Tales from Earthsea: 05 (The Earthsea Cycle)

Amazing book. I love her writing style. It's unique and the story gives you chills.

The first story in the book, a novella titled The Finder, told the story of how the school of wizardry at the island of Roke came to be. I have never been much fond of creation-stories. To add to that, this seemed deliberately written to sound archaic. It was a huge put-off after my exhilarating run through the first four books of the Earthsea cycle. I abandoned the short story collection for an entire week before picking up where I had left off. The Finder was, fortunately, the only story in the book that left me deeply unsatisfied.The second story was called Darkrose and Diamond. This had the feel of a fable, still quite different from the Earthsea stories we are used to, but a form I have a personal bias for. It is a love story, the title is quite a giveaway for that, and a mature one (un-fable-like in this respect, its characters more than mere paper cut-outs.)The third story, the Bones of the Earth, is about the wizard of Re Albi and how he stopped an earthquake. I imagine people had been waiting twenty years for this tale, and with that kind of build up, I wonder if it was a thorough let down. I liked it, but only in a passing non-committal sort of way. (I realize this is turning out not into a review, but a rather rambling, offhand set of first impressions.)The fourth story, On the High Marsh, has by far the most interesting new character in this book - a secretive stranger, possibly a wizard who has lost his powers, a kind man who seeks shelter in a widow's house... sounds familiar, but the answer's not that obvious. On the High Marsh, though, shouldn't be called a 'story' in the strictest sense. It is more like an episode, a slice of life...The fifth and final story is, so I have heard, a precursor to The Other Wind, the sixth book in the series that was supposed to end at four. I have mixed opinions about this story, but as a teaser trailer for another book, I must say it has worked wonders - I am off to buy The Other Wind the moment I finish this.It is interesting how children's-book-like the series started and how it has matured over the years. Perhaps my favourite thing about the books is how gracefully its main characters have aged. The series is filled with leaps in timelines, but none seem abrupt. The characters are new and we rediscover them with every new tale. It's lovely to see... how they have changed in ways unimaginable and unalterable, out-of-character and yet character-defining... I don't remember ever reading anything so real, anything that so accurately captured growing up.The collection gets three stars, for not being as compelling a read as the rest of the books - the reasons could be entirely personal... 1. not having enough time to devote to this book 2. too much of a good thing can be bad 3. my personal preference for longer writing...

The entire series is a global treasure and albeit shorter these short tales hold up just as well as the previous books!

I read the first books in college nearly 50 years ago. I have reread them many times, and replaced my worn out paperbacks with hardbacks where I could. I own them on Kindle. They aren't perfect books,but they always pull me into a world with characters that move me and make me think. A nice collection of short stories that delivered for me.

A profundidade das personagens e a trama fantástica se mesclam de maneira natural nas obras de Le Guin.

This book from Ursula Le Guin is a masterpiece!

This was a natural place to go after having finished the ‘First four books’ earlier in the year. I absolutely loved those books, and if anything, they seemed to get better as the series wore on – which bodes well for this, which is essentially book #5. Let’s see what it’s about then shall we?Well, as the name suggests, this is actually a collection of shorter tales. There is a nice intro from Ursula where she explains the logic for pulling this collection together, but to paraphrase – this series of stories explores parts of Earthsea that are well developed but which have not necessarily been fully explored in the first four novels. Personally, I don’t think we need an excuse for this sort of book, but if you are not usually a fan of this sort of thing, then fear not: they are all cracking stories in their own right. Let’s have a look at each in turn.The Finder is the story of how the school on Roke came into being. It is quite an old story chronologically, and it follows the story of Otter, who is a crafty sort (crafty means magical) and who therefore gets banged up. But Otter is craftier than most, and with the help of a girl (who is also gifted), he escapes his shackles and finds himself sailing away to escape his prisoners. From here he sails to Roke, and the rest is history as they say (you’ll have to read if you want to find out more).Darkrose and Diamond is a love story where the antagonist is magic itself because Diamond is at risk of losing Darkrose if he is ever to become a magician on Roke. This is a nice little story, and it explores the conflict between witches and wizards more thoroughly.The Bones of the Earth: if you’ve read a Wizard of Earthsea, you will have heard of the story where Ogion prevents an earthquake on Gont. Have you ever wanted to hear what actually happened? Well, this is that story! I really liked this one because it was much easier to relate it to the wider series, and it’s also really rather brilliantly done.On the High Marsh is about a mysterious healer who arrives in a remote village threatened by a livestock epidemic. It is a funny little story without an obvious home, but as it develops, the truth behind the words becomes clear – which is great! Ultimately this tells the story of a time that links really nicely with the wider series, and it is a good little read in its own right. To find out how it links in, you’ll have to go and read it.Finally, we have Dragonfly. This is my favourite of the stories because it dovetails beautifully with the fourth book (Tehanu) and also leads into the sixth book (The Other Wind). It is the story of a girl who seeks the training of Roke Island, but of course that school is forbidden for women. Nevertheless, she tries and has some measure of success, but ultimately her experience is nothing like she expects. The world is changing, and this story is a catalyst for that change. After finishing this final story it was impossible not to read on – so I did!Overall, these books are fantastic. They are well paced, richly written, and they encompass some fascinating periods of the history of Earthsea (both recent and distant). I really have loved exploring Earthsea, and with these five tales still bounding around in my head, I rushed onto the next and final book of the series – The Other Wind. Hopefully it’s a cracker!