Science Fiction Books
The Earthsea Trilogy
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Manufacturer: Houghton Mifflin
Author: Ursula K. Le Guin
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
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Our Price:
You Save: $ ( % )
Manufacturer: Houghton Mifflin
Author: Ursula K. Le Guin
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Average Customer Rating:
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The Earthsea Trilogy Description
Binding: Hardcover
EAN: 9780739452714
ISBN: 0739452711
Label: Houghton Mifflin
Manufacturer: Houghton Mifflin
Book Pages: 422
Publication Date: 2005
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Studio: Houghton Mifflin
EAN: 9780739452714
ISBN: 0739452711
Label: Houghton Mifflin
Manufacturer: Houghton Mifflin
Book Pages: 422
Publication Date: 2005
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Studio: Houghton Mifflin
Editorial Review of The Earthsea Trilogy
Exclusive 3-in-1 harcover book. Includes A WIZARD OF EARTHSEA: The windswept isles of Earthsea were famous for wizards, and the greatest of all was Ged, called Sparrowhawk in his reckless youth. Hungry for power and knowledge, Sparrowhawk tampered with long-held secrets and loosed a terrible shadow upon the world. This is the tale of his testing, how he mastered the mighty words of power, tamed an ancient dragon and crossed deaths threshold to restore the balance.
THE TOMBS OF ATUAN: Chosen to serve the Ancient and Nameless Powers of the Earth, Tenar is taken away from her home and family to become Arha, the Priestess Ever Reborn, guardian of the ominous Tombs of Atuan. While learning her way through the gloomy Labyrinth that is her domain, she encounters Ged, a wizard come to steal the Tombs greatest treasure. But Ged also brings with him the light of magic, a light as forbidden in the Tombs as wizards are in the Kargad Lands....
THE FARTHEST SHORE: Ill-tidings have arrived on the Isle of the Wise: The springs of wizardry are drying up. Driven to seek the source of the trouble, Archmage Ged embarks on a perilous journey with the boy-prince, Arren. Their travels take them to a land cursed with a strange soul sickness, to an encounter with Orm Embar, the greatest of the worlds dragons, and into the realm of death itself. For if the balance of magic is not restored, darkness will overtake the world. Jacket art by Leo and Diane Dillon. (422 pp.)
Customer Reviews of The Earthsea Trilogy
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: classic adult fantasy
Review: Ursula LeGuin is as talented a writer as one could hope to find. She has a deft hand at science fiction and fantasy, but she also layers her work with adult themes of self-discovery and personal evolution, relationship to self and to others, isolation vs. connection, and cross-cultural communication and understanding. In the most thoughtful, interesting, and entertaining ways, she plays with race, gender, age, etc. as social constructs, creating critiques of real-world countries and cultures in the process. But none of this comes off as pedantic or condescending - just fascinating, and sometimes heartbreaking and tragic. In these ways, Ms. LeGuin transcends the genres she writes in.
If the Chronicles of Narnia are the quintessential children's fantasy series, the Lord of the Rings the quintessential contemporary heroic fantasy series, and Harry Potter the quintessential populist fantasy series, then the Earthsea Trilogy is the quintessential adult fantasy series. For maximum enjoyment, you will have to work a bit as you read - moreso than with LOTR. Enjoy the sparse, concise language, the atmospheres packed with meaning both explicit and ethereal, the things she *doesn't* say. Savor the books slowly. Jump backwards and re-read parts that gain more portent the more you progress.
The Earthsea Trilogy isn't beyond the young adult reader, but older readers will appreciate it too - and glean more from it. When you are done with Earthsea, don't stop. Get the fourth book in the series written years later, "Tehanu." Find "The Winds Twelve Quarters" and "The Compass Rose" (short story collections) at a used bookstore/ web site. Read "The Left Hand of Darkness."
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Utterly Consuming
Review: I first head of LeGuin after I was introduced to the animated movie being done by Ghibli studios. Being a huge fan, I decided to sit down and read her works before watching the movie (which is a totally different story). The Earthsea Trilogy is easily one of the best fantasy works out there. I've personally never been much of a fantasy fan, but this book intrigues me like no other. I loved the way that LeGuin went through the story and it was not your typical "good guys fight bad guys" theme. It took it some time to pick up really, but at half way through the book I could not stop reading. She really had me thinking throughout the entirety of the book. Overall, I recommend it to anyone who is a fan of fantasy, it's a nice break from the usual stuff.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Long enjoyed, still wonderful!
Review: This is some of the greatest fiction of all time, let alone science fiction or fantasy. These are fun and exciting tales! Full of mystery and things that get you thinking, they grip the imagination. These are also tales that resonate in deep places, quietly. They can be transformative. They are about courage, values, and new ways of viewing. Perhaps to be most experienced, you must bring something of yourself to them as well? This would be true of most things, I suppose.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Drab and confusing.
Review: I saw a bit of the tv series and bought the trilogy as the book is almost always better and more detailed. The book dribbled along with not making much sense, dark and dreary throughout, with no feeling of triumph in the resolution. If I want to be depressed, I can watch the evening news.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Some of the best fantasy written.
Review: I can't vouch for the 3-in-1 format of this version, I own the books separately and like them that way, but the content is fabulous. LeGuin creates a compelling, mythic world that is richly layered with wisdom and significance. These are books that you can reread again and again, getting more out of them each time and enjoying them anew. And as if the wonderful storytelling on multiple levels for the first three books wasn't enough, LeGuin comes back to Earthsea and provides an even more intelligent (and a deeper, more feminist & humanist) interpretation of her world in the next three books with only increasing skill as a writer and storyteller.
Review Summary: classic adult fantasy
Review: Ursula LeGuin is as talented a writer as one could hope to find. She has a deft hand at science fiction and fantasy, but she also layers her work with adult themes of self-discovery and personal evolution, relationship to self and to others, isolation vs. connection, and cross-cultural communication and understanding. In the most thoughtful, interesting, and entertaining ways, she plays with race, gender, age, etc. as social constructs, creating critiques of real-world countries and cultures in the process. But none of this comes off as pedantic or condescending - just fascinating, and sometimes heartbreaking and tragic. In these ways, Ms. LeGuin transcends the genres she writes in.
If the Chronicles of Narnia are the quintessential children's fantasy series, the Lord of the Rings the quintessential contemporary heroic fantasy series, and Harry Potter the quintessential populist fantasy series, then the Earthsea Trilogy is the quintessential adult fantasy series. For maximum enjoyment, you will have to work a bit as you read - moreso than with LOTR. Enjoy the sparse, concise language, the atmospheres packed with meaning both explicit and ethereal, the things she *doesn't* say. Savor the books slowly. Jump backwards and re-read parts that gain more portent the more you progress.
The Earthsea Trilogy isn't beyond the young adult reader, but older readers will appreciate it too - and glean more from it. When you are done with Earthsea, don't stop. Get the fourth book in the series written years later, "Tehanu." Find "The Winds Twelve Quarters" and "The Compass Rose" (short story collections) at a used bookstore/ web site. Read "The Left Hand of Darkness."
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Utterly Consuming
Review: I first head of LeGuin after I was introduced to the animated movie being done by Ghibli studios. Being a huge fan, I decided to sit down and read her works before watching the movie (which is a totally different story). The Earthsea Trilogy is easily one of the best fantasy works out there. I've personally never been much of a fantasy fan, but this book intrigues me like no other. I loved the way that LeGuin went through the story and it was not your typical "good guys fight bad guys" theme. It took it some time to pick up really, but at half way through the book I could not stop reading. She really had me thinking throughout the entirety of the book. Overall, I recommend it to anyone who is a fan of fantasy, it's a nice break from the usual stuff.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Long enjoyed, still wonderful!
Review: This is some of the greatest fiction of all time, let alone science fiction or fantasy. These are fun and exciting tales! Full of mystery and things that get you thinking, they grip the imagination. These are also tales that resonate in deep places, quietly. They can be transformative. They are about courage, values, and new ways of viewing. Perhaps to be most experienced, you must bring something of yourself to them as well? This would be true of most things, I suppose.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Drab and confusing.
Review: I saw a bit of the tv series and bought the trilogy as the book is almost always better and more detailed. The book dribbled along with not making much sense, dark and dreary throughout, with no feeling of triumph in the resolution. If I want to be depressed, I can watch the evening news.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Some of the best fantasy written.
Review: I can't vouch for the 3-in-1 format of this version, I own the books separately and like them that way, but the content is fabulous. LeGuin creates a compelling, mythic world that is richly layered with wisdom and significance. These are books that you can reread again and again, getting more out of them each time and enjoying them anew. And as if the wonderful storytelling on multiple levels for the first three books wasn't enough, LeGuin comes back to Earthsea and provides an even more intelligent (and a deeper, more feminist & humanist) interpretation of her world in the next three books with only increasing skill as a writer and storyteller.