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A review by steveatwaywords
The Tombs of Atuan by Ursula K. Le Guin
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
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? Yes
4.25
Le Guin's second of the original trilogy, like the first, is an odd narrative: don't enter her stories looking for a swashbuckling hero tale or one with clean ideas of good and evil, a tale of adventure magic or grand monsters. The antagonisms here are more subtle, and one protagonist (Ged) plays, in his mature years, a character of quiet gravity and humility. Instead, read it for the psychological play with the development of a young girl, with the assumptions we make of loyalties and tradition, with missed opportunities in relationships and the untraveled roads Frost recalls.
A bridge novel to the final work of the original trilogy, as carefully and patiently paced as it is, its singular pleasure is in the very absence of traditional adventure: Le Guin shows us that the real world of disorder and responsibility and consequence also apply to realms of fantasy, perhaps more so.
A bridge novel to the final work of the original trilogy, as carefully and patiently paced as it is, its singular pleasure is in the very absence of traditional adventure: Le Guin shows us that the real world of disorder and responsibility and consequence also apply to realms of fantasy, perhaps more so.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death and Torture