Tehanu: The Last Book of Earthsea; Tales from Earthsea; The
Other Wind, by Ursula K. Le Guin.
In 1990 Le Guin began publishing Earthsea books again, after
meditating on her classic trilogy for nearly twenty years. As it turned out,
Tehanu was not the last book of Earthsea, as she continued to ‘deepen’ (i.e.
revise) what appeared to be her thoughts in the original trilogy; new attitudes
in Fantasy allowed her to ‘girl it up’ with more female heroes and to knock
down some assumptions from the earlier books’ history. The role of dragons is
revealed to be more complicated than ever, and the post-magic story of Earthsea
includes a recovery of how the world was supposed to be before the imposition
of wizardry. I thought that with “The Other Wind” I had all the books, but
apparently there is a novella (“The Daughter of Odren”) and the last story of
Ged’s passing (“Firelight”) that are collected in the omnibus volume “The Books
of Earthsea”. Well, the Quest continues.
Ranking: Essential.
File Code: Novels. Short Stories (Tales from Earthsea).
Fantasy. Hardbacks.
Dancing at the Edge of the World, and The Wave in the Mind, by
Ursula K. Le Guin.
Both are “collections of her articles, reviews, papers, and
speeches. Le Guin is one of those writers who, even if I never
completely agree with all of her views, is always interesting and to be
considered. Of special interest to me: her review of The Dark Tower and
other stories by C. S. Lewis, and her contemporary review of Star
Wars and Close Encounters.” – Power of Babel.
Ranking: Keepers.
File Code: Essays. Literature. Softcovers.
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