Ursula Le Guin

Read by Morag Hood. Talking Book

The Tombs of Atuan

Aske Dørge

taylor miles hopkins

What she had begun to learn was the weight of liberty. Freedom is a heavy load, a great and strange burden for the spirit to undertake. It is not easy. It is not a gift given, but a choice made, and the choice may be a hard one. The road goes upward toward the light; but the laden traveler may never reach the end.

loisesya

“De Aarde is schoon, stralend en welwillend, maar niet dat alleen. De Aarde is tevens vreeswekkend en donker en wreed. Uit de groene weiden klinkt schril de kreet op van een stervend konijn. Er ligt vuur verscholen in de machtige vuisten der bergen. Er zijn haaien in de zee en er schuilt wreedheid in de oger der mensen. En waar de mensen machten als deze vereren en voor hen in het stof buigen, woekert het kwade; daar ontstaan op de wereld plaatsen waar het duister zich samentrekt, plaatsen die geheel Zijn overgeleverd aan Degenen die wij de Naamlozen noemen, de oude en heilige machten van een nog lichtloze Aarde, de machten van duisternis. van vernietiging, van waanzin....” 

Jiji

… Because to me, fantasy isn't wishful thinking, but a way of reflecting, and reflecting on reality. After all, even in a democracy, in the second decade of the twenty-frst century, after forty years of feminist striving, the reality is that we live in a top-down power structure that was shaped by, and is still dominated by, men. Back in 1969, that reality seemed almost unshakable.

Ursula K. Le Guin

Arha's isolated existence as high priestess in the tombs of Atuan is jarred by a thief who seeks a special treasure.

The tombs of Atuan

Very different from A Wizard of Earthsea but good nonetheless. Almost felt like horror/thriller at times.

Jesper Nellemann Jakobsen

The  tombs of Atuan

Maria

ursula le guin queen you’ve done it again!

In this second novel in the Earthsea series, Tenar is chosen as high priestess to the ancient and nameless Powers of the Earth, and everything is taken from her—home, family, possessions, even her name. She is now known only as Arha, the Eaten One, and guards the shadowy, labyrinthine Tombs of Atuan.

Then a wizard, Ged Sparrowhawk, comes to steal the Tombs’ greatest hidden treasure, the Ring of Erreth-Akbe. Tenar’s duty is to protect the Ring, but Ged possesses the light of magic and tales of a world that Tenar has never known. Will Tenar risk everything to escape from the darkness that has become her domain?

The Second Book of Earthsea

alice

Oh, Tenar—how I love you.

"She cried for the waste of her years in bondage to a useless evil. She wept in pain, because she was free."

Boothby

Loved it. And I love it even more a few weeks after reading it

Sets a strange, disquieting environment with a muted or muffled tone. masterfully eases you into the world of the book until it makes its own sense and logic to you. Then masterfully turns it back around on it's head. 

The real story takes place in the hearts of its characters, and in your heart too

Absolute molasses reading on thus one. I just couldn't get into it. Unsure whether or not I will read the second one.

Yvette

Appreciate the fact that the protagonist in the first book becomes a secondary character in this one—it’s interesting to have that familiarity of Sparrowhawk’s story (and continuation of his story) while getting to know another character more intimately. 

One of my biggest critiques of the first book was the lack of female characters, so it was nice to have this perspective through the protagonist in this book. Was a little slow to start, but this was a great addition to this series and its lore. Looking forward to the next book.

Appreciate the fact that the protagonist in the first book becomes a secondary character in this one—it’s interesting to have that familiarity of Sparrowhawk’s story (and continuation of his story) while getting to know another character more intimately. 

One of my biggest critiques of the first book was the lack of female characters, so it was nice to have this perspective through the protagonist in this book. Was a little slow to start, but this was a great addition to this series and its lore. Looking forward to the next book.

Mudita

The narrative feels a little sluggish since there isn't an immediate plot that it is anchored on, just descriptions to begin with. But what I love so much about this series is how well the characters are written. Seeing them challenge their own beliefs, resolve inner conflict, struggle with change and regret, is all very cathartic.

Ryan LaFerney

The Tombs of Atuan is a fantasy novel by the American author Ursula K. Le Guin, first published in the Winter 1970 issue of Worlds of Fantasy, and published as a book by Atheneum Books in 1971. It is the second book in the Earthsea series after A Wizard of Earthsea (1969). The Tombs of Atuan was a Newbery Honor Book in 1972.

Set in the fictional world of Earthsea, The Tombs of Atuan follows the story of Tenar, a young girl born in the Kargish empire, who is taken while still a child to be the high priestess to the "Nameless Ones" at the Tombs of Atuan. Her existence at the Tombs is a lonely one, deepened by the isolation of being the highest ranking priestess. Her world is disrupted by the arrival of Ged, the protagonist of A Wizard of Earthsea, who seeks to steal the half of a talisman buried in the treasury of the Tombs. Tenar traps him in the labyrinth under the Tombs, but then rebels against her teaching and keeps him alive. Through him she learns more of the outside world, and begins to question her faith in the Nameless Ones and her place at the Tombs.

Like A Wizard of Earthsea, The Tombs of Atuan is a bildungsroman (a coming of age story) that explores Tenar's growth and identity. Tenar's coming-of-age is closely tied to her exploration of faith and her belief in the Nameless Ones. The Tombs of Atuan explores themes of gender and power in the setting of a cult of female priests in service to a patriarchal society, while providing an anthropological view of Kargish culture. 

This story is poetic, dark, beautiful, and haunting. The Tombs of Atuan takes on a different tone than its predecessor and veers even more away from traditional fantasy. It features a new and unfamiliar female protagonist instead of focusing on the established and familiar male one. It shies away from much of the adventuring aspects of Wizard and much of the genre; there is no grand epic adventure, no dragons, and no sailing off into the unknown (until the end in a very literal sense). Everything is purposefully claustrophobic, restrictive, and intimate. This is Tenar's journey.

 The message of this book is that the past does not define us and that we too like Tenar can overcome darkness. It is also about the price of freedom and its burden. Its about Tenar's struggle to break free from the stifling dogma that shaped her beliefs and understanding of the world (take for instance, her view of other cultures). Tenar’s decision to be free of the corrosive influence of her masters comes at steep costs. She loses Manan, her old and faithful servant, in a struggle escaping the Tomb. She causes the destruction of the only home she had ever known in the aftermath. Most significantly, she loses her identity as Arha, the person she was for so many years. Le Guin, wisely shows us, that growing up, rejecting evil, expanding ones worldview is well, painful.

“A dark hand had let go its lifelong hold upon her heart. But she did not feel joy, as she had in the mountains. She put her head down in her arms and cried, and her cheeks were salt and wet. She cried for the waste of her years in bondage to a useless evil. She wept in pain, because she was free.” 
― Ursula K. Le Guin, The Tombs of Atuan

Highly recommended reading.

andrea

i confess that up until the 40% mark i was considering this a 3* read, but that changed when i reached the end. it was partly because, as i know nothing of earthsea, i expected this to be merely a sequel of ged's story. ged does appear as a supporting character; however, the main focus is placed on another newly-introduced character and it took me a while to warm to this idea. 

tenar's story is parallel and, at the same time, opposite to ged's: this is a journey of self-discovery and finding true identity, which is represented by tenar's name being taken away when she is a child. her destiny, who she is, is decided for her by other people. her power also becomes her prison, and she starts doubting everything that has constituted her life until the present moment. 

this book's atmosphere is darker, both metaphorically and literally. you have to be very talented to narrate a story in which the main setting consists of several dark rooms and labyrinths that never seem to end. until the middle of the book, almost everything tenar does is walk through these places with no light, as they're her territory. she memorises every turn, every door simply by touch. it walked the thin line between being interesting and a bit repetitive, but in the end le guin is simply too good and she didn't let me down.

Compared to the first book in the Earthsea saga, I loved this so much better. However, I only can appreciate the greatness of this book because I could witness the story of Ged in the first book. And this book wasn’t about Ged at all, it was much more. In the Tombs of Atuan, On some pages, I could feel the cold dark nights that Genly Ai in Gethen had to go through. Ursula is great at depicting environments and making you feel isolated or feel the warmness of a nice gesture. 

Fatih Arslan

A.L.L.

This was the first Ursula Le Guin book I ever read. Though it is second in the Earthsea cylce, I recommend the reading order:

1. Tombs of Atuan 2. A Wizard of Earthsea 3. The Farthest Shore 4. Tehanu 5. The Other Wind 6. Tales from Earthsea

Reading Tombs of Atuan first, and as my introduction to Ursula Le Guin was pretty magical. Ursula has a way with words that made a book that takes place almost entirely in an undecorated, otherwise boring underground maze somehow very interesting.

Her writing style also reminded me of Steinbeck in the sense that both she and Steinbeck seem to have an eye for seeing and describing the essence of a person. 

Getting to meet Ged through the eyes of another first was also quite fun. It made me wonder (knowing nothing about him) who is this guy? What's his story? And I think that curiosity made me enjoy reading A Wizard of Earthsea much more than if I had read Wizard before Tombs. 

Tenar was also just done so well. The traditions, the superstitions, the descriptions of the darkness and fear...and overcoming fear... This was an interesting read that I enjoyed much more than I anticipated.

Fraser Simons

I loved the shift to a female protagonist and that they had to work together to escape their own types of imprisonment. The amount of lore being put into these short novels is really incredible. The connection between the first and this was more satisfying than I expected. 

I especially liked the end.

A wizard enters the underground domain of Ahra, high priestess of the Powers of the Earth, in an attempt to steal her palace's greatest treasure.

Ken Yuen

It's interesting to read this in contrast to Wizard of Earthsea. Whereas the first was a long sprawling journey, this takes place in entirely one place. Whereas the conversation was take-it-or-leave-it in the first book, there's some good conversations in this one. It has a small cast of characters, which makes the whole thing feel more intimate. Yet, despite the improvements, the whole thing still feels so very dry. The characters aren't very personable, making it hard to latch on to any of them.

(view spoiler)[Like take Manan, the loyal servant of Tenar. He gets killed in like two sentences and it's not till chapters later that Tenar has a reaction. And this is a lonely girl who has like 1-2 friends in the whole world. It's so very weirdly alien. (hide spoiler)]

Rjyan C Kidwell

For the second book about Earthsea, LeGuin introduces a whole new protagonist in a much different corner of the world. It's a tale that borders on the Lovecraftian, but eventually pierces through the nihilistic gloom characteristic of that milieu with more of the vivid psychological insight of "The Wizard of Earthsea." LeGuin's fantasy is very unique, but without the un-ancient novelty that often ornaments more recent writers' attempts to inject new life into a landscape so encumbered by debts to Tolkien-- and I don't know if it's because she mines her mythemes from a wider range of cultures, if she's more ingenious at combining them, or that her inspiration simply comes from a different place. But whatever the reason, her images seem every bit as indelible without the reliance on recycling as the more familiar tropes of orcs and elves.

Sarah Ryan

Enjoyable sequel. Main character from first instalment is a secondary character here and we follow a brand new character who goes through her own journey from darkness into light.

Bryony Trump

I appreciated this book for what it is--an introduction to a fantasy saga. Even though in my opinion, the story of this installment or elements of this world aren't as compelling as others I've read, I am intrigued by the development of the main characters. I think I would read on in this series to find out where Tenar and Ged end up going and doing. 3.5/5 stars.

Simon Elliott Stegall

Not on the same epic scale as Wizard of Earthsea, but possibly more original. More on par with your typical LeGuin novel: extremely imaginative, but lacking a little something- at least compared to her best work. Anyway, four stars... but not, in my opinion, as magical as book 1.

'The magic of Earthsea is primal; the lessons of Earthsea remain as potent, as wise, and as necessary as anyone could dream' Neil Gaiman Ursula K. Le Guin's Earthsea Cycle has earned a treasured place on the shelves of fantasy lovers everywhere, alongside the works of such beloved authors as J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis. When young Tenar is chosen as high priestess to the ancient and nameless Powers of the Earth, everything is taken away - home, family, possessions, even her name. For she is now Arha, the Eaten One, guardian of the ominous Tombs of Atuan. While she is learning her way through the dark labyrinth, a young wizard, Ged, comes to steal the Tombs' greatest hidden treasure, the Ring of Erreth-Akbe. But Ged also brings with him the light of magic, and together, he and Tenar escape from the darkness that has become her domain.

Nickie Mohler

Even though I loved this book, I did not love it as much as the first one. I had a hard time liking Tenar. But, towards the end, I found that she grew on me. I still absolutely love Geb. The writing is amazing. I am very interested to see where the story goes next.

Finally: a Le Guin book I like! It still features the same ye-olde Biblical-sounding pompous prose style that grated on me so much in The Wizard of Earthsea, but the tale is so beautiful that it doesn't matter. There's also still this weird internalized sexism in which a woman's coming-of-age tale is told passively, in which she is constantly lead and pressured into her growth, in which the society of women and eunuchs in which she grew up is a toxic one, and she develops later by trusting and submitting entirely to the guidance of a man who keeps infantilizing her, calling her "little one" despite of her being a grown-up, and in the end even making all life decisions for her (including where she should live and what she should do in the future, against her own stated wishes). She goes from being the head priestess of her faith to being valued for her prettiness instead, and being given pretty princess dresses, and told to (view spoiler)[spend the next few years serving an old wizard who will probably never teach her due to her sex, but at least she can milk his goats and do the household chores (hide spoiler)]. 

So why does it work despite of all this? Why am I still giving it five stars? Because regardless of those somewhat iffy underpinnings, it's still a very powerful and beautiful tale of someone growing up in a tomb, basically, and in an evil cult, who goes through the painful work of growing out of her brainwashing, who gives up her position of authority in this bad, misguided system, and embraces humility and kindness instead. And Ged really does have a lot of wisdom and gentleness, so him pushing her to question everything about herself, her having to go through this painful death of her ego and old persona, and starting her life anew, is - in this case - actually a very positive direction. When he doesn't listen to her self-destructive wishes in the end but decides things for her, it's not because he's a man and she a woman, but because at that moment he actually is wiser and recognizes that she just wants to punish herself instead of having more self-compassion. 

So, overall, I loved it because it tells a wonderful story of human growth when you've been utterly wrong and misguided, and need to reinvent and learn to forgive yourself. I can't wait to read the continuation of her story in Tehanu to learn how she will grow into her new self.

P.S. For some more explanation of why I find Earthsea to be sexist, see this article by Athena Andreadis here: http://crossedgenres.com/archives/028...

Daryl Houston

I read A Wizard of Earthsea to my family last year, and it really captivated me. I had hoped to read more of the series aloud, but my daughter wasn't into it, so I'm picking it back up on my own now. It's a quick and easy read aimed at children (a Newberry book if I'm not mistaken), and so it's nothing earth-shattering or all that profound, though maybe there's profundity in a book for kids that touches on figuring out whom to trust and how?

Rob Brogan

Felt like it could have been a side-story but maybe that’s just my poor attention span talking. Interesting setup for the gradual build of this new fantasy universe. Without spoiling anything I think it’s worth reading but probably only the second half of the book is necessary

The Tombs of Atuan Read by Morag Hood. Talking Book

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