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: Tales from Earthsea are not children's Tales!
Review: My children are 10 and 12. They are just old enough to enjoy the original trilogy. Unfortunately, too little happens in these stories to hold their interest. Though I enjoyed the original trilogy; I enjoyed Tales from Earthsea even if my children did not. Tehanu I found to be too preachy. Though I enjoyed Tales from Earthsea, the stories were still preachy at times. It seems to me that Ms. Le Guin is trying to apologize for making her original trilogy so male-centered. I would have preferred if she had simply made the original trilogy less male-centered, since the stories revolve around the development of Ged, than try balance the trilogy with female-centered stories which scimp on plot movement and character development.
Rating: 
Summary: Better than ever
Review: TEHANU seemed to me a disappointing way to end the Earthsea saga, so I was excited to see two new Earthsea books come out one after the other a decade after TEHANU. I tried not to get my hopes up, though, since I was afraid that, as in TEHANU, the stories would again take a backseat to the message. Le Guin does not disappoint. These are among the best work of an incredible career. Five stories, and every one a winner. The earlier reviewer who dismissed this as "feminist tales from earthsea" ("Learn more about why men are evil, women are good, and dragons will fix everything") must have read another book, or maybe he just closed his mind after having his feathers ruffled by TEHANU. There are wonderfully sympathic characters, both male and female, in all of these stories. (I do wish, though, that she had developed "The Finder" and "Dragonfly" into full-length novels!) I've already started to read THE OTHER WIND, and it looks like it may be the best Earthsea novel yet. Whether you read for the drama or the philosophy or both, you will be glad to see that Le Guin still very much has it. May she live to be a hundred and ten, and continue to enrich our lives with work like this.
Rating:
Summary: aka "Feminist Tales From Earthsea"
Review: Interesting addendum to the Earthsea saga, continuing a change to the feel of the stories that LeGuin started with Tehanu. Learn more about why men are evil, women are good, and dragons will fix everything. It does fill in some of the history of Earthsea, which is interesting, but she doesn't focus on some of the big names you would expect to hear more about--rather she invents new small characters to fill some of the historical void. Worth reading, but [$$$]is a little too much for this unless you really feel the need to add it to your Earthsea collection. Borrow it from the library...
Rating:
Summary: Thank You for Taking Us Back
Review: The Earthsea books are among my favorite novels of all time-- complex, heartfelt, true--and those who have read them (and re-read them, and re-re-read them) might notice a distinct change in "flavor" between the first three novels and Tehanu, which was written a number of years later. All I can say is "thank goodness" that the subtitle of Tehanu ("The Last Book of Earthsea") proved to be untrue, because LeGuin had posed some questions for which I hungered for the answers: What is the truth of the relationship between dragonkind and humankind? What is the nature of woman's magic, and why does it seem to be ignored or denigrated? And in Tales from Earthsea, some answers begin to be examined. One of the longer tales, "Dragonfly," is a beautifully-told and deeply-resonant story of one person's growth and self-discovery---and also a pivotal point in the larger narrative of Earthsea and the story of Ged the Archmage. It had me gasping at the end, trying to grasp at the trailing edge of a profound, inexpressible truth, just beyond my comprehension... In a way, LeGuin has now completed two trilogies, each with its own focus. A Wizard of Earthsea, The Tombs of Atuan, and The Farthest Shore deal more with men, and on doing. Tehanu, Tales from Earthsea, and The Other Wind focus more on women, and knowing. In all the Earthsea books I find truths which ring like the deepest and most musical of bells, and something within me answers in glad harmony, even if I can't find the words to tell anyone why.
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: A poor collection...
Review: "Tales from Earthsea" does not instantly captivate from the first page, like the first three books of the Earthsea series. That's really "enough said," but it wouldn't be much of a review if I didn't say a little more. LeGuin seems to have lost something, and I'm hard pressed to put my finger on it... call it "simplicity" maybe, the kind of writing style that makes Hemingway so timelessly appealing. Not only that, but these stories are filled with negativity and a sort of relentless despair; although the first three books aren't exactly lighthearted, they never lose their positive outlook on things, either. I miss the "old" Ursula LeGuin, and wish she'd written more Earthsea books immediately following the first three. There's something almost tainted and poisonous in her writing these days, something untrustworthy. Not recommended -- enjoy the first three in the "Earthsea" series and call it done. If you choose not to take my advice, then get the book used and/or in paperback (or check it out from the library) so you aren't out any money.
Rating:
Summary: Growth and Illumination
Review: Many authors are tempted to return to their early works in their later years. For most authors, this is a mistake. Not so with this set of five stories placed in the world of Le Guin's marvelous Earthsea. Each story provides a new illumination into what Earthsea is, its history, and the people that lived and loved within it. The first story, "The Finder", is the longest, actually a novella, and for my money the best of the set. Here we find ourselves far back in the history of Earthsea, when wizard fought wizard as a matter of course, when magical knowledge was jealously guarded, when the average non-magical person lived in fear of what magic would visit them next. Otter, a half-trained wizard with a powerful skill for 'finding' whatever he looks for, falls on the receiving end of the worst of this mis-use of magic, forced to try and find mercury, the King of all materials, for a half-crazed older wizard. How he escapes from this imprisonment, and his search for a place where magic is taught freely, forms the bulk of this story, ending with his founding of the School of Wizards on Roke. In this story we find the same evocation of the magical, of balance between man and nature, of ambition tempered by internal morality, that so graced the original trilogy. The second story, "Darkness and Diamond", has appeared elsewhere previously, but it deserves a second reading, being a beautifully told love story of a boy with conflicted desires between his wizardly talent and its concomitant requirement of chastity, and his love of music and a girl who shares his passions. A fine portrait of what is important in the business of living. The third and fourth stories, "The Bones of the Earth" and "On the High Marsh", are comparatively minor stories, that never the less do a good job of filling in some of the history of Ged, showing his first teacher in his greatest wizardly act, and a mature Ged who can forgive and help heal a former Arch-mage. The last story, "Dragonfly", has also appeared elsewhere, but it is a must read before tackling the latest Earthsea novel, The Other Wind. This is story that I think many fans of the series object to, as it details the heretical idea that women both can and should wield magical powers, that their power, based on the Old Powers, is just as valid as the complex hierarchy of talents embodied by the School of Wizards. Is this a change from the world of the first three novels? Certainly, but I think it is a change for the better, more fitting with the overall theme of balance that pervades the entire Earthsea universe. As Le Guin herself states in the forward, it has been a long time since the first books were written, and history and people move on, grow and develop, and this story exemplifies this very well. For fans of the originals, this is a must book. For those who have never been charmed and captivated by Earthsea, now is the time to read the series in its glorious whole.
Rating:
Summary: Not much about Ged, but you just can't stop reading
Review: Tales from Earthsea is the fifth book about Earthsea but is not about Ged, and his adventures. That story has been told before. The book has other stories to tell. They are about people of Earthsea. They are about other people that don't have the wisdom of wizard, or don't need it anyway. The stories are about much more ordinary people. In this book you find the roots of Roke, the roots of humanity as Earthsea legends tell. Don't expect another of the Wizard of Earthsea novels but be sure that this book won't let you stop reading from cover to cover.
Rating:
Summary: The magic of earthsea is back
Review: After Tehanu, I was loathe to give LeGuin another try at removing all the wonder from this series. But I read a couple of these stories in Fantasy & Science Fiction magazine and they were wonderful. Great read.
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