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The Tombs of Atuan : The Earthsea Cycle

The Tombs of Atuan : The Earthsea Cycle

List Price: $6.99
Your Price: $6.29
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 3 stars
Summary: A good read
Review: I haven't read any of the other books in the earth sea trilogy but i did enjoy this book! I thought it to be quite good at the beginning but towards the end where it should have been more exiting it was not. This was a good read but from what i've heard the other books in the series are much better.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Superb sequel
Review: An amazing sequel to Wizard Of Earthsea. However this book is admittedly hard to get into, but once you do, it is unputdownable. It is interesting to see the focus off Ged and the main character Tenar is brilliantly drawn, brave, fiery yet often scared and naive. the plot is deep and involving and the chemistry in Ged and Tenars (platonic) relationship is astounding.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Probably the best of the series,
Review: but that's not saying much. Of course this series isn't Tolkien caliber, because there's no such thing as Tolkien caliber. The Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion are in a class by themselves. The Earthsea series reminds me more of the Riddle of Stars by Patricia McKillip, but it isn't as good as that.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Worst of Ursula's books.
Review: This is, without a doubt, one of the top 10 boring books of fantasy.

Nothing happens, or at least, nothing that that makes me feel it's worth caring about.

The main character of the first and third books of this series becomes a supporting character who effectively makes a cameo appearance quite a ways into the book. The new heroine and her trials, such as they are, fail to inspire. She, as a character, is so trite and underdeveloped that it seems pointless to even tell her story.

I had to force my way through the book, mostly because I didn't want to miss out on anything important before the third book (The Farthest Shore). However, nothing important (to the third book, anyway) happened.

Ok, so something important does happen, but we don't get to see it come to fruition, as the third book begins long after the main character has dealt with and received the benefits of the windfall received in this book.

The best thing I have to say for the Tombs of Atuan is that it was a billion times better than the fourth book, Tehanu: Last Book of Earthsea (the single worst book of Fantasy ever).

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Beautiful new twist to a classic series
Review: Of course I liked Ged in the Wizard of Earthsea, but Tenar was a new and exciting way for the books to continue. Even though the beginning had no shouting fights with dragons or shadow-beasts slaying wizards, its setting, and everyday events as Priestess of the tombs were interesting. It was another mystery (only showing how it connects to Ged and Earthsea at the end), but a more solomn and deeper one this time.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Too strange for my traditional fantasy likings
Review: I thought that this book was great, the only let-down was the minimal magic usings and mainly featuring Arha, who for me, was not nearly as fun to read about as the bright spirited Ged, Vetch or the other super-interesting characters from book one. Don't get me wrong though, I loved this book!!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Finding yourself in the labyrinth
Review: This book, along with Wizard of Earthsea, rate at the top of my fantasy reading list. While geared for young readers, there is much about life that adults can relate to in Le Guin's writing. While not as overwhelming or epic as Tolkien, Le Guin possesses a genius all her own. Though a small book, it is dense with ideas and allegories for the spiritual challenges that face every human.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Passage through darkness.
Review: Of course I liked The Tombs of Atuan. It is well-constructed and beautifully styled fantasy, comparable to the works of Susan Cooper and Patricia McKillip. (No, Tolkien is in a class by himself.)

Le Guin's Earthsea books are all excellent, but some people feel that The Tombs of Atuan is slow to start, and less eventful than the other three. My opinion, for what it's worth, is quite the opposite. The introspective beginning of Tombs is not unlike the beginning of Wizard, focussing closely on a single character, that character's uniqueness, and the way that character is shaped by life. The reader approaches the threshold of adventure with the protagonist; the reader, too, is drawn into the struggle, shares bewilderment, doubt, and uncertainty; and the reader, too, has made a passage by the end of the book.

Too much of modern fantasy is all long journeys, heated battles, unquestionably terrible villains -- and swordplay, of course. Le Guin recognizes that moral ambiguity creates the greatest obstacle a character can confront...and that if the question is worthwhile, the answer is neither easy nor painless.

Tenar is a strong heroine and I would especially recommend this book for teenage girls, whose plight is sometimes not unlike that of the Eaten One; however, as all the best books are, this is a story which is based on human character and thus speaks to both sexes and all ages.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Setting each other free.
Review: This short fantasy novel, originally written for juveniles (probably ages 10 and up), is the sequel to "A Wizard of Earthsea" (the other two novels in the tetralogy are "The Farthest Shore" and "Tehanu: The Last Book of Earthsea"). It was a 1972 Newbery Honor Book (i.e., a runner-up to the Medal winner) for best contribution to American children's literature. A six-year-old girl, Tenar, is taken from her family and raised to be the head priestess of a sect that has grown old and decrepid. She grows up lonely and intuitively recognizes that she is really a prisoner of the cult she ostensibly heads. The wizard Ged comes searching for a treasure hidden in the labyrinth beneath the tombs on the cults grounds. She traps him in the labyrinth but the two of them set each other free. In addition, the reader learns once again the power of words.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Not as good as book one
Review: I stumbled across A Wizard of Earthsea a few weeks ago--though I had to, embarrassingly, check it out from the Youth section of my local library--and have written an Amazon review under that very title. What impressed me about the first book was how accomplished it seemed in so few pages. Indeed, like the Hobbit, it seemed unfair to even categorize it as children's literature. Yes, young teens could enjoy it, but so could adults. The Tombs of Atuan, however, seems more like juvenile fare. If I were 12, I'd give Tombs 5 stars; at the age of 27, however, I was only mildly entertained. There are points to praise, though. It's refreshing to see a female heroine in fantasy (something that, in a male-dominated genre, is quite rare). It's also nice to see Ged--as an earlier review mentioned--appear as a secondary character. Since most readers would have read A Wizard of Earthsea BEFORE The Tombs of Atuan, there's a certain sort of depth to be seen when reading along; Tenar may not know Ged very well, but we the readers do, and we delight in those scenes between Tenar and Ged down in the labyrinth. We know Ged's past and know him for more than simply a supporting actor.

In short, this is a novel that begs to be much, much longer. But true to form, as a children's book, it simply skims the surface, offering a fast dazzle that leaves both book lovers and fantasy lovers wishing there were more.


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