Reviews with content warning for Suicidal thoughts - Erdsee

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Erdsee by Ursula K. Le Guin

2 reviews

al3x's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective relaxing medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

A Wizard of Earthsea
I cannot believe how masterfully LeGuin started this story. She introduced the magic system, the main character and his family, his standing in life and his relationship to magic, and a battle in his village with Viking-like invaders that the young protagonist helps in defeating. All this within the first few couple of pages. Absolutely masterful writer.

I feel so bad for not having gone into her work sooner.

The first book introduces us to Dunny, a naturally magic gifted boy that does some dumb stuff in his childhood. He is rude, petty, and quite frankly a pest sometimes. This characterization of him made it glaringly obvious that he will get a huge slap on the wrist for something dumb he will do, which will teach him humility. Lo and behold that exact thing happened.

Wizard of Earthsea is a short tale and it’s very easy to read. It has a clear-cut character development arc, one that is predictable, but satisfying.

The antagonist of the story was someone I had guessed from the beginning of his introduction, but it didn’t make it any less satisfactory when it was revealed.

I like how the magic system relies on names, and how Dunny, goes from his childhood name to Ged his true name, and then to Sparrowhawk, his use name. It’s an interesting concept.

The world is very intriguing. Most people in Earthsea are relegated to islands, and most are people of colour. The only people that are white were the invaders at the beginning, and I absolutely love this. I can also imagine why this book didn’t get as much attention in the ’60s, ’70s and even further. It’s sad that this, and the fact that the writer was a woman is what made Earthsea so sidelined, despite it having a brilliant story that could compete with other similar stories at the time.

Nevertheless, A Wizard of Earthsea is a beautiful story, with masterful writing, and of course, dragons.

The tombs of Atuan
I’ll admit, I was a little confused when I first started reading Tombs of Atuan. I was expecting, and was very curious, to see more of Ged’s story. But the main character of this next book in the series was a young girl, Arha. A reincarnated priestess, presiding over some ancient catacombs blanketed in darkness that she needs to learn to navigate and absolutely not rely on any source of light.

As confusing as it seemed at first, again LeGuin’s writing and characterisation pulled me in, and I began to feel more and more curious. The place, or island, where this story was taking place was none other than the very same one that the invaders came from in Ged’s village at the beginning of the first book.

We didn’t get to see the lives of the ordinary people of this place, instead, we explored the life of this religious figure and her struggles with faith. I thoroughly enjoyed the first book, but Tombs was even more interesting than I could have imagined. Maybe because of my own struggles with faith in a higher power, who knows, but Arha’s confidence in her faith that slowly started to wane was very sad and weirdly empowering for her at the same time.

Her meeting with Ged was an interesting shift in character dynamics. Especially since we now discover a more mature Ged. He is very wise, patient and confident. No longer that petty child, desperate to prove himself, and much older than the young priestess that confronts him. He manages to strip the last drops of faith Arha may have had in her beliefs and at the end he gifts Arha her true name: Tenar. A name she had used as a child but which she had long left behind. Since names hold power in this world, Tenar basically gets her power back with her name.

This story of losing faith made me a little sad. The ending itself seems a little sad, at least from Tenar’s perspective. We never really get a sense of what Ged might be feeling, as he is not the one we are following along in the story, so it’s hard to understand what he might be going through. Ged had come to the Tombs to steal something, and having been successful, he returns with Tenar to the inner isles.

The farthest shore
Again another shift in protagonist, we have Arren, a prince that comes to meet the Archmage of Roke, Sparrowhawk. The two are to travel together to find out what is happening with the magic in the world as it seems to be fading away, and even people who knew of the existence of magic, are negating it ever existed in the first place.

This book was slower, to me at least. It felt moodier in a way. Ged’s and Arren’s relationship is very quiet; they barely speak if at all. I couldn’t help but feel like the young man was crushing on the wizard a little bit, but maybe that was in my head.

They have this very long journey and encountered so many oddities. It almost feels like horror at times. They do get to find out what is happening with the magic and are able to stop it.

The prince becomes a king, and the wizard returns home on the back of a dragon. I’m trying very hard not to spoil anything, these are just the bare bones of what happened.

It was very interesting how this epic dragon flight at the end actually happens. The dragon offers Ged a lift not because he was tamed but the wizard, but because he respects Ged. And the ride is not in any way pleasant, as we will find out in the next book.

Tehanu
This last entry was my favourite, but I only knew it was my favourite at the very end. It’s slow, very slow, and you don't really know where the story is going. We follow Tenar again, who now goes by Goha on Gont, Ged’s home island. We find that she had refused to be treated as nobility on Havrnor, and came to Gont with Ged.

She got married, had kids, became a widow, and now her kids are either away or married and she cares for a very severely burnt child names Therru. Ogion, Ged’s first mentor, had taken care of her for a time, and now Goha is going to Ogion’s house because he is sick.

She makes a very difficult journey with Therru in tow, as she can't leave the girl, and stays with Ogion until he dies. She was hoping Ged would return in time to be with his former master in magic as he died, but alas he did not come.

Goha lingers for a while yet after Ogion dies, and she was right to do so because Ged did finally come.
Ged arrives on Gont the back of a dragon and the way LeGuin chose to write this scene is very interesting. Ged experiences burns and cuts from the dragon’s back. His hand is cut, he’s nestling in a small nook between the dragon’s scales and it hurt the wizard quite a lot.

Tenar took care of him and here is where this book became so beautiful. LeGuin gives us so much information on her world, but it also seems like she was discovering and adding things to Earthsea as her opinions changed throughout the years.

We have heard the phrase “weak as women's magic, wicked as women's magic” many times in her previous books. Women have magic but only men get to go to Roke Island where the wizard school is, and only men become wizards. Men’s magic is seen as respectful while women’s sorcery is reviled and seen as unclean.

In this book, we also discover that wizards have to celibate otherwise they forgo their magic. But it might not be true, because women don't become celibate and they still have magic. The way in which this dynamic is explored is absolutely beautiful. Women are still the lowest of the low in society, but LeGuin seems to be adding more to them. Women’s magic sounds more complex.
Tenar, although not a full witch herself, does have her own sliver of magic as she did learn some words of power from Ogion. She was able to talk with the dragon that brought Ged. Only wizards are able to talk to dragons, and even if they are able they might still become a snack, so Tenar’s wisdom is evident.

We see a dynamic between Tenar and Ged that is reversed. She is the confident, wise, and strong one, while Ged is weak, pitiful, and self-deprecating. Ged thinks he is nothing without his magic which he lost, and seems quite depressed. Even after Tenar helps and cares for him he still stays in this moody depressive state, until he just leaves.

Tenar then has to leave Ogion’s home herself and return to her own home. The two do meet again, as Ged helps Tenar when her home gets attacked by some ruffians. A few other quarrels happen with a local sorcerer that hates Tenar but they get out of the situation in a very surprising war. Therru is more special than she led on as we find out later.

Ged and Tenar finally, FINALLY, remain together. Tenar then teaches Ged some other magic and I’m assuming it’s sex, LeGuin is very delicate here but she does ship these two together, which made my day.

There are some other side conflicts here but I don't want to spoil them, suffice to say it ended quite nicely.

Content Warnings

thevampiremars's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

A Wizard of Earthsea (1968) – 4.0☆

A typical coming-of-age fantasy adventure in many ways. It does carve out its own unique identity in its worldbuilding and its largely non-white cast, but otherwise it’s not particularly groundbreaking. And that’s okay – it doesn’t need to reinvent the wheel.

I liked the way real and perceived threats ended up blurring together, adding to the atmosphere of dread and despair. I also appreciate the way Ged’s sense of detachment came across through the narrative’s drifting from place to place and the transient cast of characters. Though, on the other hand, it did make it a bit difficult to get invested; by the time I met Jasper and Vetch, I’d already been conditioned not to get too attached. And it’s a little odd because, really, Ged isn’t all that detached? He does form meaningful relationships with people, it’s just that they occur offscreen (offpage?)

Similarly, we don’t really get to see the thought process behind Ged calling his shadow his own name.

The ending in general felt quite rushed, and I wish I had a better understanding of what Le Guin was going for thematically.

Still, I did enjoy A Wizard of Earthsea overall. I think it has a healthy balance of familiar tropes and innovation. Reading it was a nostalgic experience for me, as someone who used to devour fantasy novels as a kid :)

The Tombs of Atuan (1970) – 4.0☆

Now this one is interesting, both on its own and in conversation with A Wizard of Earthsea. Both are coming-of-age stories, but Wizard’s detachment is contrasted by Tombs’s claustrophobic atmosphere. The shadow metaphor is reworked and reused here, and the worldbuilding and mythos are expanded upon well.

The Tombs of Atuan can be interpreted a number of ways, especially when it comes to gender politics. Maybe it’s a feminist tale about a female protagonist asserting her own identity and gaining independence. Maybe it’s unfeminist because she ends up needing a heroic man to save her from the delusional women. And not only are these women delusional, they’re literally a man-hating cult – perhaps there’s an antifeminist message here? A transphobe might feel vindicated because Tenar’s real name is the one given to her by her parents and the cultists telling her otherwise are just conning themselves. A trans person may rejoice as Tenar reclaims her repressed identity and rejects the role that was forced onto her for completely arbitrary reasons. I’m not trying to identify any of these readings as Le Guin’s intent – I think that’s a fruitless endeavour. I just think it’s neat that a single story can be looked at through so many different lenses (though obviously I prefer some interpretations over others)

I must say I was a little disappointed by the introduction of racism into the world of Earthsea. I don’t mean that the story is racist or the author is racist, it’s just that there are racist characters in this story whereas in A Wizard of Earthsea people of varying skin tones seemed to coexist without this particular bigotry impacting their lives. It’s a shame because it seemed like Earthsea was this utopian racismless – maybe even raceless – society.

The Farthest Shore (1972) – 3.0☆

This is definitely a step down compared to the previous two instalments, but I wouldn’t say it’s outright bad. It’s fine? I think the themes of death and suicidality were handled fairly well,

and I like that Ged must once again confront his shadow, though in a less literal sense this time.

Unfortunately, The Farthest Shore isn’t particularly well written. It has many of the same weaknesses as A Wizard of Earthsea and, to a lesser extent, The Tombs of Atuan: exposition dumps, a lack of flow, an aimless plot wrapped up with a rushed ending, etc. The premise of this story is very cliché and Le Guin doesn’t really subvert it or add a fresh twist. It’s kind of generic. To me it reads like someone trying to write a fantasy story – it runs through the checklist of magic and dragons and royal lineages and so on, but it lacks depth and substance. The characters were flat, there was very little plot progression until the last few chapters, and the misanthropic belief that “men are savages” who need a king to establish “peace” goes unchallenged (for now – this line of thinking and other right wing biases are questioned in Tehanu).

The idea of Earthsea losing its magic is perhaps unintentionally meta...

Maybe I’m being a bit too harsh. In fairness, most of my disappointment stems from comparisons to A Wizard of Earthsea and The Tombs of Atuan which, in my opinion, are better-written stories. The Farthest Shore isn’t bad. But it’s not particularly good either.

Tehanu (1990) – 4.0☆

This is no quadrilogy; The Farthest Shore was the end of the Earthsea trilogy, and Tehanu is an addendum. As I mentioned before, Le Guin uses Tehanu as an opportunity to deconstruct some of her earlier biases, particularly the patriarchal aspects of Earthsea. I applaud her for taking this approach rather than doubling down or sweeping the matter under the rug – she assessed her own worldbuilding with a critical eye and expanded on it using her newfound feminist and anarchist philosophies. I feel strangely proud of her :)

Tehanu takes on a much different tone and scope compared to the stories that preceded it. Rather than an epic fantasy quest, this story is more concerned with domestic life and the everyday reality of existing as a woman in this world – “ordinary fears,” as Tenar puts it. It explores themes of power and privilege and ignorance as a tool of oppression. It’s a little on the nose at times but for the most part it’s handled with tact and grace. There are some absolutely iconic quotes, like “she had been told that men must not look into a dragon’s eyes, but that was nothing to her.”

I was actually considering rating Tehanu four and a half stars, but the ending brought it down to a round four. In typical Le Guin style, the story plods along, virtually plotless, then everything happens so much in the last couple of chapters. It just implodes. At least in The Farthest Shore Ged and Lebannen were ostensibly searching for the cause of magic’s disappearance; what happens here is shocking and absurd, and not in a good way.

Through the original trilogy, Ged has something of a genderbent maiden/mother/crone arc, then in Tehanu he’s free to be someone new. There’s also a neat transition from the abstract threats in A Wizard of Earthsea to the material threats in Tehanu.

I’ve mentioned a couple of times a recurrent flaw in Le Guin’s writing: the meandering flow ended abruptly by a waterfall. That said, her worldbuilding is fantastic and won me over. I think The Tombs of Atuan is probably my favourite of the set though I value them all (even The Farthest Shore)

I’m so glad I finally read these stories, and reading them back-to-back in one volume meant I could compare them and recognise similarities and differences between them that I otherwise might not have picked up on. I would definitely recommend this book to any fans of fantasy or people looking to get into fantasy.

I’ll probably read the other Earthsea stories at some point but I’m also curious about Le Guin’s sci-fi work, so maybe I’ll read some of those first.

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