You are not at any risk of running into Earthsea every day, that's for sure.
Potter is a goofy lightning speed read. Much of it doesn't even make sense (see Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality for a take on that.)
Some people claim here that Earthsea is aimed at young adults. It's readable by young adults but it's far too slow and calm to be of much interest to most young adults. And there is much more to be found in there by older readers.
No, Earthsea's 6 books plus short stories are a peaceful but sometimes intense, slow, poetic and extremely emotion inducing view of the life of the main wizard character. From young wizard seeking his education in A Wizard of Earthsea, through questing, failing magic, retirement and return of the ex-wizard - and a few tales of other wizards in the same world; plus the old wizard and settling accounts. Magic in Earthsea is not used lightly (at least not by the main character). It is largely about knowing the true name of things. The hero sees the many problems of the world but does not rush to wand them away. Magic is not day to day housekeeping spells and conveniences and practical jokes - but can be applied to influence things that matter.
Earthsea as a whole is a masterpiece.
For a third direction to magic, I always include The Magicians (the book trilogy although the first couple TV seasons are also good) where we have magic as a highly unstable and poorly controlled field of ... physics or something - being taught to angst-ridden but also very sure of themselves teens by instructors who know that this stuff will kill you if you half glance away. And it does. But that same unstable high-power stuff is also the literal gate to entire other worlds - equally irresistible to our, ermmmm, heroes? Just as the language for Earthsea is spot-on, so is the writing style for The Magicians fitting for these completely different characters and genre of magic.
Potter is a goofy lightning speed read. Much of it doesn't even make sense (see Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality for a take on that.)
Some people claim here that Earthsea is aimed at young adults. It's readable by young adults but it's far too slow and calm to be of much interest to most young adults. And there is much more to be found in there by older readers.
No, Earthsea's 6 books plus short stories are a peaceful but sometimes intense, slow, poetic and extremely emotion inducing view of the life of the main wizard character. From young wizard seeking his education in A Wizard of Earthsea, through questing, failing magic, retirement and return of the ex-wizard - and a few tales of other wizards in the same world; plus the old wizard and settling accounts. Magic in Earthsea is not used lightly (at least not by the main character). It is largely about knowing the true name of things. The hero sees the many problems of the world but does not rush to wand them away. Magic is not day to day housekeeping spells and conveniences and practical jokes - but can be applied to influence things that matter.
Earthsea as a whole is a masterpiece.
For a third direction to magic, I always include The Magicians (the book trilogy although the first couple TV seasons are also good) where we have magic as a highly unstable and poorly controlled field of ... physics or something - being taught to angst-ridden but also very sure of themselves teens by instructors who know that this stuff will kill you if you half glance away. And it does. But that same unstable high-power stuff is also the literal gate to entire other worlds - equally irresistible to our, ermmmm, heroes? Just as the language for Earthsea is spot-on, so is the writing style for The Magicians fitting for these completely different characters and genre of magic.
The Magicians is a masterpiece.