Earthsea Books

A Wizard of Earthsea (The Earthsea Cycle, Book 1)

Ursula K. Le Guin

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 401 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Often compared to Tolkien's Middle-earth or Lewis's Narnia, Ursula K. Le Guin's Earthsea is a stunning fantasy world that grabs quickly at our hearts, pulling us deeply into its imaginary realms. Four books (A Wizard of Earthsea, The Tombs of Atuan, The Farthest Shore, and Tehanu) tell the whole Earthsea cycle--a tale about a reckless, awkward boy named Sparrowhawk who becomes a wizard's apprentice after the wizard reveals Sparrowhawk's true name. The boy comes to realize that his fate may be far more important than he ever dreamed possible. Le Guin challenges her readers to think about the power of language, how in the act of naming the world around us we actually create that world. Teens, especially, will be inspired by the way Le Guin allows her characters to evolve and grow into their own powers.

In this first book, A Wizard of Earthsea readers will witness Sparrowhawk's moving rite of passage--when he discovers his true name and becomes a young man. Great challenges await Sparrowhawk, including an almost deadly battle with a sinister creature, a monster that may be his own shadow.

The Farthest Shore (The Earthsea Cycle, Book 3)

Ursula K. Le Guin

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 66 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Earthsea is always great 5 out of 5 stars.
8 of 8 people found this review helpful.

I read most of the Earthsea Cycle as part of a children's literature course I did back in 1999. This is another book about Ged. But in this one he is the special educator to Lebanner/ Arren.

It is a book about the big questions, such as life and death, and the search for who we are. It is also about what we are to be and the idea of predestination. Ged says "to seek to be one's self is rare." It is also that we seek what we don't know in order to be found by our destiny.

In the book darkness is overtaking the world, singers are losing their songs, mages are forgetting their crafts. Men doubt and society is decaying, all because of fear or death. Men are giving up their true names to a lie. They are becoming slaves to a dead master.

Key Notes:
Ged is Master of Roke - Archmage
Lookfar (Ship is back again)
Isles of Myths

Editorial Review:

Book Three of Ursula K. Le Guin's Earthsea Cycle

Darkness threatens to overtake Earthsea: the world and its wizards are losing their magic. Despite being wearied with age, Ged Sparrowhawk -- Archmage, wizard, and dragonlord -- embarks on a daring, treacherous journey, accompanied by Enlad's young Prince Arren, to discover the reasons behind this devastating pattern of loss. Together they will sail to the farthest reaches of their world -- even beyond the realm of death -- as they seek to restore magic to a land desperately thirsty for it.

With millions of copies sold worldwide, Ursula K. Le Guin's

Earthsea Cycle has earned a treasured place on the shelves of fantasy lovers everywhere, alongside the works of such beloved authors as

J. R. R. Tolkien and C. S. Lewis.

The Tombs of Atuan (The Earthsea Cycle, Book 2)

Ursula K. Le Guin

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 108 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Often compared to Tolkien's Middle-earth or Lewis's Narnia, Ursula K. Le Guin's Earthsea is a stunning fantasy world that grabs quickly at our hearts, pulling us deeply into its imaginary realms. Four books (A Wizard of Earthsea, The Tombs of Atuan, The Farthest Shore, and Tehanu) tell the whole Earthsea cycle--a tale about a reckless, awkward boy named Sparrowhawk who becomes a wizard's apprentice after the wizard reveals Sparrowhawk's true name. The boy comes to realize that his fate may be far more important than he ever dreamed possible. Le Guin challenges her readers to think about the power of language, how in the act of naming the world around us we actually create that world. Teens, especially, will be inspired by the way Le Guin allows her characters to evolve and grow into their own powers.

In this second book of Le Guin's Earthsea series, readers will meet Tenar, a priestess to the "Nameless Ones" who guard the catacombs of the Tombs of Atuan. Only Tenar knows the passageways of this dark labyrinth, and only she can lead the young wizard Sparrowhawk, who stumbles into its maze, to the greatest treasure of all. Will she?

Tehanu (The Earthsea Cycle, Book 4)

Ursula K. Le Guin

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 151 Average rating: 3.0 of 5

Why? 1 out of 5 stars.
4 of 5 people found this review helpful.

Before reading the fourth book in the Earthsea "cycle", I was aware of the opinions of many who had already read this book. Quite frankly, I was hoping that I would disagree with those who were disappointed in "Tehanu". But try as I might, I failed to see the beauty in this "continuation" of what HAD been one of the greatest trilogies written.

Quite simply, "Tehanu" lacks the conciseness and mystery of the previous books. While I could - perhaps - forgive Le Guin for her decision to tear apart the world she had so beautifully constructed with this rather mundane and heavy-handed tale, I cannot excuse the absence of poetry here; poetry which abounds in each page of the previous three books.

Shame on you, Ursula!

Editorial Review:

Ursula K. LeGuin follows her classic trilogy from Earthsea with a magical tale that won the 1991 Nebula Award for Science Fiction. Unlike the tales in the trilogy, this novel is short and concise, yet it is by no means simplistic. Promoted as a children's book because of the awards garnered in that category by her previous work, Tehanu transcends classification and shows the wizardry of female magic. The story involves a middle-age widow who sets out to visit her dying mentor and eventually cares for his favorite student.

The Earthsea Trilogy

Ursula K. Le Guin

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 6 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Exclusive 3-in-1 harcover book. Includes A WIZARD OF EARTHSEA: The windswept isles of Earthsea were famous for wizards, and the greatest of all was Ged, called Sparrowhawk in his reckless youth. Hungry for power and knowledge, Sparrowhawk tampered with long-held secrets and loosed a terrible shadow upon the world. This is the tale of his testing, how he mastered the mighty words of power, tamed an ancient dragon and crossed deaths threshold to restore the balance. THE TOMBS OF ATUAN: Chosen to serve the Ancient and Nameless Powers of the Earth, Tenar is taken away from her home and family to become Arha, the Priestess Ever Reborn, guardian of the ominous Tombs of Atuan. While learning her way through the gloomy Labyrinth that is her domain, she encounters Ged, a wizard come to steal the Tombs greatest treasure. But Ged also brings with him the light of magic, a light as forbidden in the Tombs as wizards are in the Kargad Lands.... THE FARTHEST SHORE: Ill-tidings have arrived on the Isle of the Wise: The springs of wizardry are drying up. Driven to seek the source of the trouble, Archmage Ged embarks on a perilous journey with the boy-prince, Arren. Their travels take them to a land cursed with a strange soul sickness, to an encounter with Orm Embar, the greatest of the worlds dragons, and into the realm of death itself. For if the balance of magic is not restored, darkness will overtake the world. Jacket art by Leo and Diane Dillon. (422 pp.)

Earthsea Quartet, the (Roc)

Ursula K. Le Guin

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 6 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Great 5 out of 5 stars.
14 of 16 people found this review helpful.

This is the first in a series of books. There are 4 novels in the series and two collections of short stories. It follows the life and career of Ged a young man from the Island of Gont. Le Guin has created a very unique world, a world that is mostly water and each nation is a collection of islands. This book is also one of a few that has children's teens and adult editions in print.

Ged apprentices to the local Wizard on God, and is eventually sent to the school for wizards on Havnor. There in anger during a fight with other youths he releases a dark shadow, an evil. The Masters of the school appear and banish it from the island. However this shadow and Ged are now tied together in a very unique way.

After leaving the school Ged becomes haunted by the shadow he has released. He tries to return to the protection of Havnor but cannot return to the island the magic protecting the island will not let him approach. So he decides to head south.

The shadow is getting closer and closer to him, and he must discern it's true name or else he will not be able to defeat it. Can he solve the puzzle, will he wrestle with his shadow and win or will he succumb to the evil he has let loose.

This is a book I first read back in highschool. Then a few years back had to read it for an English literature course at the University of Waterloo I was about a third of the way through it when I realized I had read it before and that is when I found our that the story continued. Since then the two collections of short stories have been published in this world.

Le Guin deals with some big questions of life in this book. Such questions as:

Who am I?
Do I have a role or purpose in life?
Can I defeat the darkness within me?
Can good conquer over evil?
Why am I here?
Can I make a difference?

This book will be a good read for anyone who has ever struggled with some of these questions. Or who wants to use a novel to help them grow to have a deeper understanding of themselves.

Editorial Review:

A superb four-part fantasy, comparable with the work of Tolkien and C.S. Lewis, the Earthsea books follow the fortunes of the wizard Ged from his childhood to an age where magic is giving way to evil. As a young dragonlord, Ged, whose use-name is Sparrowhawk, is sent to the island of Roke to learn the true way of magic. A natural magician, Ged becomes an Archmage and helps the High Priestess Tenar escape from the labyrinth of darkness. But as the years pass, true magic and ancient ways are forced to submit to the powers of evil and death...

The Other Wind (The Earthsea Cycle, Book 6)

Ursula K. Le Guin

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 64 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

The greatest fantasies of the 20th century are J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings and Ursula K. Le Guin's Earthsea Cycle. Regrettably, the Earthsea Cycle has not received the fame and sales of Tolkien's trilogy. Fortunately, new Earthsea books have appeared in the 21st century, and they are as powerful, beautiful, and imaginative as the first four novels. The fifth novel and sixth book of the Earthsea Cycle is The Other Wind.

The sorcerer Alder has the power of mending, but it may have become the power of destruction: every night he dreams of the wall between the land of the living and the land of the dead, and the wall is being dismantled. If the wall is breached, the dead will invade Earthsea. Ged, once Archmage of Earthsea, sends Alder to King Lebannen. Now Alder and the king must join with a burned woman, a wizard of forbidden lore, and a being who is woman and dragon both, in an impossible quest to save Earthsea.

Ursula K. Le Guin has received the National Book Award, five Nebula and five Hugo Awards, and the Newbery Award, among many other honors. The Other Wind lives up to expectations for one of the greatest fantasy cycles. --Cynthia Ward

The Earthsea Trilogy: A Wizard of Earthsea; The Tombs of Atuan; The Farthest Shore

Ursula K. Le Guin

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The Earthsea Trilogy: A Wizard of Earthsea; The Tombs of Atuan; The Farthest Shore

Ursula K. Le Guin

By: Penguin Books Ltd Amazon Marketplace: 5 new & used starting at $6.33

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Subjects -> Science Fiction & Fantasy -> Fantasy -> Magic & Wizards
Subjects -> Science Fiction & Fantasy -> Fantasy -> Series -> Earthsea
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