Ursula K. Le Guin
 

My mom just came home with The Farthest Shore by Ursula K. Le Guin; she said it was "Summer reading" for me. I remember hearing her name on these boards a few times, but can't remember whether it was positive or negative comments. What are your opinions on this book/series? I haven't started it yet so please no spoilers without marking.

LeGuin's Earthsea books are some of my favorites. The Farthest Shore is actually the third book in the original Earthsea trilogy, which she wrote many years ago (60's or 70's). The first two books are A Wizard of Earthsea and The Tombs of Atuan. I'd really recommend reading the first two books before reading tFS.
In the late 80's she came out with Tehanu which was supposed to be the fourth and final book in the series. However, over the last year or two she has come out with a novella (Dragonfly), a book of short stories (Tales of Earthsea), and one final novel called The Other Wind. TOW is REALLY supposed to be the end of the series.
The thing I really like about these books is how LeGuin was able to tell a really cool and simple story without making the books hundreds of pages long. Each book is only 200 pages or so at the most so they're quick reads. My favorite books are the first three which have an almost mythic quality to them. Her later books in the series get into more mature themes like feminism.
Basically, Earthsea is an ocean world with hundreds of islands. If you like wizards and dragons, you'll like these books.
Hope this helps!

Would you say the series gets better after A Wizard of Earthsea? I read that book last summer and thought it was just okay and I was never motivated to pick any of the other books up. So, is the rest of the series better?

I don't think the series necessarily got better after A Wizard of Earthsea, but then again, I thought aWoE was a really good book and hard to improve upon. If you didn't care for it, then you probably won't like the others. The 'feel' of the first three books are a lot different than the later books. IMO, they are the best of the series.
I'm not sure if Le Guin intended to continue on with the series after The Farthest Shore. As I said before, a good 15-20 years went by before Tehanu came out, so the feel of that book was much different. It took me two times to read Tehanu because I was expecting a story like was in the first trilogy.
The Other Wind kind of got back to the roots of the original books and also it wrapped things up nicely.

Thanks for the helpful word, ezchaos. You were talking about the feel of the first three books being alike, and I didn't like the feel of aWoE. I guess I wouldn't like the rest. Thanks again.

Yea, thanks ez. I'll try to pick up A Wizard of Earthsea soon, and see if I like it. From what you say though, it sounds like I really will like it. I need some good, quick "power" reads after some of the books I've been reading.

Oh my...LeGuin is an extremely well respected author and she is one of my all time favorites. While I admit that I like her SF better than her fantasy, the Wizard of Earthsea is by all means essential to read for any fantasy fan. The style may be a bit old-fashioned for younger readers, but it is a straightforward and easy story to read. It is certainly an important series in the history of fantasy. By all means, pick up The Wizard of Earthsea and The Tombs of Atuan before you even attempt The Farthest Shore. Better yet, tell your mom she screwed up and you need the first two books before you read the one she got you! :)

Kamakhya

I love the Wizard of Earthsea (and the other books) - it was my favourite series when I was young.

I've re-read all the books numerous times since and it never loses it's magic. Although she may write in a fairly simple style I find it almost poetic. Just beautiful stuff.

Not bad, but nothing special either, I think.

I'm one step ahead of you. ;)

Look, Le Guin is a giant. She is the most critically acclaimed female fantasy writer alive and one of the few speculative fiction writers to have won the respect of the mainstream literary establishment in both the US and the UK without selling out. I don't really read her new stuff these days because I find it repetitive, but the Earthsea books are classics in the field, as much required reading as Tolkien.

I *loved* Wizard of Earthsea and I enjoyed The Other Wind. I don't think much of the other Earthsea novels.

For me, much of the atmosphere was lost in the later novels, and the whole feminist message that ran through them became a little too heavy handed and repetitive for my liking.

I've heard many people say the same thing LeMort--that is, that LeGuin's later books became tainted with a feminist flavour. However, I really didn't find that myself when I was reading them, although I did notice a change in atmosphere from the first three books to Tehanu, which is from the point of view of a woman instead of from Ged's point of view.

I'm curious, what elements of the books did you find feminist? Perhaps I didn't notice the feminist message because I am a woman--but I'm still not entirely convinced that it's there, and if it is, that it's harmful to the story.

I think Le Guin felt that she had unwittingly created the Earthsea books with quite a male spin on them - i.e. the men had all the power, women with magic were witches etc, and so years later she wrote Tehanu with a more female perspective to address the balance. It's not so much that it's feminist (in my opinion) just that it shows the value in what women do, when the series has already highlighted what men can do.

A Wizard of Earthsea is one of those "changed my life forever" books, but then I read it at the impressionable age of 13...

(possible spoiler)

"...Ged had neither lost nor won but, naming the shadow of his death with his own name, had made himself whole: a man: who, knowing his whole true self, cannot be used or possessed by any power other than himself, and whose life therefore is lived for life's sake and never in the service of ruin, or pain, or hatred, or the dark."

*shivers down spine*

Even allowing for weird tastes, even if you somehow don't like A Wizard of Earthsea (huh? you didn't like the otak? you don't like self-discovery?), Le Guin is one of the most decorated sf/f authors out there, and was just named a "grandmaster" or something at the very recent Nebula awards. You can dislike her but I don't think you can disrespect her. FWIW, she has written several books that I don't like--she writes in a lot of styles--so don't give up on her based on any one work.

My favorite besides aWoE is the book of short stories The Compass Rose.

One more question...
is it /le gin/ (Not like the drink gin, with a hard G sound) or /le gwin/ or something else?

Pretty sure it's Le Gwin, with a hard g sound.:)

The Other Wind is definitely worth the read even if you found Tehanu a bit of a turn-off.

I love the series, but I think the order from best to worst would be:

The Farthest Shore
A Wizard of Earthsea
The Other Wind
The Tombs of Atuan
Tehanu

Plus it's a bit annoying, but her set of short stories Tales from Earthsea or somesuch actually has one story relevant to The Other Wind - not a must-read to keep track, but a bit odd!

As to the feminist point, I very strongly agree that this was what ruined Tehanu (apart from it being a bit dull). It was as if Le Guin woke up one day feeling grumpy about the place of women in the world, and thought to herself, well I'll show them - I'll use my famous series to have a big ponder about the power balance between men and women, and what happens if a man is stripped of all his advantages.

/shrug... up to her, it's her book!

I read the first book in the series and gave up after that. I just found it too detailed for me :(