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4.04 AVERAGE
4.04 AVERAGE
Este libro contiene tanta sabiduría que convendría releerlo de vez en cuando ♥️
adventurous
reflective
medium-paced
Ugh. I want to love everything Le Guin has ever written, but this one really didn't do it for me.
After the previous book, I'd expected Tenar to be a significant character, but she was only briefly mentioned.
Arren is such a flat character, just a youthful foil, and I frankly couldn't stand him. He's the messenger who happens to show up at the beginning, and he's royalty, therefore he must become Ged's travel companion and main character of the book? Why not someone with actual knowledge or skills or experience or at least some character? The only thing that seemed like it might be heading in an interesting direction was his sudden love and devotion for Ged, but nothing came of that.
Also, maybe my expectations are too high, but for a woman author and a feminist, Le Guin's writing is awfully male-centric. Where are all the women in Earthsea? Why is their magic weak and wicked, and why can't they study wizardry at Roke? The previous book was full of female characters, but even Tenar needed Ged to swoop in and rescue her, and then she makes no appearance in the next book.
After the previous book, I'd expected Tenar to be a significant character, but she was only briefly mentioned.
Arren is such a flat character, just a youthful foil, and I frankly couldn't stand him. He's the messenger who happens to show up at the beginning, and he's royalty, therefore he must become Ged's travel companion and main character of the book? Why not someone with actual knowledge or skills or experience or at least some character? The only thing that seemed like it might be heading in an interesting direction was his sudden love and devotion for Ged, but nothing came of that.
Also, maybe my expectations are too high, but for a woman author and a feminist, Le Guin's writing is awfully male-centric. Where are all the women in Earthsea? Why is their magic weak and wicked, and why can't they study wizardry at Roke? The previous book was full of female characters, but even Tenar needed Ged to swoop in and rescue her, and then she makes no appearance in the next book.
3.75/4. The story was interesting, and dealt with death/eternal life/eternity. I don’t know that I enjoyed it as much as the first two books in the series, and I’m hesitant to keep going with the series. It’s beautifully written, though, and the series definitely earns its place as classic literature.
adventurous
dark
hopeful
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Is this how a great peril is met, by sending out an old man and a boy in a boat? (p. 125) Impossible de pas aimer cette histoire d'équilibre précaire, de magie qui s'écoule tranquillement hors du monde, de villages sur la mer, de vieux dragons aux yeux de fumée jaune & aux écailles d'acier (Le Guin fait les meilleurs dragons), de vivants vidés d'eux-mêmes, de morts inquiets. Toujours aussi impressionnée par la langue à la fois formelle & accessible de Le Guin, belle & précise ; toujours sidérée par ce qu'elle réussit à y glisser. J'essayais d'expliquer à quelqu'un pourquoi ses livres me parlent autant : c'est comme... des histoires d'enjeux éthiques avec ben de l'enrobage, mais l'enrobage est aussi important que le reste. Je sais pas. C'est ça & c'est pas ça. Mais c'est tout le temps bon.
adventurous
dark
hopeful
mysterious
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
Beautifully written as always, I found this 3rd instalment of the Earthsea quartet, didn’t quite hold my attention in the same way as Tombs. However, the ending was spectacular, action packed, thought provoking with this feeling of vastness - both with the dragon imagery, and with its metaphors.
adventurous
mysterious
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:
Complicated
slow-paced
"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 leapt 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"
Arren, a young man who has simply been, seeks adventure and to make himself. Ged/Sparrowhawk (the speaker) is an older man who has gone from deed to deed, adventure to adventure, trying now to find peace. This book portrays a beautiful dance of each teaching the other. One teaching from wisdom and hard won experience and the other from simplicity and an outlook untainted by time. Le Guin loves to make her villains from ideas, not necessarily individuals. In this book, Le Guin explores themes of time, its trappings, and the desire for more time. Per usual, she comes at the topic through a Taoist lens, leaning into the concept of balance and equal and opposite forces required to keep that balance (life and death). Its a great continuation of the cycle.