Tales from Earthsea (The Earthsea Cycle, Book 5) [Hardcover]

Ursula K. Le Guin (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 4, 2001

The tales of this book, as Ursula K. Le Guin writes in her introduction, explore or extend the world established by her first four Earthsea novels. Yet each stands on its own.

"The Finder," a novella set a few hundred years before A Wizard of Earthsea, presents a dark and troubled Archipelago and shows how some of its customs and institutions came to be. "The Bones of the Earth" features the wizards who taught the wizard who first taught Ged and demonstrates how humility, if great enough, can contend with an earthquake. "Darkrose and Diamond" is a delightful story of young courtship showing that wizards sometimes pursue alternative careers. "On the High Marsh" tells of the love of power-and of the power of love. "Dragonfly" shows how a determined woman can break the glass ceiling of male magedom.

Concluding with an account of Earthsea's history, people, languages, literature, and magic, this collection also features two new maps of Earthsea.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Winner of five Nebula and five Hugo Awards, the National Book Award, the Newbery, and many other awards, Ursula K. Le Guin is one of the finest authors ever to write science fiction and fantasy. Her greatest creation may be the powerful, beautifully written, and deeply imagined Earthsea Cycle, which inhabits the rarified air at the pinnacle of modern fantasy with J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings trilogy and Jane Yolen's Chronicles of Great Alta. The books of the Earthsea Cycle are A Wizard of Earthsea (1968), The Tombs of Atuan (1971), The Farthest Shore (1972), the Nebula-winning Tehanu (1990), and now, Tales of Earthsea (2001).

If you have never read an Earthsea book, this collection isn't the place to start, as the author points out in her thoughtful foreword; begin with A Wizard of Earthsea. If you insist on starting with Tales of Earthsea, read the foreword and the appended "Description of Earthsea" before proceeding to the five stories (three of which are original to this book).

The opening story, "The Finder," occupies a third of the volume and has the strength and insight of a novel. This novella describes the youth of Otter, a powerful but half-trained sorcerer, and reveals how Otter came to an isle that cannot be found, and played a role in the founding of the great Roke School. "Darkrose and Diamond" tells of two lovers who would turn their backs on magic. In "The Bones of the Earth," an aging wizard and his distant pupil must somehow join forces to oppose an earthquake. Ged, the Archmage of Earthsea, appears in "On the High Marsh" to find the mad and dangerous mage he had driven from Roke Island. And in "Dragonfly," the closing story, a mysterious woman comes to the Roke School to challenge the rule that only men may be mages. "Dragonfly" takes place a few years after Tehanu and is the bridge between that novel and the next novel, The Other Wind (fall 2001). --Cynthia Ward

From Publishers Weekly

In this stellar collection, which includes a number of original stories, Le Guin (The Telling; Four Ways to Forgiveness; etc.) makes a triumphant return to the magic-drenched world of Earthsea. The opening novella, The Finder, set some 300 years before the birth of Ged, the hero of A Wizard of Earthsea (1968), details both the origin of the school for wizards on Roke Island and the long-suppressed role that women and women's magic played in the founding of that institution. "The Bones of the Earth" describes Ogion, Ged's first great teacher, when he was a young man, centering on that wizard's loving relationship with his own mentor. "Darkrose and Diamond" is also a love story of sorts, about a young man who'd rather be a musician than a mage and the witch girl he loves. "On the High Marsh," the only story in which Ged himself appears, albeit in a secondary role, is a touching tale of madness and redemption. Finally, in the novella Dragonfly, a tale set immediately after the events related in her Nebula Award-winning novel Tehanu (1990), Le Guin tells the story of a young girl who chooses to defy the ban on female mages, tries to enroll in the school on Roke Island and, in doing so, initiates great changes to the world of Earthsea. In her seventies, Le Guin is still at the height of her powers, a superb stylist with a knack for creating characters who are both wise and deeply humane. The publication of this collection is a major event in fantasy literature. (May) FYI: In addition to five Hugo and five Nebula awards, Le Guin has won the Kafka Award, a Pushcart Prize and the Harold D. Vursell Memorial Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters.
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt; 1st edition (May 4, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0151005613
• ISBN-13: 978-0151005611
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.2 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (57 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,452,566 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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43 of 46 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Uncommodified Fantasy, May 28, 2001

By 

James D. DeWitt "Alaska Fan" (Fairbanks, AK United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Tales from Earthsea (The Earthsea Cycle, Book 5) (Hardcover)

In the 1970's, Ursula K. LeGuin took the fantasy and science fiction world by storm, bringing a genuinely literate voice and a deep knowledge of sociology and psychology to what was largely a man's genre. Her finest fantasy was "The Earthsea Trilogy," comprised of "A Wizard of Earthsea," "The Tombs of Atuan" and "The Farthest Shore." They are marvelous stories, and they hint at other, older stories and myths. In many ways, the world of Earthsea is as deeply conceived as any in fantasy.

In "Tehanu," a later book of Earthsea, she told us of some of the events that followed the events of "The Farthest Shore," and delved deeper into the mystery of dragons and the relationship between dragons and men. From the simple creatures fought by Sparrowhawk in "Wizard of Earthsea," they are revealed as increasingly complex and more interesting creatures by the end of "Tehanu."

In "Tales from Earthsea," LeGuin develops other themes and characters from the past and present of Earthsea. The tales are evocative, resonant and at once mythological and personal in tone. The reader will have an image of a LeGuin, with a larger volume in her lap, telling you the stories that catch her eye. You will sense there are many, many more stories to be told.

Readers new to Earthsea might do best by reading the books in order. While it's not required, you won't thoroughly understand the references to the Ring of Erreth-Akbe unless you have read the earlier books. The last short story, "Dragonfly," may bewilder you unless you have read "Tehanu."

At the end of the stories, there is a summary of the peoples, languages and history of Earthsea, modelled loosely on the famous Appendices to "The Lord of the Rings." I suppose the history consists of the stories that will never be told as novels or short stories, which is really too bad. The dry narrative of Erreth-Akbe, the greatest of Earthsea's heros, would have made a wonderful tale.

I was struck by LeGuin's subtle touches. The small cabin that was the summer home of Otter in the first tale, when the school of wizardry at Roke was founded, becomes the temporary home of Irian in the last story, which is set immediately following "The Farthest Shore." Roke Knoll, which always reveals things to be what they truly are, plays a role in the first and last tales, too.

In her delightful foreword, LeGuin warns us, "Authors and wizards are not always to be trusted: nobody can explain a dragon." Perhaps, but you can always trust LeGuin to entertain and enrich a thoughtful reader. And if anyone can satisfactorily explain a dragon, it will be LeGuin.

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Enjoyable and yet compelling., February 17, 2002

By 

Kurt A. Johnson (North-Central Illinois, USA) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Tales from Earthsea (The Earthsea Cycle, Book 5) (Hardcover)

This book is a collection of five short stories that Ursula Le Guin wrote about her world, Earthsea. "The Finder" is the earliest set story, showing the founding of the wizard community on Roke. "Darkrose and Diamond" that could have happened just about anywhere during the Earthsea books, and it is a tale of the love of magic, and the magic of love. "The Bones of the Earth" tells how Ogion (Ged's master) stopped an earthquake. "On the High Marsh" tells of Ged and Irioth, who nearly overthrew the wizards of Roke. And finally, "Dragonfly" tells of Irian, who featured so large in The Other Wind, and her confrontation with Thorion, the Summoner who summoned himself back from death.

I really enjoyed these stories. As with so much of Ursula Le Guin's writings, they are enjoyable and yet compelling. In particular, though, I am sorry that I read this book after The Other Wind. The last two stories are actually referenced in that book, and it would have been nice to read them before that book. Therefore, let me recommend this book to you, and furthermore recommend that you read it *before* The Other Wind.

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An armchair tour of Earthsea, April 18, 2001

By 

dampscribbler (Portland, OR USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Tales from Earthsea (The Earthsea Cycle, Book 5) (Hardcover)

LeGuin revisits Earthsea in this collection of five stories, each of which occurs at a different time and place in the world of Earthsea. The reader thus becomes more acquainted with the geography of the place, and comes to learn about the history of this magical realm. The book also includes 30 pages of "A Description of Earthsea," including Peoples and Languages, History, and Magic.

The first story in this book, "The Finder," describes the conditions under which the school on Roke developed. Other stories reveal trials and journies of various sorcerers through Earthsea's history. Each of the five stories is about heroism and humanity in a world that is both different than and very like our own. The stories engaged my imagination from teh beginning, and I immediately loved (most of) the characters I met. LeGuin's ability to draw sympathetic characters in situations that the reader can relate to just gets better as the years go on.

I was excited to discover that the endpapers of the book display a map of Earthsea drawn by the author. I have wanted a map of the area for years, and I know that I will use this map when I re-read the earlier novels.

And this book reveals news that will be welcome to all lovers of Earthsea: yet another novel is due out this Fall!