Reviews tagging 'Blood'

Tehanu by Ursula K. Le Guin

6 reviews

reddeddy's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Misogyny, Dysphoria, Child abuse, Grief, Violence, Ableism, Death, Injury/Injury detail, and Sexism

Moderate: Abandonment, Blood, Torture, Physical abuse, Death of parent, Religious bigotry, Body shaming, Bullying, Chronic illness, Body horror, Medical content, Medical trauma, Panic attacks/disorders, and Murder

Minor: Kidnapping, Pedophilia, Pregnancy, Sexual violence, Hate crime, Sexual content, Alcohol, Sexual assault, Gore, Infidelity, Police brutality, Cursing, Rape, Slavery, Classism, Confinement, Incest, Xenophobia, and Domestic abuse

conspystery's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective relaxing sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This book was so good, I wrote a final paper on it completely unprompted. Tehanu is definitely one of my favorites in the Earthsea series, and maybe out of all books. 

I love how Le Guin presents and examines identity in Earthsea, and Tehanu makes that its central concern. In a world where power, gender, and identity are so closely entwined, the distinctions between them and their lived impacts on people permeate through every layer of society-- social biases, especially sexist ones, root themselves in the minds of even the most well-meaning people. Tenar is a wonderful character through whom to explore these themes. Even though she herself is intimately familiar with the variance of identity (as the text reminds us, quite cleverly, by switching between the names Goha and Ar-ha and Tenar), she still internalizes biases against women and projects them onto those around her. Ged does much the same in this novel. Tehanu is Tenar’s journey to deconstructing those biases and embracing her identities as a woman.

How Le Guin communicates that journey, through a slow-paced narrative with an often cleverly quotidian yet hunted tone, is phenomenal. For me, this was the most immersive book of Earthsea because of Tenar’s inner monologue (and the moments where it breaks from that were all the more interesting for it.) The plot felt grounded in the reality of its world, whereas previous books like A Wizard of Earthsea felt to me more like a recounting of an epic. Which is also amazing! One of my favorite things about the first book is how much it feels like an epic legend, and the same holds up for The Farthest Shore and even The Tombs of Atuan, to an extent. But Tehanu feels different, in an equally amazing way. 

I annotated this book while reading it for recurring images, and what I found was extremely satisfying: there are a lot of opposite motifs, like heat and cold, fire and water, light and dark. I absolutely loved the emphasis on these opposites. The Tombs of Atuan obviously had a lot of light and dark imagery (Ged’s speech to Tenar about being “made to hold light” is one of my favorite pieces of writing ever), and so seeing it echoed in Tehanu was so fitting for Tenar’s character-- and seeing how it applied to Therru’s character was genuinely fascinating to me. 

Therru

herself is a contradiction in Earthsea’s society. She occupies opposing roles. She’s a victim of violent assault, a curious youth, Tenar’s daughter, a force of immense power, born of dragons, a girl: in the power structure of Earthsea’s society, these things cannot be true at once. She opposes herself, breaks the rules, forces the people around her to confront the dissonance in their worldviews… just like the repeated opposing images. When she’s given her true name at the end, Tehanu, Tenar realizes the coalescence of her daughter’s identity, finally understanding that she is multifaceted rather than contradictory. And so is every woman, and man, and person, and dragon in Earthsea.

It’s a powerful, meaningful sentiment, and Le Guin communicates it much more beautifully than I just did. Please read this book.

I’ve said it before and I will say it again: Le Guin is unparalleled. Tehanu is phenomenal, almost mythological in its implications, and I truly think it’s one of the best in the series. I love it. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Torture, Stalking, Violence, Sexism, Sexual assault, Rape, Misogyny, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Child abuse, and Blood

sovteck's review against another edition

reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Absolutely beautiful continuation of the Earthsea series and I'm very disappointed with myself at how long it took to get around to reading it. Ursula le Guin examines her work from two decades earlier, picks it apart, and makes it about the fierce and bright internal lives of women, and it's perfect.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Child abuse, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Ableism, Blood, Pedophilia, and Incest

One of the major themes of the book is the main character raising a child who has been badly physically

and it is implied sexually, although never described or addressed in detail

abused by her family of origin.

nerdkitten's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Body shaming, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Violence, Ableism, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, and Sexism

Moderate: Child abuse, Grief, Pedophilia, Torture, Alcohol, Confinement, Physical abuse, Rape, and Sexual violence

Minor: Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Xenophobia, Incest, Murder, and Pregnancy

talonsontypewriters's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Grief, and Misogyny

Moderate: Child abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Ableism, Violence, and Murder

Minor: Child abuse, Animal death, Xenophobia, Rape, Pedophilia, Body horror, Torture, Suicidal thoughts, and Blood

Child abuse is discussed semi-explicitly but never shown on-page; its aftermath, however, factors heavily into the characters and their dynamics. There are some instances of victim-blaming relating to this as well. Child rape by a family member is also mentioned. Though both are well into adulthood now, two characters who initially met when one was around 15 and the other's age was not stated enter into a romantic relationship.

wimbleimble's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

basically cried non stop from chapter 3 through to the end lol. think this might be my favourite earthsea.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Blood, Child abuse, and Death

Moderate: Sexual assault and Rape