the Dispossessed

This book is a sci-fi utopia from the endlessly inventive mind of Ursula K. Le Guin. It's widely regarded as her best, and though personally I still prefer the Earthsea cycle, I can easily see why.

   So - the book itself. We follow Shevek, a physicist on the verge of developing a new theory of time that could revolutionize relations between distant worlds. He is from Anarres, an anarchistic planet, though through the book we skip between flashbacks here to the present on Urras, a capitalistic (although in the book they use the term "propertarian") planet from which the Anarresti had emigrated some couple of centuries prior. Shevek is hell-bent on developing & disseminating his theory of time, but bureaucratic blockages block his efforts on both Annares & Urras. I will yield from giving spoilers, so here ends my summary.

   Overall this is a fantastic work - a very enjoyable, page-turning sci-fi that asks many curious questions about the nature of freedom, power, solidarity, and livelihood. Very highly recommended.

the Left Hand of Darkness

This book is quite probably Ursula K. Le Guin's most famous work (outside of Earthsea, of course), and rightly considered a modern sci-fi classic. I have a huge amount I could say about this novel but I think it speaks for itself so well that I will not give it the disservice of an attempt at a full reflection in a mere blogpost & instead simply urge you to read it; whether you're a fan of sci-fi or not - this is just a masterfully told, powerful, complex story. To give you the very broadest of broad strokes outlines - we follow Genly Ai, the envoy from the Ekumen* to the wintry planet Gethen, where he gets caught up in the turbulence of its local politics & has to contend with coming to an understanding of the natives' alternative mode of sex.** That's all I'm saying. Read this novel.

* An alliance, for want of a better term, of 83 human[ish]-populated planets, which it's Ai's job to try to persuade Gethen's authorities to affiliate themselves with.

** Incredibly imaginative worldbuilding here: the Gethenian people are all genderfluid bisexuals, effectively - i.e. they spend 80% of their lives living as sexless androgynes, then in their monthly cycles of libidinous urges they become either male or female for a few days. (Sections of the novel read like extracts from a Judith Butler thought experiment.) This is important to the story (what other novel can boast a line like "the king was pregnant"? tell me) but never has to rely on infodumps, instead being organically seeded & developed throughout. You can tell Le Guin was raised by an anthropologist in how believably she is able to depict such an alien (and yet human) society, so well thought-through it comes across.

the Island of the Immortals

This short story (available from that link online) by Ursula K. Le Guin goes hard. In it, a traveller visits an island where, it is claimed, there are immortal people living after thousands of years of uninterrupted life. Only immortality might not be all it's cracked up to be - simply not dying doesn't guarantee anything about bodily integrity or quality of life. I won't spoil it - just go and read the thing, it's pretty short, and is a startling and disturbing angle on the theme.

Tales of Earthsea

This book by Ursula K. Le Guin is the fifth in the Earthsea series, so it technically comes before The Other Wind, but I've already read and blogged that one, so this post culminates the series and therefore I'll be making my reflections here.

   This book comprises five short stories and an essay - I will deal with each in turn.

• First up we have The Finder, in which a young sorcerer called Medra (also known as Otter or Tern at points in his life) grows in power and wisdom and ends up founding the wizard school on Roke. This longish short story is a brilliant view into the dim hazy past of the world Le Guin has created, and lends a potent depth to the reader's understanding of the interrelations between magic and wisdom necessary to be a good wizard.
• Next is Darkrose and Diamond, in which a young sorcerer called Diamond falls in love with a young witch called Rose, and forgoes life as a wizard to pursue this romance. This is a delicate, lovely little story.
• Then we move onto The Bones of the Earth, in which a young Ogion (the sorcerer who initially trained Ged in the first book) teams up with his tutor in the hope of preventing a catastrophic earthquake. Strong themes of trust and humility.
• Next we have On the High Marsh, in which we are treated to a glimpse of Ged at the height of his career as Archmage - only he isn't doing grand world-saving stuff, he's on a remote island curing cattle. Again, strong themes of humility, as well as kindness, and power.
• Finally, Dragonfly - in which Irian (who you may remember from the sixth book) visits the school of wizards on Roke to provocatively question the masters of magic why such learning is forbidden to women and girls. This story provides a perfect stepping stone into the final book in the series.

   Finally, the essay at the end of the book goes into elucidatory detail about the peoples, languages, history and magic system of Earthsea - for me it didn't really add a huge amount of insight into the books, as I've read all six so closely together and so had much of the lore in my medium-term memory pretty well already, but for people reading the books more spaced out it would be a really helpful appendix. Not to mention it simply shows a masterclass in thoughtful worldbuilding, much like Tolkien's appendices.

   All five stories in the book are moving, thought-provoking, immersive, deceptively simple, and immaculately well-written. If you have read any of the other Earthsea books and enjoyed them this is an addition you can't leave out - in fact, just read the whole series. Speaking of the six as a whole, I think anyone who appreciates good fantasy will absolutely love them - I do in actual fact think these books seriously rival The Lord of the Rings as my favourite fantasy literature now, though it's hard to compare as the writing styles are so different and thematically and in scope the works are trying to achieve very different things. Good job I don't have to pick favourites on this blog.

   I said I'd be making reflections on the series as a whole - the fact is I don't have much to say. I just loved the experience of reading these superb stories, and know I will definitely be revisiting them for a re-read in the future, probably many times. The characters are well-drawn enough to be believable and lovable or hateable as the plot intends and each realised with psychological complexities of their own; the themes are deep to the point of profundity and are perfectly entwined and expressed through character and plot; the world is obviously immensely well-developed and lived-in; and the overall story arc across these six books is hugely satisfying while never feeling like an ultimate solution - the story ends on a note of potential and promise rather than a statically final resolution. If J.R.R. Tolkien can make you dream wistfully of being a hobbit, Ursula K. Le Guin will show you dizzying visions of being a dragon.

the Other Wind

This book is the sixth and last in Ursula K. Le Guin's Earthsea series (and yes, I know, I've skipped the fifth one, Tales of Earthsea, but I don't have it yet - it's ordered and will be lumped up on here once I've read it, but my reflections on the series as a whole will be reserved for that one). In this instalment we follow Alder, a young sorcerer of mending from the island of Taon, who keeps having dreams in which his dead wife reaches out to him from the realms of those who have passed over the wall on the hill which separates the living from the not. He is drawn to Gont to question the ex-Archmage Ged about this, but Ged, now powerless but still wise, shunts Alder off to the capital island Havnor to consult with Tenar and Tehanu, who are over there to visit the recently installed king Lebannen (aka Arren from the third one). Tenar and Tehanu, as well as a number of other wizards from Roke who happened to be on Havnor at the time, and in short order also a dragon who can take the form of a woman called Irian, all find Alder's plight deeply troubling, the experienced mages taking it as a sign of a worsening in the balance that Ged had tried so hard fifteen years earlier to heal. Taking along with them a princess from the Kargad Lands who has been sent as a gifted bride to Lebannen, all concerned persons make their way to Roke, to hold council between humans and dragons in the Immanent Grove, a magical forest that forms the spiritual and arguably literal centre of all Earthsea, in the hope that they may find in their shared wisdom some way of restoring rest and reincarnation to the dead that the living may rest and live in hope and ease. I hope that it goes without saying that this perfunctory plot summary of mine by no means spoils the story, as the magic is in the fabric of the telling. But reflections further than that will have to wait for my post about the fifth book which I've accidentally skipped. So stick around.

Tehanu

This book is the fourth Earthsea novel by Ursula K. Le Guin, and I honestly was not prepared for how much of a sharp turn this one took. The first three had all been fairly standard-fare fantasy adventure mystery stories; this is more of a domestic drama, set entirely on Ged's home island Gont. We follow Tenar (who since escaping Atuan now goes by her original name), now a middle-aged woman, and Therru, a young girl who has survived horrific childhood abuse, as the pair simply try to live life on the land. Ged arrives home on the back of a dragon named Kalessin about a quarter of the way through, and this complicates matters for Tenar and her care of Therru, but Ged is stripped of his magic and simply wishes to hide and recuperate. I hope it doesn't sound like a complaint but very little of import happens in the majority of this novel; it is simply the story of Tenar struggling to raise a complex and hurt child in a land that she knows well but is ultimately foreign to her. Then it all kicks off in the last ten pages, but I won't spoil that - except to drop the tantalising hint that Therru comes to learn her true name in epic fashion.

the Farthest Shore

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.

the Tombs of Atuan

This book is the second of Ursula K. Le Guin's Earthsea series (see, told you I was going through all of them). In it we are introduced to Tenar, a young girl on the island Atuan, where at an early age she is decided to be the reincarnation of the First Priestess of the Namesless Ones (mysterious primordial powers of death and darkness, chaos and madness) and hence renamed Arha, "the Eaten One". She is raised to full knowledge of the tomb complex around which her habitation community is built, including the depths and complexities of the Labyrinth beneath it. Then one day she sees a strange foreign man in the caverns, who gives his name as Sparrowhawk (spoiler alert - it's Ged, now Archmage of Roke, and on a quest of his own). Without giving too much away the pair help each other find (in both a mystical personal and literal directional sense) their way out of the tomb complexes of Atuan, and onward to hopefully brighter futures. Stay tuned for the post on the next one as we are now entering territory of Earthsea books that I haven't read yet.

A Wizard of Earthsea

This book (which I've read before on this blog so the link there goes to my original post about it - this time though I'm determined to get through the whole series) is the first in Ursula K. Le Guin's seminal fantasy series set in the world of Earthsea.

   We are initially introduced to Duny, a goatherd child on the island of Gont, who proves to have some knack for the magical arts. When he comes of age he is given his true name, Ged, by the local wizard Ogion, and tutored by him for a time; though when his powers prove too great for Ogion to teach satisfactorily Ged is sent to the School of Wizards on the island of Roke. However, ambition and teen angst conspire together and in an attempt to show off Ged accidentally summons a nameless being from the dark realms. The rest of the story is of Ged's efforts to escape, then finally confront, this being.

   I will say nothing of the solution to the plot for want of not spoiling an incredible story; nor will I here divulge my thoughts on the book as a whole, as I stated I fully intend to read the whole series and so will save those reflections for the last post. Stay tuned.

the Tombs of Atuan

This book is the second in the phenomenally magical Earthsea series by Ursula K. Le Guin. We are brought into the story alongside the life's-eye-view of Arha, the high priestess of the dark powers known only to her as "the Nameless Ones", who ate her soul when she was six so she could undertake her lifelong duty. This duty revolves around the protection of sanctified dark spaces under the tombstones - only for one day, Arha to discover an intruder in her labyrinth. A wizard from over the sea whose name he gives as Sparrowhawk - and she learns much of the outside world from this possibly dangerous man... I'll stop there, for spoilers.

   I'm really enjoying this series so far. Le Guin writes masterfully, and the stories she tells are so simple in scope yet epic, mythic even, in their twists and turns that it is very much like reading the real tales of a Yester-Earth dug up afresh for modern audiences. The magic system she uses is more like what real magic is probably like than any incantations found in Harry Potter or the million knock-off forms of sorcery that prevail nowadays. Facing shadows and chasing down one's own frailties is what Le Guin's characters are all about and it makes for a brilliant read.

A Wizard of Earthsea

This book is a fantasy novel by the inimitable Ursula K. Le Guin; about a goatherd called Ged who discovers he has the gift of interacting with reality magically, and goes off to train to be a wizard. He then spends the rest of the book on a range of island-hopping adventures, eventually chasing his own shadow to the very edge of the known world, and I won't tell you what happens there or why this post is so lacking in its usual ruminant quality because I loved this book and am going to read its sequels very soon. Worth mentioning also that Harry Potter can shove his wand up Ollivander's cavities because this is, by far - the best realized quasi-soft actually-hard Magic System I think I've ever encountered in fiction.