea, the wise wizard uses his powers sparingly, so as not to upset the world's equilibrium. The general idea seems to be that the more magic you use, the more you'll end up disturbing the natural equilibrium, with potentially disastrous consequences. Thus, while great feats of magic are occasionally performed in the books (usually to vanquish those who willingly upset the equilibrium), they are few and far between, and not nearly as prominent as they are in other fantasy series. Ultimately, LeGuin says, the wizard's challenge is not to become powerful, but rather to understand the nature of things and act upon this knowledge in a manner which will help keep the world a safe place to be.

LeGuin has an interesting take on evil. In the first three books of the series (A Wizard of Earthsea, The Tombs of Atuan and The Farthest Shore), she doesn't really go in for great villains, but leaves her evil forces largely unspecified. Her evil is a nameless and faceless force whose ancient power can be felt but not readily understood. I like that; it adds a touch of mystery and otherworldly dread to the books which appeals to me. The fourth book, Tehanu, which was written much later than the preceding three books and is markedly different in both style and substance, does put a human face on evil, and moreover has a setting which will be more familiar to earthly readers than the settings of the earlier books. I'm sure some readers will appreciate this attempt at greater humanity and recognisability, but to me it constitutes a loss of the mythical quality and otherworldliness that make the first three books so special. It doesn't help, either, that the fourth book has a strong feminist slant, in the negative sense of that word. Apparently, Tehanu is considered a bit of a feminist classic in some quarters, but personally, I think it suffers badly from its men-deprecating stance. I much prefer the ideology-free earlier books, which I'd rate at four stars, five stars and three and a half stars, respectively.

If you can only read one book in the series, pick The Tombs of Atuan, which pits the hero, Ged, against a young priestess who doesn't really understand the powers she is serving. It's an excellent story, set largely in an underground labyrinth, which adds a tangible touch of claustrophobia to the proceedings. A life-and-death power struggle in a dark place from which there is no escape -- what's not to like?

More in-depth reviews of the individual books can be found here:

A Wizard of Earthsea
The Tombs of Atuan
The Farthest Shore
Tehanu