To return to Earthsea today is to encounter a different kind of fantasy work, where knowing oneself is a painstaking, ceaseless endeavor. It is an end in itself, not a means for characters to engage in bigger, supposedly more consequential issues. It is what the story is about, and the wonders Earthsea offers are scaled accordingly, to the sublime horizons of a life.” The world of Earthsea is one of sea and islands: a vast archipelago of hundreds of islands surrounded by mostly uncharted ocean. Earthsea contains no large continents, with the archipelago resembling Indonesia or the Philippines. The largest island, Havnor, at approximately 380 miles (610km) across, is about the size of Great Britain. The cultures of Earthsea are literate non-industrial civilizations and not direct analogues of the real world. The overall climate of Earthsea is temperate, comparable to the mid-latitudes (over a distance of about 1,800 miles or 2,900 kilometres) of the northern hemisphere of the Earth. There is a yearly transition from warm summers to cold and snowy winters, especially on northern islands like Gont and Osskil. In the southern regions of Earthsea, it can be much warmer.

The Earthsea Quartet book by Ursula K. Le Guin - ThriftBooks The Earthsea Quartet book by Ursula K. Le Guin - ThriftBooks

Trey from Oxford Le Guin is a writer for whom Tolkien himself would have had much respect. Her use of "true names" continues the legacy of what magic truly is, knowing and understanding, and recognizing that power is inherent in this knowledge. It reflects the concept of what the word "spell" represents. Not only is her construction of this world deserving of praise, but her writing and depiction of characters struggling with the timeless themes of mortality, love, and fear are nigh on matchless. This Illustrated Collection of Ursula K. Le Guin's Earthsea Books Finally Does the Series Justice” by Andrew Liptak, The Verge (15 May 2018) Andreeva, Nellie (September 3, 2019). " 'Earthsea' TV Series Based On Fantasy Books In The Works By A24 & Jennifer Fox". Deadline. Deadline. Discover the late Ursula Le Guin's passionate and enthralling story of a young boy sent to a school of wizardry to learn the ways of magic in the opening quartet of the Earthsea story. Celebrating the 50th anniversary of the timeless and beloved A Wizard of Earthsea that “reads like the retelling of a tale first told centuries ago” (David Mitchell)—this omnibus edition encompasses the entire Earthsea chronicles, including the early short stories, Le Guin’s “Earthsea Revisioned” Oxford lecture, and a new Earthsea story, never before printed.Adams, Judith (April 14, 2015). "Adapting Ursula Le Guin's 'Earthsea' and 'The Left Hand of Darkness' for Radio". BBC Blogs – BBC Writersroom. BBC . Retrieved May 15, 2015. Shelf Care: Immerse yourself in the rich fantasy world of Earthsea” by Ong Sor Fern, The Straits Times (18 August 2021) I think it would have been better to write this as a prequel to "The Other Wind" rather than as a finale to a trilogy which was quite capable of standing on its own (5 stars !). There was little reason to tie the stories of Ged & Tehanu together as she has done, although it does provide for continuity & allows her to explore Ged's lose of his magic & Tenar's bitterness towards the men in her life at the same time. The Earthsea Cycle, also known as Earthsea, is a series of high fantasy books written by the American author Ursula K. Le Guin. Beginning with A Wizard of Earthsea (1968), The Tombs of Atuan, (1970) and The Farthest Shore (1972), the series was continued in Tehanu (1990), and Tales from Earthsea and The Other Wind (both 2001). In 2018, all the novels and short stories were published in a single volume, The Books of Earthsea: The Complete Illustrated Edition, with artwork by Charles Vess. Miller, Timothy S. (2023). Ursula K. Le Guin's A Wizard of Earthsea: A Critical Companion. Palgrave Science Fiction and Fantasy: A New Canon (1sted.). Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan. doi: 10.1007/978-3-031-24640-1. ISBN 978-3-031-24639-5. S2CID 257293086.

The Earthsea Quartet by Ursula Le Guin book review - Fantasy

I have read (several times) the "core three": Wizard of Earthsea, The Tombs of Atuan, and The Farthest Shore. This came to mind because I found an inexpensive video of a story I didn't know (Disney/Studio Ghibli's Tales from Earthsea) anniversary of the timeless and beloved A Wizard of Earthsea". Hachette Australia . Retrieved May 14, 2018. The first three novels: A Wizard of Earthsea, The Tombs of Atuan, The Farthest Shore, telling the story of Ged. Firstly, I'm glad all the books were crammed into this epic, I doubt I would've bought them separately because I wasn't really impressed after reading the first. The Left Hand of Darkness [Episode 1 of 2]". BBC Radio 4: The Left Hand of Darkness. BBC . Retrieved May 15, 2015. Broadcast April 18, 2015; episode 2 broadcast April 25.What, after all, is the use of you? or of myself? Is Gont Mountain useful, or the Open Sea?” Ogion went on half a mile or so, and said at last, “To hear, one must be silent.” When Tehanuwas published I put a subtitle on it — "The Last Book of Earthsea." I was wrong! I was wrong!

Earthsea Cycle) : Le Guin The Tombs of Atuan: Volume 2 (Earthsea Cycle) : Le Guin

Some people think that Tehanu is a weak point in the series, they're wrong, it's told in a different way that's all and with far less action and focuses more on the character's, it was exactly what was needed at the stage in the series. George from Gateshead This is what a fantasy series should be all about, one that makes you think rather than thinking for you. Forget Harry Potter, it's weak compared to this. After "The Rule of Names" and before "A Wizard of Earthsea", Le Guin wrote a long story about a prince in search of the Ultimate. He travels south-west from Havnor through the archipelago into the open sea. There he finds a raft-colony and sea-people, whom he joins in the sea. The prince wears out, sinks and finds the Ultimate. This story was never submitted for publication because "it never worked out itself well". [17] However, the theme of a raft-colony and sea-people was later taken up as an important ingredient in the plot of The Farthest Shore. Compared to Ged, the novel’s other characters are minor ones in terms of “screen time” and only three appear in more than one episode of Ged’s life: Ogion the Silent, Ged’s master on Gont; Vetch, a friend who sometimes knows Ged better than Ged knows Ged; and Serret, an ill-intentioned sorceress. Yet even the characters that appear most fleetingly seem to be endowed by Le Guin with a fully thought-out inner life, so that when they speak, act and respond, they do so as human beings who have lived lives as full, broken, light, dark, messy and real as Ged’s and ours. Here a fisherman named Pechvarry, whose dying son Ged tried but failed to save, meets the young wizard on his victorious return from Pendor: “‘I did not know you were so mighty, my lord.’ There was fear in that because he had dared make Ged his friend, but there was reproach in it also. Ged had not saved a little child, though he had slain dragons.” How human this brief passage makes Pechvarry, how conflicted, and how visible it makes his scars. Le Guin’s thumbnail sketches contain the psychological depth of oil paintings. The notion that these people on the periphery of Ged’s story aren’t real never crosses my mind. Pechvarry et al. are still out there in their corner of Earthsea, getting on with their lives. I'd recommend reading these four books, then the author's translation of the Tao Te Ching, then these four books again. The main character is, in my mind, the purest of heroes, even more so than Aragorn or Frodo. These books are the antithesis of the semi-pornography that seems to be the industry standard of contemporary epic fantasy, even though the author's world contains villains and powerful evil. Parents and teachers and librarians should feel good when their 12 year olds read these books.Ged faces many battles during his life but it is the battle within himself that stands out in the book. Ursula Le Guin shows that the demons that are inside us all should be accepted and battled rather than ignored or denied. It is by facing these demons and overcoming them that we can truly become the person that we would all like to be. There is no way to go through life without making mistakes and having regrets, it is the way in which we deal with these moments that makes us into the people we are. Put simply, none of us are, or ever will be perfect. It is how we are able to deal with our imperfections that matters. The meaning of life and the human fear of death are the themes that run strongest through the books and this is done through characters that are simply perfect and in Ged and Tenar we are able to watch them go from young and unsure children into the wise adults.