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A review by milktoast
Gifts by Ursula K. Le Guin
4.0
Never wrote a review for this, oops!
I liked this book a lot. I don't see a lot of low key fantasy stories, and that's a shame. In Gifts, Le Guin creates a fascinating culture & cool magic, but the story isn't a big quest or epic tale. It's a small coming of age story about a young boy as he struggles to understand what his "gift" means and find his place in his family.
There's a lot of things I really enjoyed in this story: the worldbuilding, the small scale, the characters who are lifelike instead of larger than life, but mostly I was impressed by the emotional pull such a small and short story had. Tis a cliche, but I laughed and I cried and I walked away satisfied. Can't expect much better than that! It's not LeGuin's greatest work, but I'm glad I checked it out.
I liked this book a lot. I don't see a lot of low key fantasy stories, and that's a shame. In Gifts, Le Guin creates a fascinating culture & cool magic, but the story isn't a big quest or epic tale. It's a small coming of age story about a young boy as he struggles to understand what his "gift" means and find his place in his family.
There's a lot of things I really enjoyed in this story: the worldbuilding, the small scale, the characters who are lifelike instead of larger than life, but mostly I was impressed by the emotional pull such a small and short story had. Tis a cliche, but I laughed and I cried and I walked away satisfied. Can't expect much better than that! It's not LeGuin's greatest work, but I'm glad I checked it out.