Product Description

Five stories of Ursula K. Le Guin's world-renowned realm of Earthsea are collected in one volume. Featuring two classic stories, two original tales, and a brand-new novella, as well as new maps and a special essay on Earthsea's history, languages, literature, and magic.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #34108 in Books
• Published on: 2003-10-28
• Released on: 2003-10-28
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 304 pages

Amazon.com
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.

From Library Journal
Le Guin's latest work opens with "The Finder," which takes readers back into the past of the author's imaginary universe to relate the founding of a school of magic on Roke Island and the story of a young wizard who became a legend. This story of the early history of Earthsea is followed by four other tales (two of which have appeared in other publications) and an essay on the history and culture of her archipelago world. While best appreciated in conjunction with Le Guin's previous Earthsea tales (A Wizard of Earthsea, The Tombs of Atuan, The Farthest Shore, and Tehanu), this volume not only stands alone but also serves as an introduction to new readers. Strong work from a master storyteller; highly recommended.
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Customer Reviews

Not Free SF Reader
"AT THE END OF THE fourth book of Earthsea, Tehanu, the story had arrived at what I felt to be now. And, just as in the now of the so-called real world, I didn't know what would happen next. I could guess, foretell, fear, hope, but I didn't know. Unable to continue Tehanu's story (because it hadn't happened yet) and foolishly assuming that the story of Ged and Tenar had reached its happily-ever-after, I gave the book a subtitle: "The Last Book of Earthsea." O foolish writer. Now moves. Even in storytime, dreamtime, once-upon-a time, now isn't then. Seven or eight years after Tehanu was published, I was asked to write a story set in Earthsea. A mere glimpse at the place told me that things had been happening there while I wasn't looking. It was high time to go back and find out what was going on now."

She goes on to detail some time periods in which these stories are set (including Ged's). Some of this is written because people want more Earthsea stories, but comes out pretty reasonably, at 3.50.

A not quite 3.75 book.

Tales from Earthsea : The Finder - Ursula K. Le Guin
Tales from Earthsea : Darkrose and Diamond - Ursula K. Le Guin
Tales from Earthsea : The Bones of the Earth - Ursula K. Le Guin
Tales from Earthsea : On the High Marsh - Ursula K. Le Guin
Tales from Earthsea : Dragonfly - Ursula K. Le Guin


Otter go to Roke, or:
"Tern's nose into a book till he could read it. "Illiterate wizards are the curse of Earthsea!" he cried. "Ignorant power is a bane!"

3 out of 5


I'll be scr3wing, you wizard, and the rock and roll lifestyle is enough magic for me.

4 out of 5


Local mastery.

4 out of 5


Of cows and mages.

3.5 out of 5


Archmage political conflict.

3 out of 5




3.5 out of 5

Excellent short story/novella collection
"Tales from Earthsea" verifies why Ursula K. LeGuin is one of the best writers around -- of fantasy, science fiction, or any genre.

Simply put, it has wonderful stories that ring true, yet have mythical elements -- the people are fully real, with faults, and make mistakes, yet do remarkable, visionary things in various ways -- from the quotidian to the sublime.

This book has three new stories and two reprints; the reprints ("Darkrose and Diamond" and "Dragonfly") are very good stories, and I enjoyed re-reading them very much. The first is a romance; even people who've never read an Earthsea novel will understand it. The second is about gifts denied, and powers lost -- along with love, redeemed in a rather unusual way. (Love in Ms. LeGuin's books or stories is almost always understated. The overt romance of "Darkrose and Diamond" is rare, but very welcome.) I'm not sure the latter story will be much understood without reading the first three books of the Earthsea trilogy, but you don't necessarily need to read "Tehanu" (the fourth book of Earthsea, inaccurately titled "The Last Book of Earthsea," as Ms. LeGuin wryly points out in her preface to this book), although you will enjoy that book as well if you enjoyed either of these two stories.

The remaining three stories ("The Finder," "The Bones of the Earth," "On the High Marsh") are all about the redeeming power of the human spirit. Finding friendship when it's not expected -- Otter, the hero of "The Finder," finds a true friend while he's temporarily enslaved (she helps get him out and away), Dulse, the wizard of Re Albi, finds a friend in his apprentice-wizard, Ogion (the later first teacher of Ged/Sparrowhawk, Archmage of Roke during the latter two books of the Earthsea trilogy) when wizards rarely get along (especially in such close proximity), and Irioth the wizard finds love and healing with the cheesemaker Gift (wizards also rarely, if ever, love women and don't seem to ever profess physical love for men, either; they believe being celibate helps their powers, which is something Irian in "Dragonfly" is challenging; wizards, for the most part, do not believe that women's magic is a strong as men's, which is of course ridiculous) after he'd left Roke due to extreme mental and physical torment (some brought on by his own doing, some not).

Ms. LeGuin's work is a triumph because of how human these people are. They have to make powerful, difficult choices; Diamond has to leave his father (who wants him to be a mage, rather than a musician) and only see his mother rarely because he must follow his heart and love Darkrose (while performing his music). Irian is hot-tempered, irritable, difficult, and extremely talented; her question, "Why can't women be mages?" goes to the heart of the hypocrisy of Roke, something the mages there for the most part would rather not confront. (The status quo is always easier to defend than the unknown, even when the status quo is wrong.) Dulse's dilemma is more poignant; save himself, or save his island with his friend Ogion's help? (Many would choose to save themselves and later rationalize it. Dulse isn't made that way.) Irioth's problem is more fundamental; he believes he's harmed himself by the use of magic, and that he's harmed others, and that he must make amends. (Finding love along the way with an extraordinary woman was never in his plans. And Gift doesn't think herself remarkable; that, too, is one of Ms. LeGuin's strengths, how she shows that "ordinary" people are anything but.) And Otter, in "The Finder," finds a friend at his time of greatest need, but can't keep her as she's dying; how he memorializes her through living his life is extraordinarily powerful, yet quietly drawn.

To put it bluntly, there isn't a better writer on the planet when she's on than Ms. LeGuin. There just isn't.

Everyone should read this book. Every single last one.

Five-stars plus, with the highest recommendation possible.

Barb Caffrey

A wonderful collection
A lovely collection of stories from around the archipelago. While not quite as good as the best Earthsea stories, you'll definitely want this to complete your collection.