Lucas Blogs About The Farthest Shore

So, what's this book's deal?

It's the third book in Ursula K. Le Guin's Earthsea series.

Oh, so does it pick up where The Tombs of Atuan left off?

More so than Tombs  picks up where A Wizard of Earthsea left off. See, at the end of Tombs (SPOILERS) Ged and Tenar bring a lost treasure back to Havnor and restore the Rune of Peace. That said, a couple of decades have passed since then, and nothing's really changed in the archipelago.

Oh, a couple of decades? Have Ged and Tenar been going on globe-trotting adventures and stuff?

Well, Ged's certainly been getting around. He's become a Dragon Lord and even been elected the Archmage of Roke.

What about Tenar? The last review made it clear that you think she's a great character.

I do. But we won't really hear much more about her until book four. Pretty much all we learn about her is that she's known as the White Lady of Gont. Anyway, like I said, things are still relatively stable in the Archipelago, but there's no king on the throne in Havnor (as there has not been for a while). Meanwhile, Ged is middle-aged now and heads up the school for wizards, and the novel begins when he's visited by a teenage boy named Arren.

So, do all of the Earthsea books have a teenaged protagonist?

The first three do, yeah. Arren is the Prince of the isle of Enlad, which is sort of in the Northwest, and has come to report that wizards in the West are losing their knowledge of the Art Magic. That is to say that not only have they lost the ability to perform spells, but that they've even forgotten the meaning of the words of making (it's how magic works). And it isn't just academy-trained wizards either: village witches and sorcerers have also forgotten their craft. So, Ged, after consulting with the Masters of Roke, decides to investigate the matter himself. Naturally he does the only thing that makes sense.

Which is?

To take Arren in his little boat, Lookfar, and sail south looking for answers.

Following what lead?

You know, just a hunch, it's magic stuff. Anyway, the point is that in their travels they find that it isn't just magic users who are afflicted. Artisans and craftsmen also find their skills failing and even chanters at festivals are unable to recall the words to sacred songs. Oh, and did I mention that the dragons seem to have lost their sentience (this might be because their native language is the language of making). In any case, this novel is closer in structure to Wizard than Tombs with an archipelago-spanning adventure about confronting an inner challenge.

So, aside from himself, what does Arren find on his journey?

Well, Ged shows him the drug and slavery ravaged markets of Hort Town (Arren himself is even abducted by slavers, following a heavy-handed anti-drug message), the raft people who live on large boats out beyond the Archipelago, and the farthest reaches of the West where only dragons live. Oh, and they find out that the whole mess was caused by a wizard named Cob who's used the Pelnish lore (the same lore used by Ged to accidentally summon the nameless shadow back in Wizard) to open up a doorway between life and death. So that's also a problem they'll have to deal with.

Oh, is that all? Well, before we venture too close to SPOILERS, how does it all work?

Oh, quite well. Though. . . .

Out with it!

So, part of what makes The Tombs of Atuan work so well is the fact that it's so different from A Wizard of Earthsea in tone, setting, and structure. And while The Farthest Shore isn't nearly as much of a bildungsroman as A Wizard of Earthsea at heart it's the same sort of story. I guess my main complaint is that it feels like something of a step back. However. . . .

You're starting to overuse those ellipses.

Well, something that works quite well in this book is that once again, the reader sees Ged from another character's perspective. Something I now realize I neglected to talk about in my review of Tombs. Anyway, Arren is a teenage boy, but he's also a prince, so he's a bit more worldly than Ged is at the start of Wizard (and a good deal less isolated than Tenar is in Tombs). At the start, the wizard is an imposing, remote figure. Arren often cannot fathom the reasoning behind Ged's actions but alternately admires and fears him.

Yeah, but after two books, but the reader will probably be on board with the idea that Ged knows what he's doing.

Well, yes and no. In the first two books we do see Ged doesn't always seem to have thought things through. But by the end of the book, Arren does seem to have a fuller understanding of both himself and his guide.

Are you sure it's not a bildungsroman?

Less sure than I was when I said that a few paragraphs ago. That said, there aren't a lot of surprises in Arren's storyline for the genre savvy reader. I mean, it's a story that starts with an empty throne and a sword that hasn't been drawn from it's scabbard. That said, there are actually big status quo changes in store for Ged, but we'll spoil those in the review for Tehanu.

Fair enough. So what's the final conclusion on The Farthest Shore?

It's good read, but maybe a little bit of a let down after The Tombs of Atuan. That said, it also grows the world and mythology of Earthsea, and while seeming to be a conclusion to Ged's story, actually leaves enough potential threads that the story could go anywhere.

And you've already mentioned that it does go somewhere since there's a fourth book.

Well, yeah, but between 1972 and 1990 there wasn't.

Oh, so that's a late addition to the series.

But we should probably talk about that in the Tehanu review.

All right.

The Farthest Shore by Ursula K. Le Guin, illustrated by Charles Vess, from The Books of Earthsea, The Complete Illustrated Edition, Saga Books hardcover edition, October 2018, originally published 1972, 239 pages, pairs well with long nights at sea and the last mouthful of fresh water.

I mean, yeah, Ursula K. Le Guin's website is in the same place it was last time.

As is the website of the illustrator, Charles Vess.

The Farthest Shore is also the source from which Studio Ghibli's Tales from Earthsea draws most of its story, though it also includes elements from Tehanu, Tales from Earthsea, and The Other Wind. It's only okay, both as a movie and as an Earthsea adaptation.