Name: The Earthsea Quartet (Puffin Books)
ISBN: 9780140348033

Ursula K. Le Guin

The Earthsea Quartet (Puffin Books)

A Wizard of Earthsea * The Tombs of Atuan * The Farthest Shore * Tehanu Ged is but a goatherd on the island of Gont when he comes by his strange powers over nature. Sent to the School of Wizards on Roke, he learns the true way of magic and proves himself a powerful magician. And it is as the Archmage Sparrowhawk that he helps the High Priestess Tenar escape the labyrinth of darkness. But over the years, Ged witnesses true magic and the ancient ways submit to the forces of evil and death. Will he too succumb, or can he hold them back?

The Earthsea Quartet

maitha mana

I enjoyed savoring this book, genuinely took my time reading it. It felt like a magical blend of Lord of the Rings and Game of Thrones (without the incest). A tale of ancient creatures, dragons, dragon-people, sailing to discover far lands, spells, and magic.

The  earthsea quartet

Gavin

If fantasy tends to strike you as pompous or tasteless - if you can't get through 'Lord of the Rings', 'Game of Thrones' or whatnot, you should try this. Anthropological fantasies. The first three books are about: mortality, deconversion and addiction. But the fourth, about two women in two farmhouses, is actually the most ambitious.

'Tales of Earthsea' is my favourite, but you can't just skip to it, since it gets its power from reprise and reprisal.

The cycle is relentlessly pro-death though; Ged does not become a man until he faces and integrates a manifestation of his own death; Cob's terror of, and resistance to death enslaves and drains the entire continent; an ancient attempt to create an afterlife is actually an act of betrayal, colonialism, and Frankensteinian hubris. The cycle ends with the circle of life and death restored, and everyone right pleased and relieved at this, not least the undead who get to not exist. Now, you can counter that le Guin is more pro-stoicism, pro-serenity, pro-enlightened-adaption-to-the-inevitable than she is pro-death. But deathists always are; they are harmful because of their apriori ban on potentially wonderful undertakings, not because they are goth as fuck.

As always, she is a wonderful read even when I disagree with her very strongly. To be read by 10 year olds and 27 year olds, presumably by 50 year olds and definitely by 75 year olds.

Eleanor Luhar

As the title suggests, this is a collection of the first four books in the Earthsea Cycle. It took me just over a month to read it, but obviously I read about 5 books at the same time so that probably didn't help.

The first book in this collection was published in 1968, so the writing does sound pretty old-fashioned. The last book was more modern, and my favourite of the four. But the archaic style suits the story; an Archmage in the ancient land of Earthsea accidentally summons a being of great evil, and must right his wrongs. We also meet Tenar, a girl sacrificed to the Nameless god's, who is present in two of the stories. Ged, the Archmage, makes an appearance in all the stories, but is only the protagonist of two. The switching of POV was an interesting choice and may be an annoying feature to some, but definitely gave a lot more depth to the land.

The book is "only" 691 pages long (which, for a quartet, does not seem particularly large) but did drag on quite a lot at times. I found the first three stories to be presented densely on the page, making it take longer than average to read. The last book was a lot easier in my opinion. 

The passing of time was not documented much, but that didn't seem to affect the story. I wasn't particularly invested in Ged - I liked him, but didn't feel much emotion from or for him. Tenar and Therru were my favourites - I'm sincerely hoping to hear more about Therru in later books.

This was a proper fantasy read, being commonly known as one of the most important books in its genre. It isn't a light and easy read, but once you get into it it is rather enjoyable. 3.5 stars; only being raised by the fourth book in the collection.