not my fav book by my fav author
3 stars
this and the first Earthsea book are really just not my cup of tea
School & Library Binding
English language
Published Sept. 11, 2001 by Tandem Library.
4 stars
(2 reviews)
Darkness threatens to overtake Earthsea: the world and its wizards are losing their magic. Despite being wearied with age, Ged Sparrowhawk - Archmage, wizard, and dragonlord - embarks on a daring, treacherous journey, accompanied by Enlad's young Prince Arren, to discover the reasons behind this devastating pattern of loss. Together they will sail to the farthest reaches of their world - even beyond the realm of death - as they seek to restore magic to a land desperately thirsty for it.
When one door is closed many more are open
4 stars
Content warning mild spoilers inside
A lovely third instalment of the Earthsea series, and a good handoff from it being all Ged's story to broadening out. A few off notes though:
- I found the emphasis on restoring the King to bring back order off-putting and at odds with the gentle daoism infusing everything else about these books.
- Arren seems to go awfully quickly from doubting naif to ready to be crowned. I liked how much Ged's ascendancy was about time, effort and learning from his own mistakes, and Arren's feels rushed by comparison.
- This may be the most extreme of the Earthsea books so far for just lacking female characters.
I gather that the later books were in part a deliberate effort by an older Le Guin to fix some of the deficiencies of the first 3, especially around gender (even in Tombs of Atuan, I found Tenar more a captive who has things happen to her than a full actor). As much as I did enjoy this one, it's made me look forward to those even more.
Subjects
- Classics
- Fairy Tales & Folklore - Single Title
- Juvenile Fiction
- Science Fiction, Fantasy, & Magic
- Children's 12-Up - Fiction - Fantasy
- Children's Books - Young Adult Fiction
- Children: Young Adult (Gr. 7-9)