Scan barcode
A review by ericderoulet
Tales from Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
"Commodified fantasy takes no risk: it invents nothing, but imitates and trivialises."
I can't help but find a lot of recent fantasy both derivative and too committed to relatively untested, yet absolutely stated, rules of writing. (Worse still is the blind trend-chasing that so much Big Five-published fantasy does.) It's been a relief, then, to read something quite different here.
Sort of a back-collection of Le Guin stories and backstory, Tales from Earthsea collects five of Le Guin's stories (three long short stories and two that I believe are of at least novella length), precedes these with Le Guin's own thoughts on fantasy and publishing, and follows all of this with a "A Description of Earthsea," sort of a narrative map of the world-building Le Guin did for Earthsea (but written with an in-world perspective and not always reliable narration). While Le Guin recommends reading these stories after the four previous Earthsea novels, I found the collection enriching despite having only spent some time with her work previously. Even at the short story length, Le Guin allows herself to take pleasure with filling out the world and take time with the journeys her characters take; she doesn't strive for maximal word economy as so many short story writers are advised to do today. There's a fair bit of exposition in places, though it usually concerns the in-world details that the stories' characters would be concerned with, not lecturing the audience as I've seen indie fantasy and sci-fi do all too often. And quite unlike what's seen in the average fantasy plot, her stories' antagonists are not universally overcome through violence.
As for this collection's overall merits, the prose, while not flowery, is far from workman-like and can often be enjoyed for its own sake. More significantly, the stories are as thematically strong as one might expect when one recalls how thoughtful Le Guin was about writing social commentary as well as anthropologically sound fiction. Shared threads throughout this collection include a concern with power and how it ought to be used, as well as self-actualization and how often attaining it involves pushing back against the social norms that try to steer us all in the same direction.
Some quick comments on individual stories:
I can't help but find a lot of recent fantasy both derivative and too committed to relatively untested, yet absolutely stated, rules of writing. (Worse still is the blind trend-chasing that so much Big Five-published fantasy does.) It's been a relief, then, to read something quite different here.
Sort of a back-collection of Le Guin stories and backstory, Tales from Earthsea collects five of Le Guin's stories (three long short stories and two that I believe are of at least novella length), precedes these with Le Guin's own thoughts on fantasy and publishing, and follows all of this with a "A Description of Earthsea," sort of a narrative map of the world-building Le Guin did for Earthsea (but written with an in-world perspective and not always reliable narration). While Le Guin recommends reading these stories after the four previous Earthsea novels, I found the collection enriching despite having only spent some time with her work previously. Even at the short story length, Le Guin allows herself to take pleasure with filling out the world and take time with the journeys her characters take; she doesn't strive for maximal word economy as so many short story writers are advised to do today. There's a fair bit of exposition in places, though it usually concerns the in-world details that the stories' characters would be concerned with, not lecturing the audience as I've seen indie fantasy and sci-fi do all too often. And quite unlike what's seen in the average fantasy plot, her stories' antagonists are not universally overcome through violence.
As for this collection's overall merits, the prose, while not flowery, is far from workman-like and can often be enjoyed for its own sake. More significantly, the stories are as thematically strong as one might expect when one recalls how thoughtful Le Guin was about writing social commentary as well as anthropologically sound fiction. Shared threads throughout this collection include a concern with power and how it ought to be used, as well as self-actualization and how often attaining it involves pushing back against the social norms that try to steer us all in the same direction.
Some quick comments on individual stories:
- "The Finder" is the first and longest piece here, and easily the most thematically powerful. It's a rare pleasure to see both tyranny and resistance against it written well in fantasy and in fiction in general.
- "Darkrose and Diamond" is lovely, a romance of sorts that also takes seriously the challenge of becoming who we want to be in the face of family and social pressures. Le Guin also puts in the extra effort of including a song at the end, complete with musical notation, for the benefit of musically minded readers.
- "The Bones of Earth" is a somewhat slower tale but does well with interiority and showcasing the world's magic in an engaging way.
- "On the High Marsh" really takes its time with its pacing, even compared to the other stories here, and didn't do as much for me. Reasonably sympathetic characters, though.
- "Dragonfly" really stars for the self-actualization theme in this collection and feels ahead of its time with its clear nod to early transgender experience and self-discovery, even if the protagonist gets caught up in affairs much larger than herself in the second half or so.
"The Bones of the Earth" and "On the High Marsh" were the main reasons for the 4.5-star rating rather than a 5-star rating; I loved the other stories here, and the foreword is a splendid essay in its own right.