The Farthest Shore

Book Title: The Farthest Shore

Author: Ursula Le Guin

Series: The Earthsea Cycle #3

Date Started: July 24th 2022

Date Completed: August 17th 2022

Genres: Fantasy, Adventure, 

Quality Rating: Five Stars

Enjoyment Rating: Four Star

Final Rating: Four Stars

Review:

These books are just magic. Ursula Le Guin is suitably lourded and regarded, yet it seems like no one reads them these days. This series is such a moving, thoughtful and boundlessly imaginative creation of a fantasy world, so vivdly realised and explored. And one word, for this one in particular: dragons.

This is pure, classical adventure at its best: a quest that travels our heroes across many a land and sea, encountering strife, evil and beauty until they reach the last place any can go. It echoes Homer, Tolkien, C. S. Lewis and others, but it is intrinsically original.

The Farthest Shore is probably the story I'm most familiar with in the series before reading, as many aspects seem to have been the foundation for the Ghibli adaptation. Goro Miyazaki's films pulls from several of the books in the series but the heroic figure of Aren, the evil Cob, and much of the travelling and exploration of cities seems to be lifted directly from this novel. That didn't make reading it any less enjoyable; I couldn't help but picture many things as they were in the animation, but my imagination could ran rampant at the points that remained only on the page.

What makes these novels most memorable and distinguishable, I think, is Ged. The wise archmage at the centre of its tales, though whose story is often explored through other protagonist's journies. I rarely feel like I relate to fictional characters but, somehow, Ged feels familiar to me in a way many characters don't.

Le Guin's afterword is especially poignant, and I recommend reading it; learning about how thought processes enriches the world massively. I've been reading from the massive illustrated omnibus version (Charles Vess' illustrations are absolutely wonderous) so the afterword might be specific to that edition, but having recently listened to a collection of Le Guin's non-fiction writings, her thoughts are always interesting and enriching to an understanding of her stories.