Name: The Farthest Shore. Illustrated by Gail Garraty
Rating: 4.03125 (112 reviews)

Ursula LeGuin

The Farthest Shore. Illustrated by Gail Garraty

Ursula K. Le Guin

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

Book Three

The Farthest Shore

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

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

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 .

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.

The Farthest Shore (The Earthsea Cycle, Book 3)

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. Illustrated by Gail Garraty

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