Rating: 
Summary: Was Tehanu written by a ghost writer?
Review: I loved the Earthsea trilogy (it will always be a trilogy to me) from the first time I read it, in high school. Years later, they are even better. Tehanu is not cut from the same cloth. I was sorely disappointed with the plot line, character development, general tone and themes of the book. While the first three books contained wonderful, compelling and unforgettable tales, this one seemed like a cross between a romance novel and some sort of psycho-mystery. It gave me the same feeling in the pit of my stomach as watching The Phantom Menace and listening to them explain the Force in terms of science. I can only hope that Ursula LeGuin herself actually writes any future books, because I can't believe the same author wrote this as the first three.
Rating: 
Summary: Disappointing
Review: After finishing The Farthest Shore and absolutely loving it, I was greatly excited to read Tehanu...and then disappointed. It is thoroughly disjointed from the overall "feel" of the first three books, no doubt due in part to the length of time between the years they were written. I found the writing typical (and lacking the passion that I found in the first three novels), the plot tedious, and the underlying themes completely in-your-face obvious. I read entirely through to the end within a few hours, waiting for something to happen...and nothing did, until the end, when the plot diverged into two different ones, and then abruptly stopped. Honestly, there was a lot of unnecessary plot that could have been left out. It is helpful, however, to remember that there was another sequel written taking place shortly after Tehanu, which ties up a lot of loose ends. But as much as I love the Earthsea books, this was almost a pain to read.
Rating:
Summary: Is LeGuin tired of writing?
Review: I can accept the plot inconsistancies with the previous books in the "trilogy." I can accept her vague style of writing. I like her ideas and think they have potential. But I would have thought that, with the passage of time, her writing would improve. Unfortunately, not only does it not improve, it actually seems to have deteriorated. She spends the first 90% or more of the book developing the background, then rushes through the plot development and the climax (if it can be called such) in just a few pages, as if she were sick of the story and of writing in general and just wanted to get it done with. What a shame.
Rating: 
Summary: Different from the others yet powerful with its own message
Review: This book definitely is a departure from the trilogy but oddly enough I found many things to be endearing. While I also had trouble accepting certain things like Goha's happiness with a typical chavinistic farmer, I felt the book was more complex with more adult issues than the first 3. In many ways, the first 3 books dealt with simpler issues, that sometimes failed to interest me (but I did read the books for the first time as an adult). In Tehanu, it was interesting to see how Ged responded to the reality of life without the power he'd wielded his whole life, and to see Goha (I prefer to call her Tenar) musing on her life and questioning its tranquility. It always seemed to me that Ged and Tenar had feelings for each other that were more than platonic and this book bears that out. Additionally, I was happy to see her back in the Earthsea story. The connection between the dragon and the child, who for most of the book was an object of pity and horror, often even to the reader, and a victim besides, was to me a resounding affirmation of a hidden power in her that was greater than the crimes committed against her. Overall, this book IS different from the trilogy books but has its own worth and depth and points to make.
Rating: 
Summary: Lyrical and bittersweet... but treats men like animals.
Review: When farmer Flint died, his widow lived on at the farm in solitude, only occasionally visited by her few friends who trusted her despite her foreign looks. Her children had long since left - her daughter Apple living with her husband downriver, her son Spark sailing the seas. The old woman's life didn't change much when she took in a vagrant's child, beaten, raped, burned with fire and left for dead. But then she recieved a message from a dying mage who bid her come... So begins the last tale of Earthsea, the tale of Tenar and her burnt foundling, Therru. "Tehanu" is a painful book to read. It deals with death, powerlessness, depletion, misery, resentment, and jealousy, and it does so on a much more personal scale than the previous books in the series. Whereas Ged, being a powerful mage, was always an outsider, standing outside and looking in, Tenar (or Goha, as LeGuin renames her) commands no special favor or respect. And while Ged was somewhat cold and aloof, Goha is visibly cautious and valiant, vigilant and caring, womanly and motherly. In "Tehanu" LeGuin seeks to establish the woman as naturally free and unbound, but she does so in a fashion that is sour and vengeful. There are very few likable male charactes in "Tehanu", the majority striving to harm and demean Goha for going beyond her customary place in life. Some shun her, others insult her. One even strikes her mute and parades her around on a leash, like a dog. Ged is a pathetic shade of his former self: without his power, he is despondent and irritable. In his case, LeGuin essentially states the exact antithesis of the philosophy she presented in the previous Earthsea books. "Tehanu" takes a poststructuralist approach, skimping on definite plot and villains in favor of character development and occasional poetic episodes. To fill in the gaps, there is a lot of musing on the woman's role in life, but, again, that is done by demeaning and devaluating men. Whereas man "is full of his grand man-meat", but empty once his power is gone, the woman "goes back before the darkness", her roots sunk deep, impossible to eradicate. In another recurring metaphor, LeGuin portrays men as dragons, wild and greedy and predatory, with wings that they don't deserve, and women as humans, warm and studious, but without power. Apparently, LeGuin wants to establish the woman as a harridan as well man's equal. Similarly, I had significant trouble accepting the short, confusing deus-ex-machina ending, which hardly pertains to the story, and generates more questions than answers. Definitely not what I wanted in the series' final ending.
Rating:
Summary: A disappointing entry to a classic series
Review: With 'Tehanu,' Ursula Le Guin makes the puzzling decision to extend the classic Earthsea trilogy into a quadrology (now since extended even further), crafting a book that is quite enjoyable, but wholly apart from the careful fabric of the original stories. 'Tehanu' is not a bad book - not by any means - but when placed alongside the originals, it simply does not feel right. Whereas the original novels were built upon layers of magic and wonder and a vast, epic feel, this novel is smaller, more human, telling a more internal story. It is the story of our beloved Tenar, from 'Tombs,' and of her struggles with motherhood, age, and with being a woman. As always, the prose is outstanding, flowing like poetry throughout. Tenar herself is far more flesh and blood than she was in her first appearance, and Ged (who plays a support role only) is altogether another person, torn by his battles in the realm of the dead. Still, the magic is missing, the sweep and scope is missing, ultimately sapping the life from what could have been an extraordinary book. Had this not been Earthsea part 4, I would have rated it higher. Being among such lofty companions, however, expectations are high. It simply ends up being a very good book, and little more.
Rating:
Summary: is that all?
Review: To be honest, Tehanu does not really do justice to the rest of the Earthsea books. Theres a skeleton of a plot, and most of the book is concerned with long and pondering conversations by the fireplace (sigh) and of course Tenar's & Geds sex life, along with pages and pages about the farm. Still, for those who have already read The Tombs of Atuan it is good to meet Tenar once more, and find out what has happened to her over the years, which, admittably, isn't much. Tehanu does not really end in a sense, several major issues are left hanging, which leaves the reader with more questions than they began with. But if you've read the other 3 books in the series, you won't be able to leave Earthsea without reading Tehanu, and savouring Le Guin's magical literary style once more, don't expect anything spectacular, however, although there is a certain quiet wizardry going on behind the scenes throughout the duration of the book...
Rating:
Summary: Women's Magic
Review: For two decades, Ursula Le Guin's landmark EARTHSEA cycle was considered a trilogy. The surprise publication of a fourth novel in 1990, TEHANU, generated expansive critical acclaim and represents Le Guin's courageous and brilliant feminist deconstruction of her own fantasy masterwork. Tenar of the Ring, priestess-heroine of THE TOMBS OF ATUAN, has become a middle-aged farmer's widow, who abandoned both wordly fame and the promise of esoteric power for 'a man, children, life'. Those children grown, she adopts an abused girl, Therru, and later the responsibility of caring for the archmage Ged. Ged, having defeated a great evil which threatened all Earthsea, has returned from the lands of death, as related in THE FARTHEST SHORE, but has lost his magecraft and potentially his will to live. The course of the story reveals a shining destiny for burned Therru and the tender budding of a relationship between Tenar and Ged. While direct statements in TEHANU of the feminist agenda are a little heavyhanded, the gentle unfolding of the world of feminine experience through Tenar's activities is moving and perceptive: the ceaseless 'women's work', the harmony of feminine companionship, the joys and fears of motherhood and the bitter acknowledgement that women must always be conscious of 'doors locked' against the violence of men. The consummation of Tenar and Ged's relationship was for me the climax of the novel, and as powerful a landmark in Ged's journey towards self-knowledge as naming his own shadow in THE WIZARD OF EARTHSEA. The wizardly denial of sexuality, and of the worth of women, must end for Ged with the loss of his power, and he makes a halting progress to Tenar's side and to reclaiming the selfhood and masculine identity he believed poured away with his power. The 'Song of Ea' proclaims: 'In silence, the word...in death, life'. Le Guin adds now that only through acceptance of woman can man be found - and vice versa. Le Guin has always been a writer who challenges, who believes implicitly that one of fantasy's most vital functions is precisely that - to challenge. 'Tehanu' is the name of a star which Tenar, claiming the power of Naming hoarded by men throughout the earlier Earthsea novels, discovers to be also Therru's True Name. TEHANU is a bright beacon for modern fantastists prompting them to re-examine their motives for reading and writing fantasy - do we search out fantasy to liberate ourselves, to reveal truths about our real world, or is it a reactive, conservative, destructive urge all too often valorising patriarchal ethics system which exclude women and women's magic? TEHANU's conclusion is a little abrupt and unsatisfying, raising more questions than it answers: why do men fear women, why must power for one must be gained through disempowering others, would breaking the hegemony of mages be good for Earthsea, can two natures can exist in one body? Thankfully, THE OTHER WIND, the latest Earthsea novel, continues the mighty task Le Guin has set herself and begins answering some of those questions.
Rating:
Summary: Some shining moments.
Review: I've read the first four books of this series and overall am very impressed with the author's ability to have the reader "live" the charcters life almost without knowing one has been drawn in. This book though, like book two, The Tombs of Atuan, is one that has less magic and "historical" adventurous intensity than the others. That's o.k. if your flexable in your tastes. I agree with the disappointed reviewer that there are departures from what was to be expected given the previous book. Also, there are some more "modern" expressions that take the reader out of the antique setting and mood. Even given that it is an interesting "chapter" in the series. I came online to order the next book. Enjoy.
Rating:
Summary: More vague than the previous books, but still great
Review: In this book, Arha, Tenar, now known as Gohi, is living her life as a widow on the isle of gont when she is summoned to help a child in a nearby village. Badly burned and abused, the child is still living, and Gohi takes her in her care. As the story unfolds, we see the return of Ged's master, and Ged himself. Ged is in terrible shape, having lost his mage-powers. And worse still, a local mage has placed a curse upon Gohi. Not until the end is the final mystery unveiled. The only problems I had with this book was that it wasn't always right to the point. Still, the magic of this book kept me reading late until I finished it. I recommend this only if you've read the previous Earthsea books, otherwise it won't make a drop of sense.
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