Rating: 
Summary: a good follow-up
Review: Tenar is made a priestess for the Nameless Ones. She is now Arha, or the Eaten One. She meets a wizard, Ged, who comes to steal the Ring of Erreth-Akbe. Only Tenar knows the way to it, so she must decide if she should show him. The Ring is in an underground labyrinth where no light exists. This also has an outsanding finale, although it isn't as surprising. Another great read and a must-read for LeGuin and Earthsea fans. I highly recommend.
Rating: 
Summary: Go Tener!
Review: I really liked this book for a number of reasons:
1. It makes up for the poorly written "A Wizard of Earthsea". That I found was dreadful! (Notice people I don't use the word 'boring'. If you use that word in your reviews it only shows that you aren't getting your point across that you dislike the book and that you are an illiterate person who didn't go to a good enough school for the teachers to tell you what a horrible word 'boring' is.)
2. I'm glad that Ged saves Tener from the darkness that has enslaved her to it.
3. I like fantasy stories about people (especially girls and young women) who soon discover they aren't who what they seem to be.
Rating:
Summary: Engaging.... and mysterious
Review: Mystery is the hallmark of Earthsea. The world is never fully fleshed out, and it seems a haunted, decayed place, a place that is dying. Whenevr I think of Earthsea the associations "gray", "lonely" and "decay" immediately come to my mind. This is best exemplified in Tombs of Atuan and the third book, The Farthest Shore."Tombs" begins on a low note, with a completely different character than the first book. Yet strangely enough Leguin's sparse writing has an elegance and power of its own that engages the reader. Soon, the vision of Tenar's underground "temple" and its lonely desert complex haunts and fascinates the reader. Ged eventually arrives, and the interaction between him and Tenar is well written, if a tad unbelievable. The biggest problem with this book is that it is too short. Far too short. As a result the main character Tenar has to undergo some rather drastic changes within a handful of pages, which doesn't do justice to the main event in the book and leaves the reader mildly unsatisfied.
Rating: 
Summary: Ellison not on tape.
Review: I ordered this tape specifically because Harlan Ellison was listed as a reader. When the tape arrived I noted the following on the spine of the case: Read by The Author, and Gabrielle De Cuir. I read over the back of the case and found no mention of Ellison. Because the tape was not as advertised, I am returning it to Amazon and I am requesting my moneyback.
Rating:
Summary: More tightly plotted than its predecessor
Review: I have read the Tombs of Atuan numerous times. It holds my attention because it is so well written in terms of plotting and characters. A Wizard of Earthsea loses out to this second book of the trilogy in both these areas. The third book is hardly worth mentioning. All three books are very effective in creating a world complete in itself, with different races and cultures. It's useful to remember that LeGuin's point of view is anthropological, as she is the daughter of two noted anthropologists, Arthur Kroeber (after whom Kroeber Hall at Cal Berkeley was named) and Theodora Kroeber, who wrote a wonderful book about Ishi, the last Yahi. Anyway, in my opinion, Ursula LeGuin's books are best appreciated as fictional ethnography.
Rating:
Summary: Fantasy and Fairy Tale
Review: What a nice book! The story of how Tenar/Arha comes to serve the ghastly Nameless Ones and how she is liberated from this by Ged is told with a directness and economy which should be the envy of many writers. I found this story touching, poignant, and moving, and although some might say it is written for young adults it seems to me to be one of those fine books which--like Winnie-the-Pooh--appeals to all ages. And, in this day of fantasy novels which threaten one with a hernia if one picks them up, and with terminal boredom if one reads them, and which often contain nauseating things, how refreshing to discover a story 146 pages long which is suitable for all ages yet is not merely a children's story, and which deals with important issues like guilt, remorse, forgiveness, and the meaning of freedom.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful continuation
Review: This second volume in LeGuin's Earthsea trilogy opens in a mystical, "Amazon women" / ancient Mayan-type sacrificial society. The "Eaten One" is an interesting heroine to accompany through the novel. She is a believable mix of questioning youth, maturing young adult, petulant girl, and above all humane thinker. The story is marginally enjoyable until Ged appears in the underground maze. At that point it takes off as the two interact and Ged's mythical / heroic goodness brings out the good elements in Arya's character. Though at times Ged's persona seems almost too good and farcical, LeGuin does not go overboard with her portrayal. As mentioned earlier she does an outstanding job with Arya's character and is able to capture the range of emotions she experiences in her growing and meeting Ged. I thank LeGuin for NOT including a gratuitous romantic element between the two. My only complaint is that the book was too brief; that we do not get to see how Ged and Arya interact once they escape from Atuan.
Rating:
Summary: A magical Prisoner
Review: A Review by Brandon
At five Tenar a young girl was taken from her home, striped of her name, and deprived of a family all to be a high priestess. This priestess job was to guard and protect the Tombs of Atuan. One day she found a man wandering around in the Tombs of Atuan. She trapped her unwanted guest only to find that he is a wizard. Very weak, the wizard called Sparrowhawk with his powers useless had no way of escaping. This is a very interesting story if you like new worlds and magic. This book is very climactic in making you want to read and not put it down. There are a few reasons I don't like this book though, some of them would be that I had trouble following who was speaking, and that there wasn't much magic involved. The author was very creative though in the aspect of names and the world, she made me believe that the world really existed. The plot was original and is a good expansion of the first book, and i'm sure that the third book will be just as great. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes new worlds, and is decently easy to follow, but has many challenging words to pronounce.
Rating:
Summary: Good things come in.....
Review: In a genre dominated by 800+ page tomes, this book was a refreshing and delightful read. Ursula Le Guin is a master of flowing, lyrical prose. The book is relatively brief, but chock full of all the elements that are required for a great fantasy story. She accomplishes this feat by keeping things simple and uncluttered. She doesn't need an appendix to list all the characters and their relation to one another. Her world is well-realized, her characters well-fleshed out, and the story captures you from the first pages. Take a break from the massive tales of Jordan and Martin et al. (not that there's anything wrong with them) and read an author whose writing is as magical as her story.
Rating:
Summary: Fantastic! Don't be deterred by its brevity
Review: Bravo! As a frequent reader of fantasy novels, I was initially skeptical of Ursula Le Guin's "Earthsea" series because it is so much shorter than most books in this genre. How could an author possibly establish characterizations, create worlds, grab readers with such a short book? The answer is, superbly. I have read only this book and the previous one (so far), and find that "The Tombs of Atuan" grabs hold and won't let go: you genuinely care about the characters, become spellbound by the world she creates, and simply are not able to put the book down. Unlike other fantasy authors, Le Guin's characters are neither inivincible nor shallowly "good": they are human, and like us, they are flawed creations whose trials and tribulations are not simply a jump from one outrageous escape to another. Fantasy authors everywhere should take note- wizards and foes alike do not need to possess outrageous, invincible powers to be compelling to a fantasy reader. As Le Guin brilliantly illustrates here, sometimes a simple act of kindness can be as powerful as the most flagrant mystical powers.
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