Tehanu

I've read the first four books of this series and overall am very impressed with the author's ability to have the reader "live" the charcters life almost without knowing one has been drawn in. This book though, like book two, The Tombs of Atuan, is one that has less magic and "historical" adventurous intensity than the others. That's o.k. if your flexable in your tastes.I agree with the disappointed reviewer that there are departures from what was to be expected given the previous book. Also, there are some more "modern" expressions that take the reader out of the antique setting and mood. Even given that it is an interesting "chapter" in the series. I came online to order the next book. Enjoy.

As book four in the Earthsea saga, this book is a radical departure from the tone and feel of the first three. There is very little magic in this book; rather what we have is a very fine delineation of everyday living in a world where things do not always go right, where the rape, burning, and near murder of a child, while not an ordinary occurrence, is part of the way things are.Tenar, who we first met in book two, The Tombs of Atuan, is the point of view character of this book, a now middle-aged woman who has settled down to an ordinary life as a farmer’s wife, whose days have become a matter of routine, where magic, mages, and kings are merely fond memories. But her husband is now dead, she has ‘adopted’ the poor abused child Therra mentioned above, and change comes in the form of a message that Origon, Ged’s teacher and master mage of Gont island, is dying. From here we follow Tenar’s attempts to forge just what her place in life is, accompanied by a now magic-less Ged, in terms of both everyday living and the place of women within the power structure of mages and kings.There is a very definite turning in this book towards feminist themes, at times almost stridently so, in sharp contrast to the male-dominated earlier books. Tenar comes to question the right of any man to order her life, while at the same time recognizing that there is an incompleteness to her life without a complementary man to live it with. Issues of home, hearth, and children’s education (embodied by the physically and emotionally scarred Therra) are of prime importance here. All this makes for a very gritty, real-world feel to this book, certainly far away from fairy-tale land. Those who loved the earlier books may find this too much of a change, but I found that for myself, this book makes a great counter-point to those books, providing the whole with a balance that is perfectly in key with the general philosophy of Earthsea, that all things must be kept in balance. At the same time, this is not a book for younger children, as the themes and events are too dark, violent, and rife with heavy emotional freighting. Older teens can probably derive much from this book, with Tenar as a strong female role model and coping with loss and tragedy are so well presented.Le Guin’s prose style is still the simple, minimalist structure that we have grown so used to over the years, a fine vehicle for presenting difficult concepts in easily digestible thought flavors. Things are never over-described, but rather left with a certain amount of incompleteness that allows the reader to add his own mental picture.Very different from the first three books, but with its own power to capture your imagination, and with much to say about the everyday world where bad things must be met, handled, and then continue on with your life.

It has finished unexpectedly as it began, led through plenty of miserable moments, as well as deeply bright, tender moments full of love. Aged has lost his power but gained something much greater than that.. heartbreaking and heartwarming at the same time and deeply comforting

Ms. Me Guin holds absolute dominion over storytelling. With flawed yet beautiful characters she explores the role of gender in society but, never loses track of the magical world she has built!

This UK printing is fantastic. Not only is this a great story, but as an object this is a well made book. However there is a price tag sticker put on the back that will leave greasy residue when removed. Because of the cover's material there is no way to remove the sticker residue that won't leave an even worse mark than the residue itself. Which, if you are gifting the book, gives you the option of a price tag or a marred back cover.