about death
5 stars
This book has a strong message about the necessity of death, imagining what happens when immortality is possible.
Paperback, 208 pages
English language
Published June 1, 1984 by Bantam.
5 stars
(2 reviews)
When the prince of Enlad declares the wizards have forgotten their spells, Ged sets out to test the ancient prophecies of Earthsea.
When one door is closed many more are open
4 stars
Content warning mild spoilers inside
A lovely third instalment of the Earthsea series, and a good handoff from it being all Ged's story to broadening out. A few off notes though:
- I found the emphasis on restoring the King to bring back order off-putting and at odds with the gentle daoism infusing everything else about these books.
- Arren seems to go awfully quickly from doubting naif to ready to be crowned. I liked how much Ged's ascendancy was about time, effort and learning from his own mistakes, and Arren's feels rushed by comparison.
- This may be the most extreme of the Earthsea books so far for just lacking female characters.
I gather that the later books were in part a deliberate effort by an older Le Guin to fix some of the deficiencies of the first 3, especially around gender (even in Tombs of Atuan, I found Tenar more a captive who has things happen to her than a full actor). As much as I did enjoy this one, it's made me look forward to those even more.
Subjects
- Fiction
- Children's 12-Up - Fiction - Fantasy
- Children: Young Adult (Gr. 10-12)
- Science Fiction, Fantasy, & Magic
- Fiction / Fantasy / General
- Fantasy
- Magic