The Earthsea Trilogy by Ursula K. Le Guin

Hello, Stranger.

And an extra hello and thank you to the person who donated money a couple days ago! You are awesome.

Let's talk about Ursula K. Le Guin's Earthsea Trilogy.

The Short of It

Plot: Ged's journey from a young man through to a powerful wizard.

Page Count: 

    A Wizard of Earthsea: 205

    The Tombs of Atuan: 180

    The Farthest Shore: 259

Award: Books four and five won awards

Worth a read: Yes
Primary Driver: (Plot, World, or Character)
Bechdel Test: Pass
Technobabble: Some fantasy babble
Review: A remarkable trilogy. Each short book packs a punch. Excellent character development over all three books. Short enough that pacing is quick but thoughtful. World is intriguing and a careful balance is found of showing enough to inform but not so much that things are not mysterious. Le Guin is an excellent writer, and it shows. Superb atmosphere woven through an intriguing world. Somehow all three books are coming of age stories... but in a good way.

The Medium of It

Spoiler Free!

Whether or not you love everything written by Ursula K. Le Guin, there are a couple things which are undeniable. The first is that her name is almost too cool to be real. The second is that her prose is damn near perfect.

The Island of Gont, a single mountain that lifts its peak a mile above the storm-racked Northeast Sea, is a land famous for wizards. From the towns in its high valleys and the ports on its dark narrow bays many a Gontishman has gone forth to serve the Lords of the Archipelago in their cities as wizard or mage, or, looking for adventure, to wander working magic from isle to isle of all Earthsea. Of these some say the greatest, and surely the greatest voyager, was the man called Sparrowhawk, who in his day became both dragonlord and Archmage. His life is told of in the Deed of Ged and in many songs, but this is a tale of the time before his fame, before the songs were made.

Above is the first paragraph of the Earthsea Trilogy, and it does some heavy lifting immediately. We're given a place, with an evocative description - both the single location and its context in a broader archipelago. We learn that there are wizards, mages, and lords. We're introduced to our protagonist, and given the promise that he will turn out powerful and impressive - with some tantalizing hints... dragonlord? And then we're given the context of this story - that this is his early life. And that's just one paragraph. Le Guin takes an info dump and turns it into a teaser.

Lots of other authors have done similar stingers as openings. The Name of the Wind is another excellent example, where from the start the reader is told bits of some of the many legends that surround Kvothe, the protagonist, as well as a bit more about the time. But (at least in my copy) the actual story only kicks off on page 59. Le Guin sets up a teaser in the first paragraph and then goes for the story in paragraph two.

These three books are being reviewed as a block because they, together, a complete story. One could read A Wizard of Earthsea and not the following two books, but it would be a bit silly to do - especially when the three together are around 600 pages.

Hardcore fans may object to leaving out Plot as a major driver for the series. My take is that the plot of each book is fairly simple, without major twists or tricks, and can be summarized in about one sentence. 

• A Wizard of Earthsea: Ged learns to be a mage. 
• The Tombs of Atuan: Ged looks for a way out. 
• The Farthest Shore: Ged needs to fix what is broken. 

Yes, these are oversimplifications. But there was never a point in any book where what was compelling was the plot - it was the way that people acted and what more was shown of the world. This is also an excellent example of a character-driven narrative that works despite the protagonist being often dislikeable. This changes a bit over time, of course - but Ged is often dislikeable, though for a variety of different reasons throughout the books. 

The world of Earthsea feels truly alive in a manner that eludes most authors. Sometimes characters need to wait for someone - not because of a nefarious plot twist, but because people, being people, can be busy. They have schedules that they follow, and a random interloper does not upend everything. People are surprised by strangers without it being the "everyone immediately leaves their houses" vibe of many stories. Stories spread through gossip, and are often incomplete or wrong, without it being a heavy-handed plot device. Earthsea is full of people who have their own lives, not just background characters to facilitate a story. 

This does mean that the story moves slowly at times. Le Guin is not content to show you Chekov's Gun: she wants to show that Chekov is a responsible gun owner, and keeps it in a safe, and the code is his daughter's birthday. All of these details make the background more tangible, but they do not actually drive plot points. An example of precisely the opposite would be the Red Rising books, where almost any character is necessary to the plot. Much quicker paced, much flatter universe.

These three books have some of the least climactic climaxes I have ever encountered, and yet they land hard. A Wizard of Earthsea has an amazing final confrontation - and a wildly satisfying conclusion - without it being anything like a standard wizard battle in many other books. 

A fantastic trilogy. If you have not read it yet, please leave this silly blog and fix that.

If you want to get your feet wet in the Earthsea Trilogy, consider using the links below! I'll get a few cents at no extra cost to you.

A Wizard of Earthsea

The Tombs of Atuan

The Farthest Shore

The Long of It

Spoilers Ahead!

The end of A Wizard of Earthsea is perfect. It's that sweet spot of inevitable and surprising that every author pursues. Ged has been hunted and haunted by a dark shadow, a monster that he brought forth after a poorly considered spell cast as an act of hubris.

Throughout most of the book there are opponents but no clear villain. A mentor who Ged feels is holding him back. A fellow student who becomes Ged's rival. Teachers who will not give him everything he wants. So he leaves his mentor, defies his teachers, and challenges his rival - which brings forth the shadow. We feel Ged's frustration with each of these obstacles, but it becomes clear over time: his mentor is trying to protect him, to make sure that Ged is ready for everything. His professors are doing the same. And his rival is just trying to provoke him. 

Then the thing that faced him changed utterly, spreading out to either side as if it opened enormous thin wings, and it writhed, and swelled, and shrank again. Ged saw in it for an instant Skiorh's white face, and then a pair of clouded, staring eyes, and then suddenly a fearful face he did not know, man or monster, with writhing lips and eyes that were like pits going back into black emptiness.

At that Ged lifted up the staff high, and the radiance of it brightened intolerably, burning with so white and great a light that it compelled and harrowed even that ancient darkness. In that light all form of man sloughed off the thing that came towards Ged. It drew together and shrank and blackened, crawling on four short taloned legs upon the sand. But still it came forward, lifting up to him a blind unformed snout without lips or ears or eyes. As they came right together it became utterly black in the white mage-radiance that burned about it, and it heaved itself upright. In silence, man and shadow met face to face, and stopped.

Aloud and clearly, breaking that old silence, Ged spoke the shadow's name and in the same moment the shadow spoke without lips or tongue, saying the same word: "Ged." And the two voices were one voice.

Ged reached out his hands, dropping his staff, and took hold of his shadow, of the black self that reached out to him. Light and darkness met, and joined, and were one.

Ged recognizes that his only real enemy here has been himself. He has been his own shadow, dogging his progress, pushing himself away from others. It is a perfect meshing of the action of the story meshing with the development of a character - and it shows Ged's mastery of Naming, which is the most powerful magic in Earthsea. 

More like Ursula K. LeGangster! It really is remarkable.

The Tombs of Atuan also does a great job of weaving together plot and character development. The main focus of the book is the development of the relationship between a now-grown Ged and a powerful priestess named Tenar. Ged is stuck in an underground labyrinth. He is finally able to get out by finally treating someone else as an equal, after too long being the most powerful person around - and getting used to relying only on himself. His connection to people becomes much more concrete. At the start of the book, Ged cares about people, but for the most part this is a broad care, more based upon abstractly helping everyone. By the end he actually has personal connections. 

The Farthest Shore completes his arc. To start the trilogy he pursued power to his own detriment, and learned that he was the problem. In the second book, he realizes that there are other people who can care, and sees Tenar give up her power for happiness. By the end of the third, Ged is willing to give up his own power, knowing that there are others who can take care of Earthsea.

Is this a cheesesteak? Because I am feeling mighty satisfied!

I'll have reviews for Tehanu, Tales from Earthsea, and The Other Wind up shortly, but should probably write up another Vorkosigan or two... everything in good time.

Alright, Stranger. Don't be your own worst enemy!

And don't forget to read a book!