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4.04 AVERAGE
4.04 AVERAGE
dark
hopeful
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Le Guin has a remarkable way with landscapes, particularly the desolate, windswept and empty which she renders in stark and lifeful detail. That said, less happens in this book.
The book's obsession with making young Aragorn the king who will "restore peace" through monarchy is an odd one.
The book's obsession with making young Aragorn the king who will "restore peace" through monarchy is an odd one.
adventurous
emotional
inspiring
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
Really enjoyable conclusion to the trilogy. Really fun to have started with Ged as a tempestuous youth on a journey and now the wizened archmage who guides another youth into maturity. Felt almost Arthurian, a Merlin-esque teacher helping mold the future king.
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
tense
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:
No
adventurous
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
hopeful
mysterious
medium-paced
A good book. A little slow at times and didn’t draw me in as much as Tombs of Atuan. But the worldbuilding is gorgeous and the narrative is beautifully weaved.
adventurous
dark
emotional
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
adventurous
slow-paced
This was probably my favorite Earthsea so far, but that’s not really saying a lot because none of the have really been the kind of thing that I like. Le Guin just doesn’t really get into the heads of her characters in a way that I like (at least from what I’ve read of her so far), nor are her books really exciting to read for the plot, at least for me. Any thematic depth is like generalized philosophical stuff that I just don’t find very interesting (it doesn’t help that it’s written in a way that makes sense for children, which is not an insult—that was Le Guin’s goal, but it doesn’t change how this book was not for me).
I will give Arren credit for being more interesting as a character to me than young Ged in book 1, and the old Ged and Arren dynamic was at least a little interesting. It also didn’t have a lot of the thematic annoyances I had about The Tombs of Atuan.
I will give Arren credit for being more interesting as a character to me than young Ged in book 1, and the old Ged and Arren dynamic was at least a little interesting. It also didn’t have a lot of the thematic annoyances I had about The Tombs of Atuan.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Animal death, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Slavery, Violence
A few pretty near to death experiences, most from lack of food and water.
adventurous
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Overall, I enjoyed this book, but it has the same problems as the previous ones. Firstly, the animal exploitation, suffering, and death, and the hypocrisy of the story giving us plenty of quotes suggesting that the right thing to do is to not harm animals, nor indeed any other life, while the characters spouting these phrases never once question their own actions.
"I see why you say that only men do evil, I think. Even sharks are innocent; they kill because they must."
"What harm have the trees done them?" he said. "Must they punish the grass for their own faults? Men are savages, who would set a land afire because they have a quarrel with other men."
Second, the dearth of female characters. There were literally none in any leading role, and none I can remember in any major supporting role. Indeed, only one female character left any impression whatsoever in my memory, and her time in the limelight was brief, unflattering, and she did not appear again.
After that, there was a lot of tell, rather than show, another hallmark of the series, which made it tough to keep my attention. Often, I had to reread a section, sometimes repeatedly, before I finally took in what it was saying. In the beginning of the story, this was so bad that I felt bored and uninterested. And in the concluding chapters, the main conflict was mostly resolved by a lot of generally one-sided and anti-climactic talking.
That said, there was plenty to enjoy about this book, including passages that spoke to me on a personal level.
Try to choose carefully, Arren, when the great choices must be made. When I was young, I had to choose between the life of being and the life of doing. And I lept at the latter like a trout to a fly. But each deed you do, each act, binds you to itself and to its consequences, and makes you act again and yet again. Then very seldom do you come upon a space, a time like this, between act and act, when you may stop and simply be. Or wonder who, after all, you are.
A few chapters before the end, I realized why I'm enjoying this series so much despite all the problems I have with it (another big one being the feeling of flimsiness of the world, as if one could look at it from the side and see that it's nothing more than plywood and plaster). It's like really good fan fiction. Fan fiction of the fantasy genre itself. It's generally well written and enjoyable, but brief and shallow.
Still, the author's note at the end really spoke to me, as a fellow writer. And I realized that if this is good enough to become a world-famous, beloved series, then my books definitely have the same potential! I am filled with confidence as a writer by the tales of Earthsea!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Gore, Slavery, Blood, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Death, Drug abuse
Minor: Child death, Cannibalism
adventurous
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
A powerful journey and exploration, both physical and mental, of the ways that death gives meaning to life.
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
inspiring
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes