The Earthsea Quartet

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This is quite brilliant little set which i found many years ago while in the school library. Never finished it so i am going back later to find it and complete it.
What i loved about t most was that it treated magic in a different way. She thought of it as something that qizards used rarely and it was much more integrated with nature. No fireballs or gas clouds, just weather changing and true names. Quite a lame idea at first hearing but it grows on you and rapidly becomes an equal to LOTR.
Anyone else read it/agree with me?

 

I have only read the first one- "The Wizard of Earthsea"- but I love it, and have read it many times over since I was quite little. In fact, when I first read "Harry Potter", my first impression was that it was a low-quality remake of "The Wizard of Earthsea".

[Edit: Invoker, I really loved "The Dispossessed" too.]

[This message has been edited by Sprite (edited March 04, 2002).]

 

Earthsea is pretty good. It is one of the older fantasy series. Its not as in depht with the world that the auther created that many others are but the characters are great, and there is a dark appealing mood in the entire series. Le Guin has written some good sci-fi too.

 

Yeah The Earthsea Quartet is one of my favourties. The first book being the best imo. Ged being the best developed spellcaster character I've read after Raistlin.

Ursula Le Guin's other sci-fi books are pretty good as well. 'The Left Hand of Darkness' comes to mind. And of course there's the masterpiece 'The Dispossesed' which I think is a brilliant take on anarchism and I highly recommend it

 

You get much more of the "world" in the newest book, "The Other Wind". I quite liked it. Another excellent book by a consistently excellent author.

Aloha
Vormaerin

 

The Earthsea books are wonderful. Le Guin is a gifted storyteller. Anyone read "The Left Hand of Darkness"? It is brilliant, and can be purchased from Amazon.com throught SP!

 

I couldn't get into "Tehanu" (spelling, anyone?) but the others in the series were fantastic. When I was little, my mom read them to me and my brothers and sisters. I literally burst into tears when we read about him finding his little pet there near the end.



EDIT:
His pet was an otak. Cute little ferrety thing. Or was it more like a hedgehog? I don't remember now...

[This message has been edited by Sapiryl (edited March 07, 2002).]

 

yeah i liked that thing (what was it?)

 

Yeah i cried when the Otak died.......but i get a good feeling that it may come back.

Am i under the impression that there are actually now more than four of these books? has she released new books set on this world and are they centered on the same chracter?

 

Sorry, otak doesn't come back, and I don't think that she wrote any more than the four.

Although if you want more LeGuin goodness, read the Left Hand of Darkness and The Dispossessed.

 

The series currently consists of:

A Wizard of Earthsea
The Tombs of Atuan
The Farthest Shore
Tehanu
The Other Wind
Tales from Earthsea

The 'story' is essentially complete at the conclusion of "The Other Wind". Tales of from Earthsea is an anthology with stories from different eras, some dealing with Ged and some not. If there is more Earthsea stuff forthcoming, it will likely be along those lines since there is no real logical follow up to the "The Other Wind".

Aloha
Vormaerin

 

Noooo! the otak!
Thanks guys for the info.