This book is the third of Ursula K. Le Guin's Earthsea series. We follow Arren, a young man of noble birth from the island Enlad, who has been sent to the Masters of Roke with unsettling news: magic seems to be failing. First from the far reaches of the western isles and increasingly closer to home, mages are forgetting their words and acts of power, and things long-depended-on for the sustaining of common livelihood are passing out of being. The Archmage Ged opts to accompany Arren on a hunch-led and eventful journey to the far south and eventually the far west (as far as Selidor, the eponymous island of dragons) to see if they can unravel this grim mystery. They do discover ultimately that it is the work of an errant wizard who has tried to break down the walls between the realms of the living and the dead, and thus severely harmed the balance; Ged has to expend the fullness of his power to reseal the breach in the world. That may be something of a spoiler but it's the way this story is told that really lends it its magic, so you can't decry me for that. Anyway, I am reading my way through this whole series but reserving my deeper thoughts and critiques for the final post, so keep watching this space.
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