This is the third of the Earthsea Cycle, which I assume is the earliest and primary trilogy in the world. This is from 1972, and less so than the previous two novel, but still plenty, this novel feels like it’s from 1972. What this means is that while it’s still very good, it’s so endemic of early fantasy novels. The scope of the novel’s plot outpaces it’s tone and size. It’s too big a story for a relatively short novel. I think about Middlemarch when it […]
“There is a hole in the world, and the light is running out of it. And the words go with the light.”
After the glory that is The Tombs of Atuan (for me at least), The Farthest Shore comes as – well, “disappointment” isn’t the right word, because I am always thrilled to return to Earthsea. But it’s less of a revelation, perhaps, and doesn’t touch me as deeply as Tenar’s story. Which doesn’t mean that it’s a bad book. Far from it! The Farthest Shore features Ged, now Archmage, in the role of a mentor to young Arren, a prince of Enlad. It has been years […]