Product Description

A superb four-part fantasy, comparable with the work of Tolkien and C.S. Lewis, the Earthsea books follow the fortunes of the wizard Ged from his childhood to an age where magic is giving way to evil. As a young dragonlord, Ged, whose use-name is Sparrowhawk, is sent to the island of Roke to learn the true way of magic. A natural magician, Ged becomes an Archmage and helps the High Priestess Tenar escape from the labyrinth of darkness. But as the years pass, true magic and ancient ways are forced to submit to the powers of evil and death …

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #6037 in Books
• Published on: 1993-06-24
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 704 pages

About the Author
Ursula Le Guin was born in Berkley, California, in 1929, daughter of the writer Theodora Krober and the anthropologist Alfred Krober. Her published work includes twenty-one novels, eleven volumes of short stories, three collections of essays, twelve books for children, six volumes of poetry and four of translation. Among her novels are the The Left Hand of Darkness and The Dispossessed, both winners of the Nebula and Hugo awards, Always Coming Home, winner of the 1985 Kafka Award, and Four Ways to Forgiveness. In 2009 she won her sixth Nebula award for Powers. Penguin/Puffin published the first volume of the Earthsea books, A Wizard of Earthsea, in 1971. The Earthsea books have been translated into many languages around the world and are global bestsellers.

Customer Reviews

A classic trilogy that didn't need a fourth book
'The Earthsea Quartet' is really an original trilogy from the early 1970s with a sequal, 'Tehanu', published in 1990. Unfortunately, Le Guin's philosophical interests had shifted quite dramatically in the meantime, and the fourth book doesn't sit too well alongside the others.

The world of the original trilogy is based around the relationship between language and reality (anyone with an interest in literary theory will soon see why Fredric Jameson became interested in Le Guin's work). Everything and everyone has a true name, hidden from all but the most trusted because the possession of the individual's name brings power over them. The language of true names is that of creation and is the source of magical power.

The first novel, 'A Wizard of Earthsea', is a satisfying adventure that focuses upon the youthful career of Ged, the future Archmage of Earthsea. It's a fairly conventional doppleganger story in the tradition of 'Faust' and 'Jekyll & Hyde', though it has enough battles, magic and dragons to keep the story moving along.

The trilogy really takes off in 'The Tombs of Atuan'. Much darker than the first book, this is an adventure of Ged's adult life seen through the eyes of Arha, a young priestess of dark powers. The philosophy starts to become more complex here as Le Guin explores the relationship between faith and power.

'The Farthest Shore' is, for me, the high point of the series. Magic is disappearing from Earthsea and Ged, now Archmage, must find out why. The story explores the longing for immortality and the need for death in order to bring meaning to life. There is still plenty of action, but this is Le Guin at her thought-provoking best.

'Tehanu', unfortunately, abandons most of the earlier themes as Le Guin moves into a story of feminist resistance against patriarchy. Nothing wrong with that in itself, but here it feels imposed upon a world that wasn't built to take that agenda. These issues of female oppression have not been flagged up in previous books and seem to appear from nowhere in the fourth. Characterisation is also a problem: I had difficulty in seeing consistency with the Ged and Tenar of the earlier novels. 'Tehanu' is not a bad novel by any means, but it should really be treated as a stand-alone text rather than as the fourth part of a quartet.

That aside, however, this volume is worth buying for the original trilogy, which remains a high point of fantasy writing.

Wizardly adventures for children or adults
Many critics of this book would like you to believe that the Earthsea novels are childrens books. I first read them as a young child and I enjoyed them very much. It was only in later years that I realised what the word "allegory" meant...

Ged is a wizard in the island archapelago of Earthsea, a land populated by strange magic and dragons just as much as it is by humans. Blessed by strange and powerful magics, he is sent to the island school of Roke where he unleashes some of the most powerful magic ever to scar the face of the earth. He has been taught that magic is a balance which must be maintained.

The first novel in the book deals with Ged's desire to be a powerful magician. In the end he has to choose where the worst evil lies, within himself or within his creations. During the course of the remaining novels, Ged uses less and less magic and eventually in old age he begins to realise the true enlightenment of the dragons.

The fourth book is without a doubt the worst in this quartet. It changes the focus away from Ged, much to the detriment of the story and the series as a whole.

The other books are delightful and should please anyone with an interest in fantasy books.

Superb, timeless and mesmerising
This is simply some of the best fantasy writing I have ever encountered. I first read A WIZARD OF EARTHSEA when I was about ten years old. It's a marvellous and timeless story of good versus evil - the dark flipside of Harry Potter - and should be read by everyone, especially those who think children's books are the poor relations of adult fiction.

As for the complaints I've seen here from other reviewers about TEHANU, the last book in the series (though there is a fifth book now, called THE OTHER WIND, which is another must-read novel in the story of Earthsea), I have to say in Le Guin's defence that although I did think TEHANU a difficult and painful book when I was younger, as I have got older I've found it the more rewarding of the four books, and certainly the most superbly written. The prose in TEHANU and THE OTHER WIND is just ... creamy; it flows so beautifully and is thick with layered nuances and resonance and imagery so intense it makes the hairs stand up on the back of your neck. The characters are powerfully realised across the series of novels, staying with you forever. And the storylines are gripping - yes, often painful too, even heartrending, especially in TEHANU, but life is painful and there's little point pretending otherwise - and they take you on a journey to a world you can never forget, the world of Earthsea.

But whatever you do, don't watch the film based on A WIZARD OF EARTHSEA. It's embarrassingly bad and the plot has almost nothing to do with this series of books, oddly enough. Read the Earthsea books instead. If you have even an ounce of sensitivity to language and beautiful storytelling, you will never regret it.