For the A-Z challenge of 2012, I'm posting an A-Z list of books I haven't yet read but want to (titles taken from my TBR shelf at GoodReads). For my "E" book (no pun intended) I've chosen...
The Earthsea Quartet - Ursula le Guin
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.
Why do I want to read it? Honestly, I've never heard much about Ursula le Guin or her stories, except I always (thought I) knew that if you love fantasy stuff you're meant to read these (and I do love fantasy). Then I saw them mentioned on that movie about the Jane Austen book club, and my decision to add them to my TBR list was final.
Great post! I haven't read this one, but I'll definitely have to check it out. Thank you for sharing! :)
ReplyDeleteThe Earthsea Quartet? That seems odd. The Earthsea books started out as a trilogy, three books that more or less went together. And those were fantastic. She wrote two more books, Tehanu and The Other Wind, 20+ years later. And they were all right, but not as good as the first three, in my opinion. But I can't see how Tehanu fits into a quartet with the first three. I think that's a mistake.
ReplyDeleteSarah, I wouldn't have picked up on that as I really don't know much about Ursula le Guin or her stories. But I do own this particular copy of the book with the 4 separate stories.
DeleteSarah: Tehanu was published in 1990, and at the time the author thought it would be the final Earthsea novel - it even had that as 'The Last Book of Earthsea' as its subtitle in some printings. The series would have been marketed as a quartet until work began on "The Other Wind", probably late in the 1990s.
ReplyDeleteThere's a reference in "Tales from Earthsea" that when writing "Dragonfly", Ms le Guin realized that things had been happening in Earthsea when she wasn't looking, and that Tehanu might not be the last novel she could write after all. "Dragonfly" was published in a magazine in 1998.
Trisha: You should definitely include "The Other Wind" in your reading list. Tehanu is not really a good point to end the series on - though I went back to it after reading "The Other Wind" first, and like it.
Hey Chris, thanks for the tip! I'll definitely add that one to the list as well :)
DeleteI've read the trilogy! Le Guin is a classic fantasy writer.
ReplyDeleteIt was hard to get into the story at first due to the slightly formal language, but once I got past that I really enjoyed the story.
Great A-Z post!
Nutschell
www.thewritingnut.com
Thanks for your thoughts - I'll keep that formal language thing in mind, though I have read a fair few books I would describe as 'formal' too.
DeleteI've only read the first one but I can still remember the main plot line! (Which is hard for me sometimes anymore.) It's definitely unique, I think (hehe, rhymed), however, I suggest you scan and print a copy of the Earthsea map to hang near your reading area. I flipped back to it so many times!
ReplyDeleteI hope that you follow your A to Z posts with a review of the books you blogged about! I would like to read your review of this one. I am a fan of fantasy. :-)
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