Ursula K. Le Guin

Two young people who cross over from everyday reality and meet in the magical village of Tembreabrezi volunteer to take on and destroy the unknown malevolent force that is threatening the village with destruction

The Beginning Place

Katherine Yang

This is the first book I've read by Ursula K. Le Guin, and I'm not sure what to think. On one hand, the fantasy element is lovely and individual characters are quite interesting, but on the other, I felt very underwhelmed and confused by the way it wrapped up. Hugh falls in love with Allia and soon after hooks up with Irena? I understand that it's meant to be about them being lost in both worlds and ultimately finding solace in each other, but that left a bad taste in my mouth.

On to the next Le Guin.

Lillian

sorry queen I agree with the reviewers on this one,,,still gonna read ur other stuff though!

a story that pertains very little to the review but may be of interest to especially bored lurkers:

the other day I was having a conversation with my friend about how I thought my average rating for Goodreads was so high not because I enjoyed reading books that much but because over the years I'd developed a pretty good sense of whether or not I would like a book if I got in to it. that and the fact that I am a notorious dnfer. I don't finish anything I start. and while I probably should have continued going on a 7am walk every day, sometimes, it's for the better. especially with books. why waste your time on something you know you won't like anyways?

well, today I guess I found out the answer. I've wanted to read more of leguin's work for a while now. I read the ones who walk away from omelas way back in middle school for an assignment, and was appropriately haunted. however, I've never read a full length novel/novella. I was probably going to start at the dispossessed due the recommendations from two of my lovely friends, but I ended up getting this at the library for a dollar because it was being discarded, and I like to go through my physical tbr first, so here we are.

i went into this book extremely optimistic, hoping to ignore the 3.55 rating on goodreads. it's leguin, she's never had a bad take, how bad can it be? well, the answer is, not awful, just kind of bad. the concept itself was kind of weird, but I found myself endeared to both hugh and irena and their struggles with their family lives, and their desire to find an escape. there were some nice quotes in there about how humans take care of each other and cautious optimism.

but. but but but. since there's always a but in these reviews. the extremely rushed romance between the two mcs was just beffudling to me. i would have enjoyed this wayyy more if they had just been regular friends who found company in each other and became a nice little two-person found family. there really wasn't much chemistry between them, and because this book was so short, there was barely any development in their relationship before we got to the part where they got together.

ending was cute though, so i was endeared, but only slightly.

i started feeling like this was going to be a 3-or-lower-star read around halfway into this (very short) book. however, wanting to have read at least something by leguin, i plowed through. so did i "waste my time on something I knew I wouldn't like"? i don't think so. i feel like that experience, however middling, was somewhat valuable. it gives me insight at the very least into leguin's writing style and conventions that i can recognize when reading her more positively received work. so maybe sometimes there is an exception to the rule (the rule being "just dnf it").

besides, i couldn't waste my dollar.

The Beginning Place

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