liamdepiam 's review for:

Tehanu by Ursula K. Le Guin

5.0

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An exceptional inversion of perspective from the previous three books. In a world where magic is ubiquitous and takes as many shapes as there are people who can work it, we are instead given every bit of story that has happened so far from point of view of regular people who have come from irregular backgrounds. However, its sharpest bit of commentary comes from the insistence on the woman's experience of the world. All the many ways they are kept apart and yet are irrevocably tied together in a way that sadly mirrors the real world. But it is also home to some of the most gentle and thoughtful discussion on a woman's place in a world like this I think I've ever read, without ever minimizing the harm that is done to them and being bold enough to present no easy digestible answers. Instead it provides the questions through the characters and invites you to think along with the characters as they sew their pants back together and spin yarn during winter. Why can't a woman be Archmage? What is a woman's power? How is a woman's power different from a man's power? Subsequently it draws you into thinking about structures of power, of unspoken rules of power, and so on.

I adore this book, heart and soul.