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A review by bhnmt61
The Tombs of Atuan by Ursula K. Le Guin
5.0
Twenty-ish years ago, I had an idea for a fantasy novel that I started to write. The opening scene involved a ritual at dawn, with black-robed women enacting ancient rites. I loved that scene, but the novel never came to anything.
When I picked up this book to re-read, I had no memory of it whatsoever, even though I knew I had read it somewhere around age twelve, since I read and loved the whole original trilogy. So I was amazed to find the opening scene of my failed novel almost exactly in the first chapter of this book— in mood, at least. Somehow it had lived on in a shadowy corner of my mind.
That’s the way I felt the whole time I was reading Tombs of Atuan— like I was coming back to something I could have written myself. Well, except obviously I am not the writer LeGuin was!! I guess I mean it’s a novel I wish I could have written. The afterword, which must be fairly recent since she says it’s “the second decade of the twenty-first century,” discusses exactly the things that I would have wanted to ask LeGuin if she were still here to answer. Loved this book.
When I picked up this book to re-read, I had no memory of it whatsoever, even though I knew I had read it somewhere around age twelve, since I read and loved the whole original trilogy. So I was amazed to find the opening scene of my failed novel almost exactly in the first chapter of this book— in mood, at least. Somehow it had lived on in a shadowy corner of my mind.
That’s the way I felt the whole time I was reading Tombs of Atuan— like I was coming back to something I could have written myself. Well, except obviously I am not the writer LeGuin was!! I guess I mean it’s a novel I wish I could have written. The afterword, which must be fairly recent since she says it’s “the second decade of the twenty-first century,” discusses exactly the things that I would have wanted to ask LeGuin if she were still here to answer. Loved this book.