Rating: 
Summary: Welcome extension of the Earthsea world
Review: I can't think how many times I have heard published writers of "mainstream" literature roll their eyes at fantasy/science fiction writing. "What can you say with a story about dragons and magic that you can't say using the 'real' world?" is the typical line.
In my mind, it is the clear, crisp, literary voice of Ursula LeGuin that gives the lie to such talk. In a publishing industry where low-grade fantasy filled with familiar props and tropes can make money, LeGuin's writing voice is a pleasure to experience. Her stories are simple, they are about people, and she uses the fantastical settings she creates to stretch her ability to "say something" very human.
It's been years since Leguin stepped away from Earthsea, saying she was done with writing about it. But time changes things, lucky for us. LeGuin says in the foreward that her time away from the Earthsea world has reinvigorated her interest in telling stories based there, and it shows. This collection is both fresh and more mature than her original Earthsea trilogy.
In "Tales" she lays the groundwork for re-envisioning Earthsea in her upcoming novel. "Finder" and "Dragonfly" are the two most relevant stories, fleshing out ideas about why women can't be wizards, and the relationship between humans and dragons. Since her Earthsea stories are about the characters and not the world she has built around them, there's a surprisingly large amount of room for her to do this. For a newcomer to Earthseas, this book is a good a place to start as any. She writes for the reader, and everything she writes can stand on its own.
Rating: 
Summary: I can't help feeling Le Guin dislikes the original trillogy
Review: I could not bring myself to give this book less than 2 stars because Le Guin's writing is as captivating as always. I got absorbed into every story, although I found them to end abruptly - point made; the end. The overall tone of the book seems to be the unmaking, or "unmasking" of the Earthsea of the trilogy. It seems that Roke was founded by women who were supplanted by fanatical, misogynistic men. Ogion, Ged's master's role in stopping the earthquake is greatly over stated. Credit really belongs to a woman teaching magic forbidden by the men on Roke. The Master Summoner, saved by Ged in The Farthest Shore, takes up the Pelnish Lore - used by the enemy in The Farthest Shore for the purpose of keeping women out of the School of Roke. There is clearly room to improve the role of women in the world of the Earthsea Trilogy, but that is no reason to destroy that world.
Rating:
Summary: I can't help feeling Le Guin dislikes the original trillogy
Review: I could not bring myself to give this book less than 2 stars because Le Guin's writing is as captivating as always. I got absorbed into every story, although I found them to end abruptly - point made; the end. The overall tone of the book seems to be the unmaking, or "unmasking" of the Earthsea of the trilogy. It seems that Roke was founded by women who were supplanted by fanatical, misogynistic men. Ogion, Ged's master's role in stopping the earthquake is greatly over stated. Credit really belongs to a woman teaching magic forbidden by the men on Roke. The Master Summoner, saved by Ged in The Farthest Shore, takes up the Pelnish Lore - used by the enemy in The Farthest Shore for the purpose of keeping women out of the School of Roke. There is clearly room to improve the role of women in the world of the Earthsea Trilogy, but that is no reason to destroy that world.
Rating:
Summary: Not of the quality of the Earthsea novels
Review: I give this 4 stars because it's enjoyable and certainly has its moments, but none of these stories is quite on a par with what's come before. The first, about a finder named Medra who suffers at the hands of an evil wizard and goes on to found the school on Roke, is certainly the weakest of the bunch; it's too long, and the first and second halves of the story are only loosely connected. Once you get that one out of the way, the others are good, but not brilliant. Ursula has gotten long-winded over the course of her career, and several of these stories drag a bit. I agree strongly with Shadowfire's review and intelligent criticisms. Having said all this, Ursula would have had to do much worse for me to fail to recommend Tales to those who enjoyed the other Earthsea books. I'd mention my favorite moments, but I think maybe you ought to discover them yourself.
Rating:
Summary: Pretty Good!
Review: I had no idea about which book was first in the Earthsea series, so I just grabbed one and started reading... this one has persuaded me to read the rest of the series. Very imaginative- sort of like a way more in-depth Harry Potter- this book is really good and I can't wait to read more!
Rating: 
Summary: Fantasy as real literature
Review: I have loved the Earthsea books since they came out long ago. They are entertaining, but also are provocative of both thought and a sense of reverence about the world, and about the paradoxes of humans, who are both physical and spiritual beings, and live best when they live on both planes. However, as much as the tales themselves, I have come to respect LeGuin's view of her craft, her insistence (and proof) that fantasy is a powerful way to explore real human questions, one more way in which words and narrative can help us see and make sense of aspects of our lives and our world. Since real, solid fantasy is written by and for persons engaged in this present world, as well as in imaginary worlds, the best of such literature will bear clear marks of this engagement. Thus, LeGuin's "political agenda" is part of her sense-making and grappling with meanings and values; and her primary way of sense-making is by the working out of tales which are also explorations of character. I have sometimes felt that new questions she was exploring were not well-integrated in some of her stories (even in Tehanu, which I loved anyway), but in this collection, I felt that the gender-related themes she was exploring (among others) worked very well, and were unobtrusive, therefore the more compelling. Also, I have to say that I like her frequent experiments in portraying different kinds of success, which is something that our society desperately needs. Her ability to craft a good sentence has not diminished.My teen-aged son, my wife, and myself devoured the book in two days.
Rating: 
Summary: Dreadfully disappointing
Review: I loved the _Earthsea_ trilogy. I read the series as a child, and wore my first copies to death. I don't think there's a finer fantasy series - one more mythic in nature; one more exacting in its prose. The series was complete in three volumes. It was written by a younger author, and Ursula K Le Guin should not have revisited it. There were objectionable elements, but they were part of Earthsea itself. In _Tehanu_ and more recently in this volume, Ursula has revisted her world for what seem frankly political reasons. We learn that magic (denied to women in the original volumes) was only restricted because of mysogyny. In fact, it turns out that the best magic users are women. And lesbians too - I have no idea why Ursula needed to tell us this. The Old Powers were the source of evil in the first books; in the current ones they are the helpful and healing source of women's magic. _Tehanu_ concluded with a deus ex machina. It destroyed the integrity of the first volumes without resolving any of the issues it had raised. There's another story here which reprises that ending - I felt cheated. This book should not have been written. It's a terrible thing, to destroy something as beautiful as _Earthsea_ was. I have the impression that the admitted mysogyny of the first books weighed so heavily on the author that she was determined to pull it down. To cite only one more example: the original trilogy was sparsely sketched in; things were casually mentioned which were part of the background but never used. In this volume Ursula felt it necessary to supply a lumbering appendix giving the sort of tedious minutiae which you might find in a guidebook - history, biology, etymology and so forth. I wish I hadn't read this book, or _Tehanu_. If you haven't read either you will probably be happier leaving the latter ones unread. The original books were flawed but uniquely beautiful. These ones are just your standard fantasy stories, written by an accomplished author.
Rating:
Summary: A Subdued Homecoming
Review: I must admit to approaching this collection with a real sense of trepidation. I had found Tehanu so mundane and pedantic, so unfaithful to the original spirit of Earthsea, that I had resolved not to read any further additions to the cycle. This resolution did not arise from petulance or spite, but from a genuine fear that any further destruction of the Earthsea universe would bleed whatever delight remained to me out of the Earthsea that I had once loved. Such fears proved to be groundless and I am glad that I read this collection.
In this collection, Ursula Le Guin revives the magic with which she imbued her first three Earthsea books and that was so sadly sacrificed in the fourth. The result for the reader is like a homecoming.
She doesn't retreat from the feminist perspective espoused in that fourth book. Many of these stories look at the world through a woman's eyes. But unlike Tehanu, in this collection, she rediscovers the grace, dignity and evocative charm that were at the centre of the original trilogy. We can believe that we are visiting a different world: one where magic is a part of everyday life, where imagination takes flight and where dragons ride the winds. While some of the short stories may be about pain and loss, we are never in danger of mistaking the world of Earthsea for the plain old world of Earth.
The various stories explore themes of madness, power, sexism, vengeance and intransigence. These are more politically charged themes that make the stories less universal than those of the original trilogy, but unlike Tehanu, here they are handled with a sensitivity that largely redeems them. The polemic that destroyed Tehanu is not entirely dropped, but is sufficiently subdued that it no longer occupies centre of place. The emphasis shifts back to the dramatic. Characters have complex motivations and pursue complex agendas, and are not sacrificed to simply make a point.
While this collection doesn't achieve the majesty of the original trilogy, it is well worth your time. And if you were offended by the way the fourth book of the cycle brutalized the world of Earthsea, "Tales" heals not only much of the magic, but much also of the faith.
Rating:
Summary: Not up to the level of her earlier work
Review: I wanted so much to like this collection of short stories! I have read the Earthsea novels many times, and I've greatly enjoyed LeGuin's other works. I grabbed this book right off the bookstore shelf the first time I saw it and ran home to devour it. None of the stories held my interest at all; at first, I thought I was just tired, and tried again a few days later, but the stories were, just...long, tedious, and dull. I was particularly disappointed in the "Description of Earthsea" section. I had very much enjoyed the technical descriptions of the alien culture in "The Left Hand of Darkness", and having read LeGuin's complete creation of a society in "Always Coming Home", I was eager to read her background notes on Earthsea. There weren't any revelations; even this section was just uninteresting. I guess I was hoping for a sort of mini version of "The Dragonlover's Guide to Pern" for Earthsea, with attendant technical details on flora and fauna, magic, government structures, maybe some genealogical charts and maps. No such luck. The few paragraphs on True Names, for example, are vague and provide no real insights on how a person's True Name is revealed to the witch or wizard who bestows it upon him or her. We are told merely, "The knowledge can be evoked and the gift received only under certain conditions, at the right time (usually early adolescence) and in the right place (a spring, pool, or running stream). Well, we KNOW all that, having read "A Wizard of Earthsea", and having noted how the boy Duny receives his True Name of Ged from the witch, but WHY is this so? In short, I wish I had waited for the paperback.
Rating:
Summary: Prose still strong, plot and characterization not as much so
Review: I've always enjoyed LeGuin's writing more for her language, which is beautiful and can invoke images of more than its surface suggests, than for her plot and characterization. However, the first three Earthsea books had both, and so did the most recent one, 'The Other Wind.' For that reason, I treasure those books.
'Tales from Earthsea' is a case where the stories, for me, had to stand or fall on prose style alone, and two of them didn't make it.
'Finder,' the first one, is a beautifully-written story. LeGuin includes images of quicksilver and a mining camp, which are rare enough in fantasy to be intriguing in their own right. The story of the founding of the School on Roke was also one I wanted to read. However, I found the plot to be meandering. It seems as though it was the story of a hero's journey to adulthood, but it wasn't quite long enough to do the job. Some scenes felt abbreviated, and I felt I was told more about the main character, Otter/Tern/Medra, than I was shown. Worth reading for the language and imagery, however.
'Darkrose and Diamond,' the second story and a love story, fell utterly flat for me. It's a tale of two separated lovers. The things that separate them, though, and the things that likewise reunite them, are not of their own doing. They drift along as passive characters in the current, and big misunderstandings that could be solved by three minutes of honest communication cause more trouble than they need to. I don't recall loving the language in this one, but it's probably still as good. I was just too irritated with the vagueness of the characters to care.
'The Bones of the Earth' likewise fell down. The earthquake that threatens Gont is coming, the consequences could be devastating...and then it's dealt with, by a character who's so briefly sketched out that I felt nothing about his fate. Once again, the prose doesn't help. Maybe it's just because this was close to an action story, and LeGuin really doesn't write that kind of thing; I don't really know. But the ending seemed too much like a deus ex machina to content me.
'On the High Marsh,' on the other hand, used the language to make me feel for the character described, Irioth. I cried, the only time I did so while reading the book. The ending is still somewhat abrupt, but so rich with promise that it satisfied me completely.
'Dragonfly' is reprinted from the 1997 LEGENDS. If you liked it then, you'll probably still like it now. Once again, the description is laced through the character, at least for me, and I found it compelling despite the ending somewhat repeating the ending of 'Tehanu' (the only Earthsea book I utterly detest). However, this is also a very borderline story for me. If you heard a plot summation without reading the story itself, it would sound, rightfully, about as thick as algae. It doesn't really work without its language, and that I do think is a shame, because LeGuin could do many other things with the idea it represents.
This is a book worth picking up for Earthsea fans, I think, or anyone who likes authors on their language alone (fans of Patricia McKillip might want to give it a try). However, I wasn't enthralled with all the stories, and the effect was very artificial: I never lost track of the fact that I was *reading,* rather than in the room with the characters. Take that into consideration before you buy.
|
