Rudi reviewed The earthsea quartet by Ursula K. Le Guin
Review of 'The earthsea quartet' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
I was not much familiar with Le Guin nor the Earthsea-series before diving into this book. And it wasn't before the latter half of the fourth book in it, that I realized that I really liked both the setting, the characters and the stories. Individually, I would probably not rate them all this high. But reading them together did really improve the experience.
The first book, "A wizard of Earthsea", is almost like an origin-story that you'd expect seeing late in a series. The next three books all has the wizard Ged in them, but always as an older, mysterious figure. It's seldom his viewpoint you follow, but someone that meets him om their way, or that is taken away on an adventure by him. Almost like Gandalf or Dumbledore. But the first book explains his backstory, and you see him go from a young boy to a wizard. So …
I was not much familiar with Le Guin nor the Earthsea-series before diving into this book. And it wasn't before the latter half of the fourth book in it, that I realized that I really liked both the setting, the characters and the stories. Individually, I would probably not rate them all this high. But reading them together did really improve the experience.
The first book, "A wizard of Earthsea", is almost like an origin-story that you'd expect seeing late in a series. The next three books all has the wizard Ged in them, but always as an older, mysterious figure. It's seldom his viewpoint you follow, but someone that meets him om their way, or that is taken away on an adventure by him. Almost like Gandalf or Dumbledore. But the first book explains his backstory, and you see him go from a young boy to a wizard. So reading the other stories, you know all about the old wizards mysteries. Which is a bit unusual.
But it's the fourth book, "Tehanu", that is going to stay with you. Le Guin has through the first 3 series explored different themes through the fantasy setting she has created. All of them are in some ways about a society in change, most likely mirroring her own view on how society ought to move forward. This was in her original trilogy of books. Many years later, 1990, she revisits the world, and now her rage over injustice on society has taken a new form, and she forces us to understand both Earthsea and our own world in a new way. While I'm sure some would rather have her be more subtle, I really enjoyed how she made me reinterpret the world she had created.
I would not reccomend getting this specific edition of the work though. Not only is it only four books of what eventually became a six book(?) series, but it's also a poorly printed, obviously done in a cheap way. I have not read the last novel or any of the short stories, but the edition that includes all of it is surely the one to get.