Ursula K. Le Guin

Darkness threatens to overtake Earthsea: The world and its wizards are losing their magic. But Ged Sparrowhawk—Archmage, wizard, and dragonlord—is determined to discover the source of this devastating loss.

Aided by Enlad’s young Prince Arren, Ged embarks on a treacherous journey that will test their strength and will. Because to restore magic, the two warriors must venture to the farthest reaches of their world—and even beyond the realm of death.

The Third Book of Earthsea

The Farthest Shore

When the prince of Enlad declares the wizards have forgotten their spells, Ged sets out to test the ancient prophecies of Earthsea.

Book Three

Don't worry about the sharks, Arren. They're chill

Boothby

But the water’s mild for swimming, and I have an understanding with the sharks.

loisesya

“Het leven ontspruit aan de dood, de dood ontspruit aan het leven; tegendelen die smachtend naar elkander uitzien, elkander het aanzijn schenken en steeds weer herboren worden. En samen met hen wordt alles herboren, de bloesems aan de appelboom, de sterren aan de hemel. In leven is dood, in dood is herleven. Wat is immers leven zonder dood, een onveranderd, altijddurend, eeuwig leven? Wat is het anders dan dood... dood zonder herleven?" 

taylor miles hopkins

…but the truth is we do not know what life is or what death is. To claim power over what you do not understand is not wise, nor is the end of it likely to be good."

Death and life are the same thing—like the two sides of my hand, the palm and the back. And still the palm and the back are not the same.... They can be neither separated, nor mixed

And the weaving of spells is itself interwoven with the earth and the water, the winds and the fall of light of the place where it is cast.

There is a certain bleakness in finding hope where one expected certainty. 

…named him son of myth, inheritor of dreams.

This is the most epic of the Earthsea books so far, it's also the darkest and I'm all here for it.

It's super interesting to see Sparrowhawk in many different stages of his life, and the new characters were all great.

The final act is what really made this book for me though. So cool.

Eduardo Sorribas

This is the most epic of the Earthsea books so far, it's also the darkest and I'm all here for it.

It's super interesting to see Sparrowhawk in many different stages of his life, and the new characters were all great.

The final act is what really made this book for me though. So cool.

Just not my cup of tea I guess. I found these books pretty boring, though I hate to say it. The writing is beautiful, but the pace is slower than I prefer and the narration is so removed from the characters. The world-building is quite extensive across the series, actually to the point that I was always feeling like I was missing a book or two (maybe I am? Not sure I’ll be reading them though...) 

Niza Contreras

The Farthest Shore (The Earthsea Cycle, Book 3)

Maria

torn about this one it’s somewhere closer to a 3.5 because it was GOOD but it also wasn’t as good as the ones before it

Cody Degen

** spoiler alert **
           I think ultimately the thing I bump up against with Earthsea, especially books 1 and 3, is the way it somehow feels too much like an old fairy tale or legend, like it makes it harder to actually connect to the characters as people. To some extent I think that’s intentional too since it seems like so much of the series after the first book happens from the PoV of characters surrounding Ged, as if he’s just a force of nature. But idk. I appreciate them more than I enjoy them but will still probably read the rest of the books in the series

a rating for the last book of a trilogy might be as much for the trilogy as a whole as for the book itself

i loved these tales from earthsea, it’s such a unique setting and tone

Jiji

a rating for the last book of a trilogy might be as much for the trilogy as a whole as for the book itself

i loved these tales from earthsea, it’s such a unique setting and tone

Winona 

I really wanted to love this one because I absolutely adore  A Wizard of Earthsea  and  The Tombs of Atuan , but  The Farthest Shore  suffered from a painfully slow pace as well as a sometimes confusing plot. I also found it hard to connect with Prince Arren because he was oftentimes eclipsed by Ged who, whilst mentoring Arren, has greater character development than the latter does in his own book. I still liked it though, and definitely recommend it, but I think its the weakest book in the  Earthsea Cycle .

Slow quiet tension. Not exciting, but nerve wracking as it made me scrutinize every uneasy detail wondering, oh god, is the corruption taking hold of our heroes??

Beautifully sad for most of it, but it put me back together before I closed the book

Slow quiet tension. Not exciting, but nerve wracking as it made me scrutinize every uneasy detail wondering, oh god, is the corruption taking hold of our heroes??

Beautifully sad for most of it, but it put me back together before I closed the book

Ryan LaFerney

The Farthest Shore is the third book in Ursula Le Guin’s EARTHSEA series, and the concluding one for several decades. This wraps up Le Guin's original trilogy of Ged, better known as Sparrowhawk, the greatest wizard of Earthsea. It's a story about death, the deathlands, and the end of magic. It's dour subject matter. In a way, some of the themes of this book reminded me of The Last Jedi. Ged is essentially hermit Luke. The subject matter of this story is great but it is sad to see a character we just felt like we getting to know fade and his powers disappear. Its hard to bear. That is why in a similar fashion, The Last Jedi was a challenging film: it is hard to say goodbye to beloved characters, it is even harder to see them go through temptations and trails. Its hard to see our heroes lose, become old, and face the realms of death.

What is The Farthest Shore about? Well, Darkness threatens to overtake Earthsea: the world and its wizards are losing their magic. Despite being wearied with age, Ged Sparrowhawk — Archmage (head of the magic school on Roke), wizard, and dragonlord — embarks on a daring, treacherous journey, accompanied by Enlad's young Prince Arren, to discover the reasons behind this devastating pattern of loss. Together they will sail to the farthest reaches of their world — even beyond the realm of death — as they seek to restore magic to a land desperately thirsty for it.

This of course is a wonderfully written work but as many readers have noted, it is hard to read about magic going out of the world and Earthsea becoming horrible. It is in many ways also hard to identify with Ged and Arren. Le Guin said this is about death, but as Jo Walton noted: it’s about the way the fear of death sucks all the joy out of life. That's a tough pill to swallow in a so-called children's book but it is true and real and brutally honest. 

In some ways this is much more like a conventional fantasy novel than the first two, which are small scale. Here we have a familiar fantasy troupe: a dark lord seeking and promising eternal life (cough cough way to rip off Le Guin J.K. Rowling!)

It was hard to read through this book because well, it is often bleak, but the ending does offer a ray of hope, don't worry. 

This is still a vivid, philosophical work of the imagination, one that I think in time will grow on me, but I found it to be a more challenging read in comparison with the first two Earthsea novels.

A.L.L.

I am always surprised how Ursula Le Guin can take something that might otherwise be boring, like floating around at sea for months at a time without anything really happening, and making it interesting. 

I also really appreciated the relationship between Arren and Ged.

I like how Le Guin does magic too. It's interesting.

Sandra Tammaru

This book was good but for some reason didn't excite me as much as I presumed it would, hence reading was slower than usual. But I enjoyed the ending a lot

Fraser Simons

Mysterious and epic, each book feels fresh with the changing perspectives and timeframes. It was cool seeing Ged as the sort of Gandalf like figure, discover more about dragons, and follow along the spreading mystery that takes peoples’ ability to do magic away, as well as other things. Loved it!

'A Wizard of Earthsea reads like the retelling of a tale first told centuries ago, and whose twists and turns have been handed down through generations of storytellers. It is timeless. . . . Le Guin's words are magical. Drink this magic up. Drown in it. Dream it' David Mitchell, author of CLOUD ATLAS '[This] trilogy made me look at the world in a new way, imbued everything with a magic that was so much deeper than the magic I'd encountered before then. This was a magic of words, a magic of true speaking' Neil Gaiman Book Three of Ursula K. Le Guin's Earthsea Cycle Darkness threatens to overtake Earthsea: the world and its wizards are losing their magic. Despite being wearied with age, Ged Sparrowhawk - Archmage, wizard, and dragonlord -- embarks on a daring, treacherous journey, accompanied by Enlad's young Prince Arren, to discover the reasons behind this devastating pattern of loss. Together they will sail to the farthest reaches of their world -- even beyond the realm of death - as they seek to restore magic to a land desperately thirsty for it.

Nat Welch

This series continues to be incredibly well written. I had a little more trouble following what was going on in this one compared to the previous two, but it was still great.

Nickie Mohler

This one started out pretty slow for me. Then I felt like stopping because everyone they came across was just rambling on, and the gibberish started to get on my nerves. Not sure if it was my mood or the book. I decided to keep reading, and I'm glad I did. I loved the dragons and the ending. They redeemed the book for me.

celeste

the way the final boss fight got resolved was way too anti-climatic but damned if i didn't tear up with that ending and ged's character arc

Daryl Houston

Interesting at the start, kind of a snooze for the next little bit, but then it picks up when they're on the sea, and in the end it was a good read. Midway through, I was iffy on whether I'd bother with the next in the series, but by the end, I decided I probably will.

The Farthest Shore The Third Book of Earthsea

Reviews

Highlights