Lucas Blogs About Tales From Earthsea

So, what's this book's deal?

You know, Hypothetical Reader, you've been pretty cool about every book being an entry in the same series for the last several weeks.

I guess I have, maybe I'm growing.

Or maybe I just forgot to write you as a scold.

Thanks.

So, Tales from Earthsea is the fifth entry in the increasingly inaccurately named Earthsea trilogy (to borrow a joke from the Hitchhiker's Guide series). This time around it's actually a collection of short stories.

Shit! You're not gonna give each one its own review like you did with Terra Incognita, are you?

No, I've learned my lesson. One review for the whole book. So, this sort of expands on the project begun in Tehanu. That is to say, Le Guin continues to interrogate the base assumptions of her own imagined world. None of the stories is a direct continuation of Tehanu, but there are a number of thematic similarities in these stories. So let's get going. First there's "The Finder" which takes place hundreds of years before A Wizard of Earthsea. It centers around a young man called Otter who lives on the island of Havnor where warlords are angling for influence and pressing magic users into their service. Otter comes from a family of shipwrights but shows an early talent for magic. This leads to his enslavement, and after a witch helps him escape she points him in the direction of a secret network of magic users called the Hand (not to be confused with the Hand). Otter eventually finds his way to Roke where he proves instrumental to the foundation of a school for wizards, using his talent for finding spells to locate potential students. However, although the magical community on Roke provides for equal footing between men and women, there are some men who are pushing to only teach male students. Then we come to "Darkrose and Diamond" which takes place on Havnor during . . . a time period. It's about the son of a merchant who shows some talent for magic but is more interested in music. Oh, and also Rose, the daughter of the village witch. While it does comment on the social norms of Earthsea, this is more of a conventional star-crossed lovers story. Next up, it's "The Bones of the Earth" which relates the story of how Ogion (you may recall that he was Ged's second magic teacher), stopped a deadly earthquake on the isle of Gont in his youth. It turns out that he had more than a little help from his old teacher. Then there's "On the High Marsh," this is the story of a healer who shows up in a remote village which just happens to be in the middle of a livestock plague. He'd better watch out, though, both his landlady's brother and the village sorcerer aren't too keen on his presence. Oh, also, our old friend Ged shows up (this story takes place when he was the Archmage) looking for a magic student who's run off without finishing his training. Hmm.

It does seem a little obvious how that's gonna turn out.

Yeah. Anyway, there's one more, which is the one that turns out to be the most relevant to the series going forward. "Dragonfly" is about the daughter of a wealthy man on the isle of Way. Dragonfly spends her early life sheltered by her father, who thinks that a mere village witch or sorcerer (Sorcerer:Wizard::Associate's Degree:Bachelor's Degree) is beneath the dignity of giving his daughter her true name. But she sneaks out to the village witch who names her Irian, though both are unsatisfied with that result. Irian because she doesn't want to be named after her father's farmland, and the witch because the name feels somehow incorrect, or maybe incomplete. In any case, Dragonfly keeps her true name a secret (like a good archipelagan girl would anyway), but finds herself drawn to a newly arrived wizard from Roke. Ivory, as the wizard is called, is smitten with Dragonfly, and attempts to seduce her by offering to help her sneak into the school on Roke, disguised as a young man. Dragonfly jumps at the offer, and eventually Ivory is even won over, enough so that he confesses two things: 1) he was only offering to help her become a wizard to get her into bed; and B) that he's not actually a wizard, having been kicked out of the school for sneaking a girl into his bedroom on Roke and breaking the wizards' rule of celibacy. Now that no one's keeping secrets from anyone, Dragonfly goes up to the Master Doorkeeper, disguised as a boy and attempts to enter the school by telling him her true name. The Doorkeeper lets her in, which you might imagine causes a stir among the various master wizards, again, given that female students are not accepted. The rest of the story deals with the ensuing chaos and infighting between the wizards over the question of whether Dragonfly has any place at the school.

Well, that was certainly thorough. So . . . does she?

Well, the Master Patterner, a former Kargish Warrior who came to Roke after Ged restored the Rune of Peace, certainly thinks so. And he even lets her stay in a cottage in the Immanent Grove. Meanwhile, the Master Summoner, who has proven his mastery of summoning by calling his own spirit back from the Dry Lands after his death, definitely doesn't think so. Things come to a head, but I don't think I should SPOIL this particular story until I review The Other Wind (that's right, there's only one more Earthsea book left). So let's talk about the book as a whole.

You're the blogger. Is the book good?

It is. Although, will ad the caveat that it's my least favorite entry in the series. There is a lot going for it. From a world-building perspective, it's fantastic. Tales from Earthsea takes readers to places the other novels haven't touched on, and answers questions they might have about the world's history and customs in a way that shows more than tells. It's interesting to see Ogion as a less composed and less isolated character, and it's cool that "Darkrose and Diamond" includes the sheet music for the song from the story. And it's good to see a fantasy series that's willing to look critically at itself.

I sense a but.

But, at the same time, well, I find short story collections harder to read. After I've finished a story, I like to be able to sit and digest it, but because I was close to the end of a series, I felt pressure to rush through so that I could get to the final volume.

That sounds like more of a problem with you than with the book.

Well, I guess that's true. While the book has a strong thematic focus, the constant changes in setting and focal character do make it feel a bit scattershot. The strongest of the bunch is "Dragonfly" which mostly hews to the first three books' formula of following a hard-headed teenage protagonist on a voyage of self-discovery (perhaps that also reveals more about me than intended) while still engaging in the sort of deconstructionist project begun in Tehanu. And I don't want to sound as if I didn't enjoy reading Tales from Earthsea, because I did.

It's just less than the sum of its parts?

I suppose so. But still, Le Guin's writing, which I feel I haven't touched on enough in these reviews, remains strong. While not as mythic in tone as A Wizard of Earthsea  or as atmospheric as The Tombs of Atuan (still the series' high point), the stories in Tales from Earthsea all feel of a piece of with the previous entries. Le Guin's prose here is plainspoken and economical, imbuing the stories with enough of a mythic quality to feel timeless even as the social commentary marks them as contemporary.

Cool. So, about that story Ogion told in Tehanu.

The one about humans and dragons having once been the same species?

Yeah, does that become relevant in this book?

Ask me again next time.

Tales from Earthsea 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 2001, 184 pages, pairs well with good wine and ill-advised college admissions scams

Links:

Oh, you know that once again I'm going to include a link to Ursula K. Le Guin's website, for people who are into that kinda thing.

Also to Charles Vess' website, partly because I feel that these reviews have slighted him by not talking more about his lovely illustrations.

I'll even throw in another link to the trailer for Studio Ghibli's Tales from Earthsea, even though it is not an adaptation of the book that bears that name.