The Tombs of Atuan (by Ursula LeGuin)
The fantasy genre is mostly Not My Thing, but I have enjoyed some science fiction and fantasy over the years. I just don't have the patience to wade through the bad stuff to find the good stuff. But I enjoy recommendations. After we watched the Earthsea miniseries, Dan lent me this book, which is the second part of the trilogy. I was assured that it would be okay to read it first.
The miniseries and the book have almost nothing to do with each other, thankfully, because the miniseries was terrible, if amusing to watch. The book is short, obviously paty of a larger story. But it's compelling, interesting, and the writing is solid. I was confused about one thing, though, and maybe Dan can answer this for me: was Tenar really the reincarnation of Arha? I'm not quite clear about the magical laws of Earthsea, and I wasn't sure about that one.
Anyway, I enjoyed this. I tried not to picture Kristen Kreuk too much, but it was somewhat unavoidable.
The miniseries and the book have almost nothing to do with each other, thankfully, because the miniseries was terrible, if amusing to watch. The book is short, obviously paty of a larger story. But it's compelling, interesting, and the writing is solid. I was confused about one thing, though, and maybe Dan can answer this for me: was Tenar really the reincarnation of Arha? I'm not quite clear about the magical laws of Earthsea, and I wasn't sure about that one.
Anyway, I enjoyed this. I tried not to picture Kristen Kreuk too much, but it was somewhat unavoidable.
posted by mo pie at 9:51 AM
2 Comments:
When I first read Tombs, I thought (good western kid that I was) that the Arha reincarnation was obviously a load of hooey. Apparently I had no problem with a wizard calling out light from a staff, so I don't know exactly what's up with that.
The later Earthsea books do rehabilitate the Kargish religions just a little. I mean, no, it's still not okay to worship the Old Powers, because they are Not Nice. But Le Guin hints that their ideas of reincarnation, while not exactly accurate, may derive from another aspect of the Real Deal that the inner Archipelegans don't get. So I don't know.
We finished our read-aloud of A Wizard of Earthsea, and it held up very close to being as terrific as I remembered. There is an occasional repetetiveness about the Big Picture that may arise from it being the first book she wrote specifically for a young adult audience, but otherwise I can continue to recommend it strongly on plot, characterization, style, and theme. And length! It's under 200 pages.
I've just re-read the Earthsea Quartet, having not read it since I was a young teenager (at least 10 years). Tombs used to be my favourite of the original three, although I liked Tehanu too when I read it some years later (apparently, some long-term Earthsea fans didn't like it at all).
I have to say, it has never occurred to me that it mattered whether Tenar was really the reincarnation of Arha. My overall feeling was that she probably wasn't - but that even if it was true, the whole cult of the Old Powers was hollow, so it didn't really matter if Tenar fulfilled her role as Arha or not, and that having a child as chief priestess had become a handy way for the older priestesses to keep control of the others - even if some of them believed she really was Arha.
Note that one of the priestesses has no problem with manipulating Arha into giving orders she really doesn't want to give, and then trapping her in the labyrinth...
You should definitely read Tehanu, the next book in the series. I think it's now my favourite, and a subtle and well-written novel in any genre. It was written 20 years after the others, and you can see how Le Guin's conceptions of how to explore her world have changed in the meantime.
I haven't read The Other Wind yet, but Tehanu struck me as such a good conclusion that I'll have to read it to see where Le Guin managed to go from there.
Post a Comment
<< Home