Customer Reviews

The Other Wind

5 star:		(35)
4 star:		(18)
3 star:		(13)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Le Guin's latest addition to the Earthsea Cycle is truly a triumph. In the third book in this series, The Farthest Shore, Ged the Archmage sets out on a quest that ends in the restoration of the balance between life and death, the living and the dead... or so it seems. In the Other Wind, Le Guin portrays an unrestful land, where the dead start reaching over the wall that seperates them from the living. We are able to meet the characters from the other Earthsea books again, who have all matured and changed. In fact, Ged and Tenar are leading restful, almost ordinary lives at home. Some readers may find it unsettling to find their hero's lives so changed, and the land of Earthsea quivering on its foundations, but the conclusion of the novel brings together everything good about the books. With this final novel, Earthsea seems to be bound together again, unshakingly, although not without a few seperations... The song of the woman of Kemay presides, hauntingly, over the plotline of the book.

Farther west than west,
Beyond the land,
My people are dancing
On the other wind.

Have you ever read a book that was so well crafted that at the end of a chapter, instead of charging into the next one, you paused and reflected on what you have read? Have you ever read a book where you were at the edge of laughter and tears on the same page? You can.

Le Guin has taken the loose ends of her four earlier Earthsea novels and her recent collection of Earthsea short stories, combined those loose ends and your favorite characters from them with some serious thinking on the life and death, and created the finest Earthsea story to date.

Alder is a "mender," a repairer of broken pots, a mere sorcerer, one who should never see the low wall that only wizards know, the wall that separates the living from the dead. Yet the wall and the dead torment his sleep. The dead call to him, asking to be set free and, most shockingly of all, his dead wife has kissed him across the wall of stones, something unknown in the history of Earthsea. The Patterner, one of the eight great wizards of Roke, the wizard's isle, has sent Alder to Ged. And while Ged may have lost his power of wizardry and be done with doing, his heart goes out to the tormented young man. He counsels him, finds him a temporary solution to his nightmares, and sends him to Havnor, to the King Lebannen. For Ged thinks that Alder may herald a change for Earthsea, one even greater than those Ged wrought.

Alder meets other characters in his quest. Some are old friends of the reader: Tenar, from "The Tombs of Atuan" and "Tehanu;" Tehanu herself, who is somehow the daughter of Kalessin, the eldest dragon; Lebannen, the young king from "The Farthest Shore." Some are acquaintances from "Tales from Earthsea," most notably Irian, now Orm Irian. Others are new but no less wonderful: the young princess of the Kargish lands and, of course, Alder himself.

Le Guin takes these characters, let's them grow and age, shows us time's marks upon them, and brings them into Alder's life and Alder's quest. And as Alder's quest grows beyond himself, to involve the living and the dead, indeed all the souls of Earthsea, so does the book's sense of wonder. Until, like Ged, in the moment just before the climax of the story, we will smile a little because like him we like that pause, "that fearful pause, the moment before things change."

This is a masterly work, not just because of the clever use of characters or the wonderful plotting, but also because of the depth of the thinking that lies beyond and inside the story. It's about even more than life or death; it's also about the things we assume and take for granted because they have always been so, without ever asking if they are truly right. Alder's love for his dead wife has the power to change the world. What's no less wonderful is Le Guin's power to move the reader, to challenge and provoke us.

Read and savor this book. It's the best Earthsea story to date. It might even be the best Le Guin to date.

There is a quiet tenderness about this work--a stillness of spirit--that inspires both marvel and joy. After the plodding banality of Le Guin's previous novel "Tehanu", which all but ruined the world of Earthsea, this latest work is a resurrection.

One suspects that Le Guin wrote "Tehanu" as penance for making the first three books in the series so male-centric. The resulting novel straddled the worst of all worlds: combining insipid un-fantasy with a hectoring message that read like a sermon more than a work of speculative fiction. In "The Other Wind" she gets it right. This latest work contains themes similar to "Tehanu's", but they are shown rather than told, revealed rather than reproached. Le Guin also achieves a balance between the male and female perspectives that leaves one feeling enriched and not browbeaten. "The Other Wind" is an altogether nobler creature.

Le Guin's writing has always been in a class of its own, but here, it ages like fine wine. She writes with a poetic austerity that provokes affectionate admiration. Her characters live and move in three dimensions, and think and feel in a universe filled to overflowing with thinking and feeling.

This story is a philosophical reflection on life and death; not surprising since each book in the series was a similar reflection. But in this one, Le Guin resolves the open questions that she left unanswered in the previous works. I would have been perfectly happy with her leaving those questions unanswered--as incitements to thoughtful readers--but I am content that she has answered them, and in a way that is so complete and fulfilling, yet so totally consistent with the world of Earthsea. This work inspires metaphysical reflections, yet does not demand them. It can be read as a simple story of courage, compassion and resourcefulness, or as an existential allegory of Being and Nothingness. Indeed, it is both: the genius of the author resides in her ability to meld story and philosophy so flawlessly that the novel speaks to us on both the simple and the profound.

This is the kind of patient gentle writing that will appeal only to those in no hurry. Containing little of adventure or intrigue, it is the work of an author who is "done with doing" but, fortunately, not done with living or with writing.

There are quibbles. As a stand-alone novel, it is confusing and too dependent on the reader's familiarity with the preceding works, and the prose is sometimes so austere that it hazards obscurity. But such blemishes are niggling. The novel as a whole is a mature piece of art--a gentle work of the soul that embodies a lifetime of reflection on what it means to live, to create, to face death and to touch those whom we cherish.

Upon reading "Tales From Earthsea", I was, like many others, confused and distraught that Le Guin was changing the very heart of the world of Earthsea that we had loved for the last couple decades. But did that stop me from going to hear the author at a reading in Pasadena, CA, and eagerly purchasing the new book? Of course not! -- and well it didn't, for Le Guin has saved the best for last, and skillfully proven that "Tales" was a necessary addition to the Earthsea mythology.

First off, please, read the first four books before "The Other Wind". It will save much confusion. Next, as Le Guin said herself, the book doesn't have very many natural breaking points, so set aside a weekend to plow through the entire book, letting the tension in the book hit you deeply and quickly.

Le Guin's writing here seems effortless. The words are beautiful to read, silently or out loud. Her characters, from Ged (who is not the only central character), to Lebannen (a surprisingly honest look at a king), to Tenar (you can feel this woman's pain!), and all the rest are believable characters, though each would have been better served by a novel twice this long. But that's just the thing: Le Guin expertly chooses what to tell and what not to tell: the story moves along even with a relatively large cast of characters. And the story is wonderful, fulfilling the hopes of every ready who has spent countless hours in Earthsea.

This book is highly recommended, for anyone who loves mythology, who loves epic literature, or who simply wants a good read for a weekend. Enjoy!

This latest Earthsea book is absolutely gorgeous, combining the trappings of heroic fantasy at their best with a philosophy that is simple yet utterly profound. Le Guin introduces some new, appealing characters, and characters from the earlier books appear and continue their development. As in earlier books, the truly frightening land of the dead presents the problem here. It turns out that the progress of souls to this barren, walled place is not inevitable... but I don't want to spoil the story. Le Guin's use of images reminiscent of those of the dead in the Epic of Gilgamesh is chillingly well done. Of course, dragons, and their true identities, are also central to the plot.

If the book has a flaw, it's that the climax passes a little quickly. I could have done with more tension, a longer sequence of climactic events, more description of the resolution and, overall, a longer book. Overall, though, this is very well crafted and serves as a refreshing example of an elderly author who has utterly avoided the repetitiveness and loss of vision of Old Author Disease.

Let me get this out of the way first: the original Earthsea Trilogy is one LeGuin's great achievements, entirely on par with her best books for "mature" readers from throughout her long career.
However, I was extremely disappointed in "Tehanu", in which I felt LeGuin had lost her feel for Earthsea. The short stories in "Tales of Earthsea" represented a fine return to form, and the new novel continues in that vein. As others have said, it's a treat to again meet characters from the previous books, especially Ged/Sparrowhawk as an old man whose Gontish neighbors call him Hawk. I couldn't put this book down: it should delight any Earthsea fan.
But I still don't think it's up to the level of the first three books, and it's not essential reading, as they definitely are. It's very good, and hardcore Earthsea fans will surely enjoy it... but I wouldn't recommend it unconditionally for EVERYONE, as I do "A Wizard of Earthsea".
Well done, Ursula!

Like all of Ursula LeGuin's novels--and especially her Earthsea series, which Amazon justly calls one of the two great fantasy series of the twentieth century (along with The Lord of the Rings)--this wonderful short novel is about something far more than the magic wielded by her characters or the dragons who fly on that other wind. Like all of the Earthsea stories (which include five novels and a collection of novellas), this book appears to be about Ged, the archmage who is known by his common name, Sparrowhawk; yet like all but the first, this book is actually focused on the journey of another character entirely. Alder, a simple village spellcaster, has lost his beloved wife. In his grief and against his will, he has found himself searching for her across the wall that marks the boundry between the living and the dead--the wall that only wizards can cross. In his struggles to come to peace, he journeys to Ged, as do Tehanu, a scarred young woman, and Tenar, the one-time priestess whom Ged rescued long ago and who has been attempting to live happily ever after. Also along for the ride is Lebannen, the young king, who is attempting to live up to the promise of his long-prophesied assumption of the throne. There are small moments of beauty and great moments of the sublime. Throughout, LeGuin explores the human fascination with and fear of death; she holds it up and looks at its different facets in the light like an archeologist studying the various sides of an ancient amulet.

This is not, I think, a young person's novel--the first three Earthsea books fill that niche brilliantly. Nor is it a good place to enter the series, not because the book itself lack in anything, but without the previous volumes, it is difficult to appreciate the richness of the world this modern master novelist has created. Most speculative fiction lives and dies on it's explorations of the motifs of the genre. LeGuin's best novels--and this is one of them--stand on their own as works of literary art and explorations of the human condition.

This is now the 'The Last Book of Earthsea', not Tehanu as Le Guin earlier predicted. I've read all of the other books and am currently reading 'Tales of Earthsea' right now. This is a thinking man's finish to the series, which is one of the best collections of fantasy out there.

A mage named Alder suffers from dreams that deal with the dead. Without giving the plot away, I'll say that his dreams point to a greater problem facing Earthsea and all it's inhabitants. The Hardic people, Kargs, and dragons are all being affected and are thus forced to confront this problem.

Alder, Tehanu, The King (Lebannen), wizards, and others all meet to deal with this. Ged and Tenar have a lesser role, but still fill a lot of this book with their presence. Ged hasn't changed much since we last saw him. He and Tenar live a simple life on Gont, with Tehanu still with them.

The climax of the book shows the resolution of this problem involving the dead, and to a large extent dragons. I won't give it away, but will say it's an appropriate ending.

I wish this book had been a bit longer. It's a great read, but will probably leave those craving action a bit disappointed. This series is outstanding and recommended to all fans of fantasy.

If you've read all the previous Earthsea books, this one is worth getting just to see all the loose ends of the series neatly tied up. We finally straighten out the historical relationships between the Kargs, the dragons, and the people of the Archipelago. I liked knowing what happens to all my favorite characters- like getting postcards from old friends.

I wish I could give the book full marks, but there were a couple of big problems I had with it. The first half was good, but after that everything that happened was completely inevitable. Predictable. Second, after maintaining a pretty consistent view of the afterlife (in the Archipelago, anyway) in the first several books, LeGuin's turnaround in this book felt like she'd regretted the rather grim afterlife portrayed in the first several books and was trying to *fix* things. It didn't ring true.

So it's not her best work, but it's still a good read and if you like the Earthsea books you'll want to read this one too.

It has been a hiatus of some 20 years since I last read the first three volumes in this series. I loved them very dearly, but somehow was distracted when 'Tehanu' and 'Tales from Earthsea' came out, and I simply was never aware of them. For me, 'The Other Wind' is a sudden appearance, and one that I approached with no small pleasure. Now I find that the long wait was justified. Le Guin's latest effort is a remarkable experience.

Alder, a sorcerer whose skill is mending, is deeply troubled by dreams of the dead. Nightmares about his newly lost wife and others struggling to be free. These dreams drive him to the wizards at Roke, who in turn send Alder on to Ged, once the Archmage of Earthsea, now powerless, but happy. Ged recognizes that Alder's dreams are the truth, that something momentous is happening at the wall which borders the dry kingdom of the dead. He sends Alder on to Havnor from where Lebannen rules the kingdom.

Lebannen is deeply troubled by Alder's report. Nor is that his only problem. Seserakh, daughter of the Kargish king has been offered to him for wife, and Lebannen resents this manipulation. In addition dragons at the edge of his kingdom are beginning to terrorize and attack the populace, breaking a longstanding truce. Nor is he happy that Tenar, Ged's wife, has taken Seserakh's side. Tehanu, adopted by Ged and Tenar, badly disfigured by fire as a child, is his only link to the dragons. Kalessin, the eldest dragon has recognized her as his daughter.

When Lebannen, Tehanu, and Onyx of Roke confront the dragons about their actions they discover little, and much. The dragons agree to a temporary truce, and bronze Irian, another of Kalessin's children, consents to come to Havnor to parley. There in the councils of Havnor Irian tells the dragons' story and the forgotten legends of many of the Earthsea folk are recalled. In some fashion, the human quest for eternal life has broken both the agreement between dragon and human and the heart of the world. All must go to Roke to find the answer in the immanent grove and heal the damage.

For a thin book, 'The Other Wind' has an incredible richness of themes. Life after death, sacrifice, courage, the varieties of love, redemption, and many others weave together time and again. There are no villains in this story, where much of the action takes place in the heart and the mind. Nor is there violence. Just questions, and answers, and questions again. Le Guin has an almost zen-like ability to use just enough writing to serve her purpose, and trusts us to fill in the rest ourselves. She has also made me homesick for the first tales in this series, to be once again beguiled by dragons and wizards.