A review by naomidanae
The Farthest Shore by Ursula K. Le Guin

adventurous mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

Le Guin is, as I’ve learned from each of her books, an expert at crafting a nuanced antagonist. They rarely engage in outright violence, but there’s more to violence than bodily injury. Taking someone’s skill, someone’s culture, and destroying it in the name of perfection or of eternity is a sort of violence. This story is another good example of Le Guin’s ability to write a character who changes. Just like Ged does in the first book and Tenar in the second. Arren’s journey is the one here. He learns patience and understanding. He’s almost a completely different character than the one who appears in the Wizard of Earthsea movie. (I know Ursula herself hated that movie, so I feel justified in finding it far removed from her original.) 

There are times in this book where it feels quite meandering, which makes me like this third book less than the others. But Arren has to go on his journey to become a king. He’s a child, and he grows throughout his travels with Ged. 

Some quotes: 
“To deny the past is to deny the future. A man does not make his destiny: he accepts it or denies it. If the rowan’s roots are shallow, it bears no crown.”

“But when we crave power over life—endless wealth, unassailable safety, immortality—then desire becomes greed. And if knowledge allies itself to that greed, then comes evil.”

“Only one thing in the world can resist an evil-hearted man. And that is another man. In our shame is our glory. Only our spirit, which is capable of evil, is capable of overcoming it.”