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4.04 AVERAGE
4.04 AVERAGE
Amazing series! I've never really been a fan of fantasy but this series is just so good.
adventurous
reflective
slow-paced
Strong character development:
Yes
This one is between 3 and 4 stars for me, but I'm feeling generous so I'm giving it a 4.
All over Earthsea wizards are losing their magic, so Ged Sparrowhawk and Prince Arren embark on a quest to discover the source of the disappearing magic.
While this one again starts off rather slow as Le Guin builds the scene, and the action doesn't occur until the end, I'm stating to enjoy the world she has created more and more as it is slowly revealed.
I also enjoyed the characters a great deal more in this one. Prince Arren is one that I hope to see more of.
All over Earthsea wizards are losing their magic, so Ged Sparrowhawk and Prince Arren embark on a quest to discover the source of the disappearing magic.
While this one again starts off rather slow as Le Guin builds the scene, and the action doesn't occur until the end, I'm stating to enjoy the world she has created more and more as it is slowly revealed.
I also enjoyed the characters a great deal more in this one. Prince Arren is one that I hope to see more of.
adventurous
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
Again, Le Guin manages to write an adventure story with magic and dragons, without leaning on age old tropes. In fact, a lot of the Earthsea books have spun tropes of their own.
Amazing read!
Amazing read!
For a third time the world of Earthsea and its core inhabitant Ged is revisited, and for a third time the same messages are called upon. Le Guin likes to repeat herself allegorically, and that's okay, a common theme is nothing to turn your nose up at. Here as in The Tombs of Atuan the continuing thread of aging is renewed and progressed from where the last book left it sitting. The Farthest Shore is not as innovative as its aforementioned predecessor, though, and reading it at times feels like you're rereading the first title in the series but with an extra character thrown in. This is often intentional and cleverly parallel to previous events, but will sometimes sit as an unearned throwback.
Is it perhaps unfair to put a book with a standalone tale under such analysis? Perhaps, and I suspect if I had picked this up as an idle curiousity rather than a followup to books I loved a lot, I would never have the foggiest that it could have had such derivative aspects. Arren is a unique protagonist that could only exist in this world but with an arc universally relatable to one degree or another, Ged (though perhaps not as linearly connected to his past representations as I'd like) has had enough happen to him between stories that he is as new a character to returning readers as he is newcomers, and the story explores an untouched section of the Earthsea world. It's great fare for a standalone fantasy story.
But I can't help myself from comparing it to its companions. Aforementioned complaints aside, it doesn't quite hold up to the calm spiritual feeling that I associate them with. It has a clear and unambiguous antagonist, something of a square peg to Earthsea's circular hole (In all fairness, it's again very well executed for your average fantasy novel). In the farthest shore of The Farthest Shore, I suppose things are done a bit differently.
Is it perhaps unfair to put a book with a standalone tale under such analysis? Perhaps, and I suspect if I had picked this up as an idle curiousity rather than a followup to books I loved a lot, I would never have the foggiest that it could have had such derivative aspects. Arren is a unique protagonist that could only exist in this world but with an arc universally relatable to one degree or another, Ged (though perhaps not as linearly connected to his past representations as I'd like) has had enough happen to him between stories that he is as new a character to returning readers as he is newcomers, and the story explores an untouched section of the Earthsea world. It's great fare for a standalone fantasy story.
But I can't help myself from comparing it to its companions. Aforementioned complaints aside, it doesn't quite hold up to the calm spiritual feeling that I associate them with. It has a clear and unambiguous antagonist, something of a square peg to Earthsea's circular hole (In all fairness, it's again very well executed for your average fantasy novel). In the farthest shore of The Farthest Shore, I suppose things are done a bit differently.
This is the third novel in Le Guin's Earthsea trilogy (which I guess later turned into a hexalogy). The novels have built in power, and I have found myself drawn more deeply into this world of magic, mages, and dragons that she has created. This novel stands in strong counterpart to the first in the series, in which the young mage-to-be, out of hubris, attempts something that scars him for life. In this third novel, he must contend with the effects of someone whose hubris extends even beyond his own life, and threatens the whole world of Earthsea. It is a gripping story, which I highly recommend.
adventurous
challenging
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
It is extremely important to read the Earthsea series in order.
Le Guin goes hard here. If The Tombs of Atuan has a slow start this one starts and ends really intensely and doesn’t let up the whole way through. There are some legitimately terrifying things presented in this as the world loses magic and memory to the machinations of a villain who thinks he’s in control. This is the clear big event book, and Le Guin does it well, but as with the last book: nothing is ever easy at the end.
My Earthsea Reviews:
A Wizard of Earthsea 4 Stars
The Tombs of Atuan 4 Stars
The Farthest Shore 4 Stars
Tehanu 5 Stars
Tales from Earthsea 4 Stars
The Other Wind 4 Stars
Le Guin goes hard here. If The Tombs of Atuan has a slow start this one starts and ends really intensely and doesn’t let up the whole way through. There are some legitimately terrifying things presented in this as the world loses magic and memory to the machinations of a villain who thinks he’s in control. This is the clear big event book, and Le Guin does it well, but as with the last book: nothing is ever easy at the end.
My Earthsea Reviews:
A Wizard of Earthsea 4 Stars
The Tombs of Atuan 4 Stars
The Farthest Shore 4 Stars
Tehanu 5 Stars
Tales from Earthsea 4 Stars
The Other Wind 4 Stars